For years to come, the big shoes of Olusola Saraki’s political and philanthropic dynasty in Kwara state cannot be worn by anyone considering the manner in which the late elder statesman pulled his weight behind Kwarans. In this report, SUNNY IDACHABA examines the impeccable footprints of this legend and the lessons for present leaders.
On Wednesday, November 14, 2012, Nigeria, especially Kwara state in particular, lost a patriot in the person of Abubakar Olusola Saraki who can best be described as philanthropist personified, aside from being an influencer and political power-house in Kwara, Kogi, and Niger states.
This is because of the weight the elder statesman brought to bear on the political landscape of North-central region; no wonder, he took on the title of ‘Baba Oloye’ (which literarily means ‘leader’ in Yoruba language) on whose shoulders the belligerent, made so by societal injustices, the downtrodden/have-nots and those at the lowest echelons in society leaned on for succour.
One indelible legacy about this man is that even after his demise, the footprint continued to stand out as it was not buried with him. It was rather on record that after his death, the children though tried to sustain the legacies, but with poor carriage because his shoes were too large for them or any other individual to wear.
Aside from the successes in his thriving private businesses spanning banking (Defunct Societe Generale Bank where he had controlling shares), textile and manufacturing, he had remained a politician and an active player on the political scene on the platform of several political parties like the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic where he was Senate Leader in the upper chamber.
He was at another time very active in the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) which he singlehandedly formed, the erstwhile Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). As a matter of fact, political decisions in Kwara, Kogi and Niger were in most cases decided by him because politicians and followers from those states trusted him.
Pa Saraki had a political structure that was impossible for his opponents to dismantle because his staying power was people-oriented and was a welfarist/philanthropist to the core.
His political influence transcended into the Fourth Republic at a time that some of his contemporaries like Jim Nwobodo, Cornelius Adebayo and the current Emir of Suleja, Awwal Ibrahim, already lost their steam in politics. Late Baba Oloye’s was not just an individual, but an institution whose style of politics was devoid of bitterness.
No wonder even one of his core political foes, the Tafidan Kaiama, Nurudeen Muhammed led a delegation of his community to pay a condolence visit to Bukola Saraki few days after Pa Saraki died and said, “The late Saraki was a man of very open mind, generous heart and open doors.”
His gradual descent from political prominence was from 2011 after his son, Bukola, a former governor of the state, wrestled power against him (Pa Saraki) for the governorship soul of Kwara in which Gbemi, his daughter and preferred candidate lost to Bukola’s Abdulfatah Ahmed.
He, however, first came into political limelight in 1964, even before the state was created in 1967. This was when he contested in the parliamentary election for Ilorin as an independent candidate, but lost. Temporarily, he left politics and went to practise medicine until he returned in the Second Republic, continued through the days of military regimes until the eventual return of democracy in 1999.
At another gathering of ‘who’s who’ on the political space of Nigeria used to remember the life and times of this late strong man of Kwara politics, his son Bukola said, “We know that in his lifetime, any matter that concerned any of Oloye’s numerous followers usually touched him so personally, passionately and genuinely.
“His followers were his life. They formed the core of his politics and well-being. He believed they should have a say in his political decisions and never took any action without consulting them. He never took their loyalty for granted. He believed in the physical, intellectual, spiritual and material development of his followers. He believed a leader is as good as his followers.
“It is for these reasons that he spent a huge chunk of his resources to give scholarship awards to the children of many of his supporters and helped some of the followers to set up their businesses. We have chosen the Leadership and Followership Debate as a way of revisiting Oloye’s belief in having a vibrant, enlightened, discerning, loyal, informed and involved followership who can hold the leadership accountable.”
In his remarks about Pa Oloye, Professor Patrick Lumumba, a Kenyan who was present at the Forum, charged African leaders to emulate the late Saraki.
He said, “We in the continent of Africa and those that had the privilege of working and serving under the tutelage of Oloye, let us take a solemn vow that we are not simply here to memorialise him and remember what he did, but are here to imbibe the spirit of Oloye.
“We have come here to have a little Saraki in us so that Saraki his good qualities, Saraki the philanthropist, Saraki the business can live a little in us.”
President Muhammadu Buhari equally graced the occasion with his presence through a representation by the governor of Borno state, Professor Umar Zulum.
According to Buhari, “We appreciate his contributions to our polity. I want to use this opportunity to ask my fellow politicians to take away lesson from the lecture that has been delivered with a view to moving Nigeria forward.”
The former director general of National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, himself a native of Kwara, is the one that has given a good account in what can be described as a somewhat balanced narrative about Pa Saraki contrary to held beliefs that once a man is dead, morality beckons on the living never to point out any of the dead’s undoing.
In as much as Kawu was not on a mission to degrade the image of the late elder statesman, he gave a balanced view of the former strongman of Kwara politics.
Kawu said, “The normal attitude to death in our society, where worldview is largely conditioned by the teachings of religion, is never to speak evil of the dead; we generally photo-shop the lives of the dead and see only the good. We might not share their political ideas, but that difference will not reduce the greatness of the individual.
“That he was an outstanding Nigerian was not in doubt; this has nothing to do with whether you agreed with his politics or his style of playing it. It was his greatness that eventually came to the fore.
“After decades of serving the people, liberally giving off his resources to enthrone governors (and also dethroning them), the nominations of several individuals to various elective positions, assisting the needy, providing succour to various communities, it was a remarkable ‘synergy’ between the political leader and his children on the one hand and the people of the state on the other.
“In all, I met Dr. Saraki three times in his residence and each time, it was tied up to issues of the politics of Kwara. What struck me about the man each time we met was his warmth. Each meeting was in the setting of his study and because he was not in the more politically-charged environment of his Ilorin home, I got the opportunity to size up the enigmatic personality a bit more closely.
“I had no doubts in my mind that he took his place as political leader very seriously and over the years, had developed that remarkable ability to keep the followers on a tight leash which allowed his dominance of the political space to become part of the political consent which has entered the psyche of the vast majority of the people.”
Kawu said further, “I think one of the most enduring reasons for Saraki’s control was his superb understanding of the psyche of the people which in turn provided the access for their control.
“He made choices people could easily relate with and rallied to symbols, especially in Ilorin such as Islam, the emirate structure and belonging to Northern Nigeria, which ensured that people almost instinctively trusted his judgment about wherever he made them go politically with the belief that he was not likely to betray their core political loyalties. These are very central to the political dominance that he enjoyed for decades.
“Saraki will be sorely missed at so many levels by the mass of his followers, especially the women, who trusted him implicitly and regularly voted for his candidates, the traditional institutions that he served as Wazirin Ilorin and members of the Nigerian political elite who envied and admired the man for his remarkable ability to nurture, hold and maintain his power base for so long. His ability to give of his immense wealth was truly legendary. Nevertheless, there were circles in the state that vehemently rejected his politics or whatever he stood for. These included politicians that he consistently defeated over the decades.”
If politics is all about giving self to the needs of others, the late Abubakar Olusola Saraki is an example worthy of emulation and like Prof Lumumba noted, let the little ‘Sarakis’ in our leaders arise in sacrifice for others.