Former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has described as act of vengeance the decision by the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, to revoke the ownership of a property rightfully held by his late father, Dr. Olusola Abubakar Saraki on Plots 1, 3 and 5 Ilofa Road, GRA, Ilorin popularly known as Ile Arugbo, (Old People’s home).
In a statement signed by him and issued in Lagos yesterday, Saraki said the revocation order was in furtherance of Abdulrazaq’s determined effort to erase the legacies of his late father, arguing that “the property had always been used to host the weekly gathering of a multitude of aged people in the society who were provided food, money and health services, as part of the social welfare programme sponsored by the late politician.”
His words: “The property had been rightfully allocated to my late father under the name of one of his companies, Asa Investment Limited, since the 1980s and contrary to the claim of the Governor, the land was properly allocated and a Right of Occupancy title issued on it. It should be noted that the excuse given by Abdulrazaq in his revocation order holds no water since it is clear that this is the height of his vengeance against my father, Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki and I.
“This action is clearly a manifestation of vengeance and it shows that this Governor is not out to serve any public purpose or pursue any development agenda. In his narrow-mindedness, he believes his victory at the polls is an empowerment, entitlement and enablement to settle scores, provoke and pursue inter-family rivalry. Those who voted for the party in power in Kwara State and Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq obviously did not vote for the man to enable him wage war against Dr. Olusola Saraki and his legacies. They expected development and fulfillment of promises.
Saraki advised Governor Abdulrazaq to devote his time on providing good governance to the people of the state rather than dissipating his energies on erasing the legacies of his administration as well as those of his father, declaring “no matter, how well he tried to rewrite history; it is on record that I left Kwara State a lot better than I met it.”
“In fact, the University that he is struggling to rename was established by my administration as just one out of many legacies we left behind. This Governor needs a lot more efforts, years, Intelligence and resources to attain the level Allah has taken me, not to talk of my late father, Dr. Olusola Abubakar Saraki, the Senate Leader in the Second Republic, he added.