Olatunde Ajikobi
Since the controversy over the revocation of the rights of occupancy on Plots 1, 3 and 5, Ilofa Road, GRA in Ilorin broke last week end, one has been wondering why Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq would dabble into such a needless venture which could only create crisis for his administration and divert it from the fulfillment of its electioneering promises to the people. The fall-outs from that announcement have been very predictable. It has created tension in the Kwara State Capital. It has further divided the state. The state has once again become a battle of ‘We versus Them’. And this is so because the target of this recent onslaught by the Governor and his administration is a man who though is no more but represented and still represents the best of the Kwarans.
Again, one is concerned about what is so special about the three plots of land on Ilofa Road that the Governor would want to sacrifice the peace of the State and the stability of his administration for. Contrary to the claims by the Governor, the three plots obviously are too small to house a secretariat with all the features that should accompany it. Also, it is not on the main road and it is in the midst of many residential houses. In fact, the Saraki family house where their patriarch lived, died and was buried was just opposite the plots and many other families live on that street.
Also, the last administration headed by Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed had in the twilight of its tenure built a new secretariat which is almost complete. Only last month, Governor Abdulrazaq announced that he had approved the release of N250m for the completion of the new secretariat. That means the secretariat would just require furnishing and be ready for use.
In fact, when the last administration commenced the building of the secretariat, the All Progressives Congress (APC) under its ‘O to Ge’ campaign severely criticized the projects and said it was not necessary. Now, when did Abdulrahman realized that not only was Abdulfatai right but that he too should build another secretariat? It should be noted that the claim that some government offices are located in rented houses is a white lie. Even as at today, the present secretariat is under-utilized. And now, there is the benefit of the one that is about to be completed. Who then needs a third one?
Against the background of the above consideration and the fact that Oloye Olusola Saraki, dead or alive, still evokes passionate support and emotional attachment by many Kwarans, what is the real motivation and inspiration behind Abdulrazaq’s move to attack the property owned by the old man? The desperation to quickly seize the property and demolish the structure on it is also confounding.
This is because despite the controversy, the Governor who made an announcement that had evoked emotion and tension on the evening of December 27, by midnight on December 31 had sneaked in a demolition squad with bulldozer to bring down the structures on the plots. Why the hurry?
In my deep introspection and investigation on the matter, it occurred to me to look at the men who are advising the Governor and why they will want to lead him to this costly blunder that may define the character, shape and future of his government. First, the Governor is a man who is almost a stranger to Ilorin and its socio-political dynamics. He had his secondary education in Kaduna and afterwards had been living in Lagos. He has been coming around to Ilorin since 2003 only during elections to contest for one post or the other and immediately after losing, he will disappear. Though, former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki also had his primary and secondary education in Lagos and then had his university education in the United Kingdom, he had the advantage of having an excellent teacher in his father who was the embodiment of the socio-political and economic dynamics of the state. In the case of the present Governor, his father had been resident outside the state for a long time and is currently too old to tutor his son.
This vacuum of a good trainer in the Governor has been filled by some turn-coats who served in the Saraki and Ahmed governments and left with bitterness and hatred against their principals after they gained so much but were unable to get more.
These group of advisers include Yinka Aluko, who served for 12 years in the government of Saraki and Ahmed as Special Assistant, first on Inter-Governmental Affairs and later, security, Kale Belgore who was Director General of Saraki campaign in 2003 and later served as Commissioner for Housing, Gani Olododo-Cook who was Chief of Staff, Secretary to the State Government and Commissioner for Energy in the eight years of Saraki administration, Ibrahim Ilyasu, who was convicted and pardoned by Saraki was House of Assembly between 2007 to 2015. These men not only held offices in the last 16 years in the State, they also cornered contracts worth billions of Naira.
These are the quartet advising Abdulrahman. They all left the Saraki camp after they rose from nothing to prominence and wealth. They only left that group after they were told to step aside and allow other people hold key positions. Translated as ‘old people’s home’, for well over two decades starting from their late father, the Sarakis had used Ile Arugbo located on the disputed land to host their social welfare Programme for the aged and needy in the society. There is also a section on the land where the Sarakis address their numerous political supporters on key issues.
My suspicion is that since these coaches of the Governor are conversant with his grasp of the nitty gritty of politics in the state, they decided to play on his intelligence by selling an idea to him that Ile Arugbo is the spiritual headquarters of the Sarakis and that if Abdulrazaq wants to decimate the political structure, he must pull down the place and deny the Saraki access to it. They probabaly sold him the idea that the magic behind the support the Sarakis enjoy in Kwara State is buried in Ile Arugbo and if the Governor wants a second term without any organized challenged from the Saraki structure, he must decimate the place. The plot may also be that if that stretch of road in Ilofa could be militarized, stationing policemen there, it might be possible to also frustrate any political gathering in the Saraki home called Ile Loke.
Many in Ilorin know that the Governor may be vulnerable to manipulation from these sharp and hawkish individuals. These people are therefore the ones pushing him into several mistakes for the purpose of seizing control of the man and creating a cabal around him. For as long as these elements are in control of Abdulrazaq, they will continue to lead him into avoidable mistakes. They are using him to fight their personal battles and scheming to exclude him from other sources of advice and intelligence.
The question Abdulrazaq should ask himself is: If the target is Bukola Saraki, why will he create a huge political deficit for himself by joining the elder Saraki, who even in death, is still adored by the elders and the establishment in Kwara State? It can only be that he is being misadvised, manipulated and misled. One last thing: If Abdulrahman continues to describe the 16 years of Saraki/Ahmed as a period of waste, he should look critically at the books and see how much these advisers contributed to that period. He will see the billions worth of contract awards handled by Aluko, Belgore, Olododo-Cook and Ilyasu and how well they discharged themselves. Well, that is a matter for another day.
Ajikobi, a political economist, writes from Ilorin