Tag: Bukola Saraki

Olubukola Abubakar Saraki Senate President 2015-2019! The Making of A Successor!
Nature makes fine gold go through the fire to purify it and make it into finer gold. Any sincere observer of the travails of ‘Oloye’ as he is fondly called will see nothing but an excessive attempt to destroy a man whose destiny is firmly in the hand of his Creator. How does one explain this new set of activities directed at making uncomfortable, embarrassing and harassing the senate president and his family.

If the history of the case that went all the way to the Supreme Court in the infamous ICPC trials does not represent a completion of the matter, what do honest Nigerians make of this hasty double jeopardy efforts of the EFCC? Surely, like the previous attempt, this one too will end in disgrace and would only propel Bukola Saraki to higher levels of love from his followers and the conscientious people around.

What are Bukola’s sins, save for emerging as Senate President of the 8th Senate in spite of the meddlesomeness of the cabal of APC into what ordinarily is a selection process of peers relying on their rules! Can the handlers of this regime soberly say that he had done anything other than that which is allowed in a multi party democracy, where qualified persons lobby and scheme for positions!

There is a falling to which the souls of men must strive to rid themselves, for while the scheming is ongoing, all might scheme, but once one has been favoured, it is ridiculous, incongruous to hold a grudge and elevate same to enmity, an enmity of monstrous bile, induced hatred, which all rightly guided persons must seek to purge themselves of, otherwise eternal damnation awaits the individual who abuses authority!

This persecution becomes more offensive given that the senate under Senate President Olubukola Abubakar Saraki has performed better than all others before it in terms of its duties by way of bills, oversight and legislative responsibilities on the side of the country and its citizens! Notwithstanding the attitude of the Buhari-led Executive and the posturing of some of its ministers and agency heads, in true manner of one who understands the higher ideals of leadership, Bukola has ensured that the ship of state is not grounded to a halt, at the same time ensuring that the independence of the Legislature is not trampled upon.

The apparatchik of state went into the 2019 elections in Kwara with brazing audacity in a bid to get the people of Kwara to dump their benefactor in such a way that might affect the noble history of that town if care is not taken to ensure outsiders do not dictate the pace of a revered Nigerian state.

Again, but for the higher ideals of leadership, which made Oloye take that in his stride, and reason that no Kwaran must die or be maimed because of reactionary agents and enemies of the people, perhaps the story might have really been centred around avoidable chaos and killings.

Bukola reasoned like a true leader: maybe Otoge indeed; maybe the people do not want all he does for them, how he promotes their sons and daughters, how he does continuous medical supports to the downtrodden. Perhaps his generosity is no more desired, and while he leads them in love, they may prefer those who care not about them and who would destroy the family bond that all Kwarans have enjoyed from a legacy nurtured and passed on from Olusola Abubakar Saraki senior, which Olubukola Abubakar Saraki junior has, through thick and thin, kept faith with.

Time will tell if the people of Kwara made the right decision on that day, time will tell boya Otoge abi Kotoge!

As for the future, behold, I see an effectual door opened before Olubukola Abubakar Saraki, one that will prepare him for succession, for the baton will be passed to the long awaited divine leaders. The belly of time is pregnant, and in full season, the entire world will learn of Olubukola Abubakar Saraki, Senate President of the 8th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the bridge, the urbane, the digital leader, the one that will hold the numerous tribes and tongues of Nigeria together.

One only needs to look at the generation holding sway now to know that the clock is ticking and power must change hands now.

Dear Olubukola Abubakar Saraki, stay strong. This too shall pass, and when the siege is over, you can be sure that the great Rewarder is more than able to perfect all things concerning you and the country Nigeria. Kwarans, if you like, sit idly, while enemies of Kwara plan to destroy your pride. Rest assured that a larger space, made up of thinking persons see the bright light in your midst. Like it is with prophets of the past eras, he will be honored and supported from far and near!

Segun Showunmi

PDP Ogun State.
May 12, 2019
Secondus, Saraki on why Atiku Will be the next President
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus and the Senate President who is also the Director General of Atiku Presidential campaign committee Dr Bukola Saraki have said that the Presidential Candidate Atiku Abubakar and the party must regain power to save Nigeria democracy.

The duo spoke in Abuja when they inspected the party’s Presidential campaign office in Maitama preparatory to the start of the nationwide campaign.

Conducting the Senate President round the campaign complex, the National Chairman said that the rebranded and repositioned party is ready to go to Nigerians with issues when the campaign begins.

According to a statement from his media office signed by Ike Abonyi, the National Chairman said that the party hopes to have a very successful electioneering just like their just completed primaries that was climaxed with the landmark National Convention.

The Senate President said that everything is set for the party to conduct one of the best Presidential campaigns in history as Nigerians are anxiously waiting for the party.

Dr Saraki said that every hand must be on deck to see off the All Progressives Congress, APC, to save our democracy and rescue the country.

The Senate President was accompanied on the inspection of the campaign office by members of the National Working Committee of the party and other critical stakeholders of the party.

Signed

Ike Abonyi
SA Media
November 6, 2018
Saraki Assures Of Atiku’s Victory…Inspects Campaign Council’s Headquarters
The Director General of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council and Senate President Bukola Saraki has assured that, given the mounting support by Nigerians, the PDP Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is coasting to victory in the February 2019 Presidential election.

Senator Saraki stated this while inspecting the Legacy House headquarters of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council in Abuja on Tuesday.

Saraki, who was conducted round various offices at the Legacy House by the party’s National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, promised to effectively harness and coordinate all efforts and lead the party and our candidate to victory in the elections.

Since the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as PDP Presidential candidate, there has been renewed hope among Nigerians towards actualizing their collective quest to rescue our nation from the misrule of the incompetent, divisive and deceptive President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

Already, Atiku Abubakar’s candidacy has reunited Nigerians across board and reawakened our collective consciousness towards the restoration of purposeful leadership and national productivity, irrespective of ethnicity, religion and political affiliations.

The PDP therefore urges Nigerians to continue in mobilizing for the election and be ready for an issue-based campaign that offers solutions to the myriad of security, economic and social problems the Buhari administration has plunged our nation into.

Signed:

Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
November 6, 2018
DREAMING AS A NATION
The 2019 elections are fast approaching. The political tempo in the land is gradually cruising into high altitude. Whether the elections would be free and fair is of concern on one hand, while the other serious worry is whether those that would be elected have any worthy dream to rescue our very emasculated nation from the abyss of poverty, ignorance, disease, insecurity, human and capital flight. It would be wishful thinking to assume that the mere successful conduct of elections would deepen our democracy without a corresponding dream as a Nation to renew our national life in the hope of joining the league of developing nations.

Many, may, underestimate the power of dreams, but let no one make a mistake about its potency. Several of the leading Nations of the world and industry captains of today are where they are because they dreamed dreams and worked sincerely to realize those dreams. For those who are Christians, the Bible is not only a spiritual authority, it is a veritable source of the history of mankind and Nations. The Bible lends credence to the theory of the potency of dreams. Let me recount one of the most common accounts in the Holy Bible, this account can be found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 41.

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt had a dream. In that dream, “Seven fat, healthy looking cows suddenly came up out of the river and began grazing along its Bank. Then seven other cows came up from the river, but these were very ugly and gaunt. These seven other cows went over and stood beside the fat cows. Then the thin ugly cows ate up the fat ones”. Pharaoh became very concerned about the meaning of that dream and sought the interpretation from one Joseph, a young Hebrew who had a huge reputation for interpreting dreams.

Joseph told Pharaoh that the seven fat cows represented seven years of prosperity while the seven thin cows stood for another seven years of famine that would follow those years of prosperity. He then advised Pharaoh to appoint a wise man to be in charge of a nation-wide programme to prepare for the famine that would follow the prosperity. He recommended that such officer should store 1/5 of the crops to be harvested during the year of prosperity into the royal store houses. In that way there would be enough to eat during the period of the expected famine. Pharaoh took no chances. He appointed Joseph to be in charge of such National programme. Joseph dealt with the situation in a prudent manner. As interpreted, the years of famine truly followed the years of prosperity but there was plenty to eat and a national calamity was averted from just a dream.

If anyone still doubts the power of dreams, how about this popular one that most of us already know. Martin Luther King (jr) was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King. He followed his father’s foot steps and became a Baptist Minister in 1947. In 1955, Rosa Parks, a black Seamstress, took a seat in the section of a Montgomery bus reserved for whites in the USA. When the driver asked her to move to the back under the state’s segregation law, she refused and was arrested. Martin Luther King (Jr) then launched the Montgomery Bus boycott. He became the symbol of the civil u movement and America itself. On the occasion of the “March on Washington for jobs and freedom” the August in 1963, King delivered the famous “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial in Washington to 250,000 civil rights supporters. The dreams were indeed many. I would only deal with the few that are related to this piece;

– “ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal”

– “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of slaves and the sons of former slave. owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”

– “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!”

King did not just have dreams. He worked hard to realize those dreams. By 1964 the world acknowledged his hard work and rewarded him with the Nobel peace prize. Even when he was aware of threats to his life, King continued to work for his dreams to come true. With a premonition of the imminence of his death, King said, “well, I don’t know what will happen now. We have got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top … And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land”.

Today, the American people have truly reached that Promised Land. America is living out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal. The election of Barrack Obama as the US president in November, 2008 marked the total realization of King’s dreams. Together, Obama and Biden sat at the table of brotherhood in the white House to preside over the United States. The content of Obama’s character prevailed over the colour of his skin. Such is the power of a dream.

The Nigerian Nation must therefore not despair in this trying moments of our national life. We must dream as other great nations did. Hon. Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court at the third Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Dialogue once asked a useful question: “can we make Nigeria greater than nature made her…?” The learned Judge provided his own answer. He said as follows: “my answer is yes … if and only if our leaders have the sagacity of an Otto Von Bismark, the wisdom of a Cavour, the adroitness of a Mazini, the patriotism of a Gandhi and the selflessness of a Nyerere. ”

Part of our National creed is to be found in the 1999 constitution of our country which states interalia; “AND TO PROVIDE for a constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of freedom, Equality and justice and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people”. Are we truly dreaming of living out the real meaning of this creed? Can we claim to have promoted the principles of equality and justice when there is no equal access to good Medicare and Education in our country? What is the state of our public schools today and how many of the children of those charged with the governance of this Nation attend such schools? What has happened to our public hospitals over the years and why have they become glorified death places for very minor ailments?

The truth is that there is neither equality nor justice in our national life. The Buhari regime may have had the heart to begin the process, but that momentum appears stunted by policy duplicity, official lethargy of public functionaries and excessive bloodletting of uncommon proportions. The regime may have learnt its lessons and the entire country now wants a better deal.
The good news is that we can begin to dream of it now. Let us start with the basic dreams:

– That some day before year 2022, this nation would generate over 25,000 MW of power for the use of its millions of citizens.

– That someday, this nation would upgrade its public schools at all levels to globally accepted standards and the products of such schools would no longer face the international discrimination that they suffer today.

– That someday, this nation would upgrade its health institutions to health-care delivery levels away from its present day notoriety of being regarded as death centres.

– That someday, this nation would truly be governed by the rule of law and founded on equality before the law, where high profile thieves in public life would no longer scorn the law and make only petty thieves of necessity to face the law.

But these dreams would never come to pass until we find leaders who would “show the light and people will find their way” as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe epitomized by the slogan of his now defunct newspaper, the West African Pilot. Our Nation must learn from Queneau Raymond, a twentieth century philosopher who fizzled out all doubts about the need to dream in his famous statement that “man’s usual routine is to work and to dream”.

*Dr. Ehiogie West- Idahosa is a former Member of the House of Representatives, lawyer and public policy expert.
August 17, 2018
CAN A MEMBER OF THE MINORITY PARTY LEAD THE MAJORITY AS PRESIDING OFFICER IN PARLIAMENT?
There have been many views expressed on this topic by many. Significantly, the APC leadership has made heavy weather of the fact that this cannot be so. They have therefore called on Saraki to resign. One thing that is fundamental to Nigeria’s democracy is its very constitutional nature. There are so many threads of our national life woven neatly by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended. This is not so with the American model of presidentialism that we unnecessarily copied. We are not a union of voluntary federate states. We did not even mandate those who chose the model on our behalf to do so. More importantly , we did not write the said constitution for ourselves.

Having said that, we are stuck with our Supreme law and anything done which is inconsistent with its provisions is certain to fail the test of the law, no matter how well intentioned. Bearing this in mind therefore, it is settled that a presiding officer of a law making body is usually elected to the the seat by a simple majority of his colleagues for different reasons. They range from party affiliation, personal friendship to perception of competence.

Usually, Members of such bodies vote by roll call when the House first convenes. The practice is for individual members to nominate candidates of choice, but members normally vote along party lines and sometimes vote for any other candidate of their choice. In most parliaments, several parties would present candidates for the contest. The majority party normally wins, if their party members stay on line. However, an unfavored candidate within the majority party can reach a deal with other party members and still win the contest if he gets the majority of votes for that purpose on the floor of the House.

This was precisely the scenario in the 8th Senate. Saraki had a deal with PDP and won as Senate President. This is an acceptable worldwide practice in parliament. It is not strange. A good example in the United States is the election of James Clark of the Democratic Party as Speaker of the US House of Representatives. While he served as Speaker, the Democratic Party lost the plurality or majority of seats in 1917. They no longer controlled the House. The Republicans did. Congressman Clark retained his seat as Speaker as the majority of House Members kept him there.

Even in the Westministerial Parliamentary model where having majority in parliament is so pivotal to running government business, there are many instances where the Speaker was chosen from a minority party. In 1992, Betty Bothroyd, the first female speaker of the House of Commons in UK was a Labor MP chosen in a Conservative-controlled House of Commons.

What then is the whole fuss for? What we need most is visionary and pragmatic leadership tailored to meet our present unenviable circumstances in the interest of rapid national development. Such leaders must fully understand Gabriel Almond’s Structural Functionalism or Easton’s System Theory in managing the component parts of Nigetia and the various arms of government for the good of all.

Dr. Ehiogie West-Idahosa
Former member of House of Representatives, Lawyer and Policy Expert
August 16, 2018
Saraki/Ekweremadu’s Failed Removal: How APC Lost its Argument Morally & Constitutionally
By Chidiebere Nwobodo

Having failed repeatedly to effect leadership change in the Senate via unconstitutional means, embittered ex-wife called APC has resorted to blatant blackmail and mudslinging in its renewed quest to oust Senate president Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu from their coveted seats. The more they attack the duo, the clearer it becomes to Nigerians that we have a government run by tyrants, who does not give a freaking damn about survival of our hard-earned democracy. These anti-democratic forces are hell bent on setting Nigeria ablaze, just to have their way. I think the time has come to cage this beast and small tyrant called Oshiomhole; enough of his excesses cum impunity.

Section 52 of Nigeria’s constitution made it crystal clear that for a presiding officer of the senate like senate president or his deputy, to be removed from office, you need nothing less than two third majority of senators. In a Red Chamber of 109 senators, the 2/3 majority is 73 senators! The mind-boggling questions racing through the minds of discerning Nigerians are: can those tyrants in Presidential Villa and their foot-soldiers in the senate muster 73 senators to remove Senate President Saraki and his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu? Can they infiltrate the impregnable support base of current senate leadership? Can’t they accept the stark reality that they have been outfoxed in this political game of thrones once and for all? Is it too late in the day to give peace a chance, at least for the sake of impoverished Nigerians, that are desperately yearning for the “change” promised them over three years ago?

President Buhari and his mindless cabal, should be told categorically that they have lost this argument both in the eyes of the law and court of public opinion. They have also lost the moral aspect of the argument. For supporting Hon. Aminu Tambuwal to retain his seat as speaker of House of Representatives, having defected from PDP to APC in 2014, APC and its herd of zombies, masquerading as supporters, have lost the moral ground on which to demand Saraki’s resignation, using the benchmark of morality.

The APC should better wake up from its hallucination that Saraki and Ekweremadu will be removed “by all means” as leaders of senate. Saraki is not carrying any moral burden as senate president, because APC never supported him to emerge in the first place. Power-drunk APC leaders cannot take back what they did not give in the first place. Nigerian constitution never implied that senate president or his deputy MUST come from majority party (if APC is still majority). Saraki/Ekweremadu senate presidency has come to stay till June, 2019.

Any unconstitutional attempt to effect change of senate leadership, will be tantamount to toppling Nigeria democracy. President Buhari’s name will be written boldly in the hall of SHAME if he watch his party chairman, aides and conscienceless supporters push Nigeria down the deepest valley of anarchy and political turmoil. Oshiomhole and his fellow desperados in the APC, should know that Senators Saraki and Ekweremadu have become the rallying pillars and formidable shield to roll back the forces of fascism and dictatorship, of which President Buhari’s government has metamorphosed into. Nigerians are solidly behind them as commanders leading the army of democrats, against rampaging chariots and soldiers of tyranny, as we head into 2019 general elections.
August 11, 2018
Press Release: Response to Adams Oshiomhole
Press Release
August 10, 2018

Response to Adams Oshiomhole

1. It is rather surprising that Mr. Adams Oshiomhole is behaving like a rain-beaten chicken, crying all over the place about Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, as if the Senate President is the apparition haunting his life and the sinking ship that he captains.

2. Having decided not to join the pigs in rolling in the dirt; we would not like to be involved in any meaningless exchange with the demagogue now in charge of APC. However, because he claimed that he was reacting to the issues raised by the Senate President during his World Press Conference, we thought it necessary to give the APC chairman some attention.

Alas, we found that instead of addressing any issue raised by the Senate President, his press conference merely showcased his obsession and those of his sponsors with Saraki’s removal, which he did without any decorum befitting of his age or his awarded office. He brimmed with hate, hurled abuses, threw tantrums, told lies, huffed and puffed. In the end, he said nothing.

3. It is indeed amazing that the same Oshiomhole, who is now describing Saraki as a politician of no consequence was the same one who only a few months ago was crawling all over the place pleading for Saraki’s support to become chairman. We are sure that those who took him to Saraki several times to plead his case must now be thoroughly embarrassed by his reckless and uncouth manner.

4. By his conduct and utterances, Oshiomhole, who accused Saraki of not acting in national interest needs to do more to convince Nigerians that his desperate desire to become party chairman is not simply to feed his over-sized ego.

5. The position of Oshiomhole and his cohorts in the APC that the Senate President must resign is a mere wishful thinking. They will continue to dream about their planned removal of the Senate President. They will need 73 Senators to lawfully remove Dr. Saraki and they will never get that in the present eight Senate.

6. The argument of APC that the Senate President must come from a majority party; that the Senate Presidency is their crown and National Assembly is their palace is only supported by ignorance and dangerous delusion. First, the issue of which party is in the majority will only be resolved when the Senate resume. Two, Section 50 (1) (a) of the constitution is clear that any Senator can be elected as Senate President. If the only thing left of the APC change agenda is to change the Senate President we can only wish them good luck.

7. Perhaps, Mr. Oshiomhole needs to be better educated about our parliamentary history when he Stated that “For the first time in parliamentary history in Nigeria, we had a situation where the APC had majority of Senators and went on to elect a PDP as Deputy Senate President”. Where is Mr. Oshiomhole when Senator John Wash Pam of the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) became Deputy Senate President in the Second Republic even when the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had the majority. The same thing happened in the House of Representatives when NPP’s Rt. Hon. Edwin Umeh Ezeoke was elected Speaker in an NPN majority House. But then, it would require a level of education to understand these things.

8. What hypocrisy! To think that this same APC were jubilating when Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal retained his position after he defected from the PDP and still retained his seat, even when his new party was in the minority. These are people whose standards of morality are infinitely elastic.

9. We are sure the remaining APC Senators need to do a lot of work to bring Oshiomhole up to speed about parliamentary practice. His ignorance are too clear in his comments about how the Senate was adjourned on July 24, 2018, the distribution of committee chairmanship in the Senate and the difference between the post of Senate President and Minority Leader.

10. He has made so much song and dance about Mr. Godswill Akpabio resigning as Senate Minority Leader when he left the PDP to join APC. For this, Akpabio has become his hero and a symbol of honor. He obviously does not understand that the post of Minority Leader is a strictly party affair. And the PDP simply decided who to give it as it is not even a position that was mentioned in the constitution. Whereas, the Senate President position is a constitutional creation, which required majority votes of all the members. Again, we don’t expect people whose only experience in politics is at the provincial levels to understand this. No wonder they are talking of crowns and inheritance.

11. The fair distribution of the Committee chairmanship is one of the stabilizing factors in the 8th Senate and has helped it in achieving more than all its predecessors.

12. We need to inform this divisive element who now leads APC that if he wants to know why the 2018 budget was delayed, he should ask the heads of the MDAs. We reckon that should be easy for him since he is now their ‘headmaster’, moving around with canes to whip ministers into line.

13. Oshiomhole once again demonstrated his lack of sense of history by talking of Buhari winning more votes in Kwara than Saraki. We are sure President Buhari himself will disagree with the APC chairman. We invite the APC chairman to look at the figures of votes secured by the President in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 to know that the difference is clear, like a commercial advert stated.

14. We hereby assure this garrulous, tactless and reckless APC chairman that a million of Adams Oshiomhole cannot remove Saraki as Senate President. His illegal plots, can only feed his insatiable ego and keep him awake at nights. But it will remain an exercise in futility.

Signed

Yusuph Olaniyonu
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Senate President
August 11, 2018