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By Kola Popson
It was a joyous moment for Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and his ardent supporters as he was elected unopposed on Tuesday 9th of June, 2015 as the new Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The position of the Senate President, N0 3 citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is one that many of the colleagues of Bukola Saraki at the National Assembly would have loved to occupy. This explains the discrepancy between Bukola Saraki group of All Progressive Congress (APC) and Senator Lawan’s, which APC identifies with. However, as fate would have it, Senator Bukola Saraki eventually emerged the occupant of the seat, though not without controversy. It is, therefore, important to take a critical look at the background of the new Senate President of the 8th National Assembly.
HIS BACKGROUND
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki was born on December 19, 1962. His father is Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, was a Senate leader (1979 – 1983) in Nigeria. Dr. Bukola attended Corona School, Lagos from 1966 to 1972 for his primary school education. He attended King’s College, Lagos from 1973 to 1973 to 1998 when he obtained his West African School Certificate. He attended Cheltenham College, London from 1979 to 1981 when he obtained his High School Certificate. He studied at the London Hospital Medical College of the University of London from 1982 to 1997, when he obtained his M.B.B.S (London).
Senator Bukola Saraki worked as a Medical Officer at Rush Green Hospital, Essex from 1987 to 1988. He worked as a Senior Casualty Officer at Royal Free Hospital, London from 1988 to 1989. He also worked as Director (non-executive) at Societe Generale (Nig.) Limited from 1989 to 1990 and worked as Executive Director at same Societe Generale (Nig.) Limited from 1990 to 2000. Similarly, between 2001 and 2002, the new Senate President worked as Executive Vice Chairman at Societe Generale (Nig.) Limited.
Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki’s political career began when he was appointed Special Assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Budget in 2000. While holding this position, he initiated the Fiscal Responsibility Bill and served on the Economic Policy Coordination Committee, where he was responsible for the formulation and implementation of several key economic policies for Nigeria.
On April 19, 2003, Bukola Saraki contested and won the gubernatorial elections for the north-central state of Kwara in Nigeria. Consequently, he was sworn in as the Executive Governor of Kwara State on May 29, 2003. In 2007, he contested again for the Kwara State Gubernatorial election conducted on April 14 and won. He was sworn in for the second time as Governor of Kwara State on May 29, 2007. In the same year, Senator Bukola Saraki became the Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forun (NGF).
In the April 2011 elections, he was elected Senator for Kwara Central, succeeding his sister, Gbemisola Saraki-Forowa. In 2015, having defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressive Congress (APC) with other PDP governors due to the internal dispute within PDP, Bukola Saraki contested for Kwara Central Senatorial seat again and won, but under the platform of his new party, APC.
THE BATTLE HE FOUGHT
Beyond reasonable doubt, for Dr. Bukola Saraki, becoming the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was not achieved on the platter of gold. Indeed, this N0 4 position was not attained easily; there was a battle that the present occupant had to fight. And yes he did fight the battle to a reasonable end.
The battle that eventually saw Dr. Bukola Saraki victorious did not just start recently; it had started long time ago during the period of electioneering that preceded the 2015 general elections. It was a very tough and challenging period for all contestants from not just the two major political parties, All Progressive Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but others as well. The campaign had been very tough and intense – a situation instigated by the uncertainty of who would emerge winners.
Due to his defection to APC, strong members of the PDP in Kwara State formed a movement and with a slogan, “Freedom for Kwara”. Their sole objective was to bring Saraki’s empire and famous reputation in Kwara State to an end. They were determined to end Bukola Saraki political career. Bukola Saraki and his supporters were threatened and humiliated. But Bukola Saraki and his supporters would not give in to this; they would not be discouraged by the critics. Instead, the new Senate President decided to fortify his political structure by coming up with a strategy – a groundbreaking polling unit approach with his supporters, which posited “Don’t be a big man for nothing, make sure you hold and win your polling unit.”
Eventually, Bukola Saraki was able to secure a very vital place in the political history of Nigeria with a wide-ranging victory for his new party, the All Progressives Party (APC), in the much anticipated 2015 general elections. Not only has the new Senate President kept the Saraki Empire’s winning spirit alive in the 2015 elections, he has surpassed the feat of his legendary late father, Sen. Abubakar Olusola Saraki, recording almost 100 percent electoral success for APC in Kwara state.
After conquering the battle of the general elections and winning the senatorial seat again for himself, another battle that he had to undergo was from his own political party, APC. Like every other politician, Bukola Saraki, even before general elections were held, had been aspiring for the position of Senate President, and he never pretended otherwise. He made his ambition known to leaders of his party, APC, and there were reports that he had been marked by the leaders of the party to be the occupant of this vital position should APC dominate the Senate. But the story would later change as leaders of the party decided to present Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan as the party’s candidate for the position having conducted a controversial mock election.
Senator Saraki had noticed that the mock election of the party was not going to be free and fair, but just a formality, because it appeared bigwigs of the party were already determined to impose Senator Ahmed Lawan on all as the next Senate President, hence Saraki and his group boycotted the mock election. As fate would have it, on 9th of June 2015, while 51 senators of his party were at the International Conference Center (ICC) Abuja with their party leaders to uphold the choice of Senator Lawan as the Senate President, Bukola Saraki had the votes of the 57 senators present at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly to emerge the Nigerian Senate President.
WHY HE MERITED IT
Judging from his achievements and experience in politics and governance, as well as his contributions to the development of individuals and humanity, it is not irrational for one to conclude that Dr.Abubakar Bukola Saraki truly deserves this vital position he presently occupies.
Starting from his legislative accomplishments, Senator Bukola has performed very well to the admiration of many. He campaigned thoroughly on health, food security, education and the environment. Due to his outstanding traits and qualities, he was appointed, even as a one-time senator, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology. He had also been a member of the Senate Committees on Capital Markets and Finance. He also pushed a motion in the Senate to end the fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria which has been an excessive waste of the country’s national resources.
His effort on the oil industry, has also led him to focus on arguing to strengthen laws relating to the cleanup of oil spills. His National Oil Spill and Detection and Response Agency Amendment Bill seeks to ensure oil companies pay appropriate levels of compensation to communities affected by oil spills. Similarly, the new Senate President has been a lead campaigner in the areas of desertification and climate change in the Senate and across Nigeria.
Dr Saraki led a number of significant and state-wide infrastructure developments, including improvements at the Ilorin International Airport Cargo Terminal; extensive road construction; and the development of new sporting facilities such as Kwara Football Academy. The State also has an ongoing aim to become a logistics and cargo hub in Nigeria and the region.
In the same vein, when Dr. Bukola Saraki became the Chairman, Nigerian Governors’ Forum in 2007, he used his experience to bring about a reformed Governors’ Forum with a fully resourced secretariat and a technical and administrative division that was entirely focused on delivering dividends of democracy to the people. One of the most widely recognised achievements of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum was its intervention over the problematic assumption of power by then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, following the illness and subsequent death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The NGF, led by Dr Saraki, and working with the National Assembly, devised the Doctrine of Necessity, which was then passed as a resolution by the National Assembly. The Doctrine of Necessity allowed the Vice President to take over and become the acting President until such a time that the President returned.
With the reformation of the Forum then, today Forum has been credited with the development of better and more extensive polio immunisation in Nigeria. A key part of this was the introduction in 2011 of the Immunisation Leadership Challenge. The Challenge was designed to reward states in Nigeria that made significant improvements in polio and routine immunisation coverage by the end of 2012. It is also on record that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Immunisation Leadership Challenge, which pledged to award US $500,000 to states that meet a pre-defined threshold of improvement, was launched in partnership with the NGF. The grant was to be used to support Governors’ top health priorities, including malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV prevention and treatment, as well as safe drinking water and hygiene programmes.
It is also worth noting that Bukola Saraki was the first Nigerian Governor to be awarded the National Honor of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). This was a pointer that he was outstanding as a governor of Kwara State.
Due to his love for humanity, Senator Bukola Saraki, in 2004, invited white Zimbabwean farmers who had been dispossessed from their farms in Zimbabwe under the regime of Robert Mugabe to settle in Nigeria. In prompt response to his invitation, several Zimbabwean farmers came to settle in Nigeria, on lands provided under his administration. This decision aided the agricultural sector of the country. He did not stop there. He introduced a range of reforms to agricultural policy to increase the commercial viability of farming, and to increase exports to international markets. The New Nigerian Farmers Initiative was also designed to improve the technical capability of farmers and to ensure farmers had a significant financial stake in new investment in agriculture.
In recognition to his outstanding achievements, several awards and honours were conferred on Dr Bukola Saraki by different bodies and organization. In 2004, he was awarded ‘Best Governor of the Year’ by Thisday Newspapers, and won Kenneth Kaunda Foundation Best Governor in Africa 2006. He also won the Osun State Broad Cast Corporation’s Man of the Year 2006 Awards, among others.
HOW HE PROMISED TO RUN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
I am most honoured and privileged to be elected to serve as President of the Senate. I accept with humility and respect the honour you have conferred upon me today.”
“We have today demonstrated that even though we may belong to different parties, we are ultimately united by our common desire to entrench democracy and allow its principle guide our conducts.”
“The change that our people voted for is a change from a life of poverty, misery to a life of prosperity, happiness, security and comfort, accountability and respect for democracy.”
“This is a change that all of us in the National Assembly must strive to justify. Nigerians want to see a proactive National Assembly.”
“My dear distinguished colleagues, we are entering at a time when a lot is being expected of us.”
“Nigerians expect that the new senate must make laws that will reform the oil sector, the security systems, diversify our economy, create jobs and make doing business in Nigeria more competitive.”
“In the coming days, we shall be converging to hammer out an agenda that will help us focus and deliver on the minimum expectations. I have inherited from my predecessor a great landmark.”
“May the future generation of citizens look upon the 8th National Assembly as a true assembly of our people’s representatives who did their best in the service of our nation.”
“I congratulate ourselves for this great day and the beginning of a new chapter in the history of our great Nation.”
Impressive…congratulations Leader!