INTERVIEW WITH CHIEF OLUSOLA SARAKI ABOUT BUKOLA SARAKI's OPPOSITION TO HIM ON MARCH 15TH 2011.

Abubakar Olusola Saraki has been in politics for 47 years. His achievements on this slippery terrain, particularly in his home state, Kwara, have earned him the nickname, 'strongman of Kwara politics'. In this interview, he says he is unhappy with the way his son, Bukola and the PDP, have been treating him wondering how Bukola, who was barely six months old when he, Olusola joined politics could outwit him in Kwara politics.

Excerpts:

What does the politics of succession within your family portend for the future of Kwara State?

Well, I think it is very clear now that Gbemi is going to succeed, maintain and look after the dynasty because she has my qualities - she is kind-hearted and available. Bukola is not a politician that is why he is doing this because he has seen that there is no way for him. How can he oppose me? Who put him there (and) why does he think in his eight years he can change the setting in Kwara?

Would you say that it is an ego trip on the part of your son, or an attempt to save the Saraki dynasty or his love for participatory democracy?

But democracy is the voice of the majority. Here in Ilorin central, comprising of Asa, Moro, Ilorin West, Ilorin East, we have 48 per cent of the total votes cast in the entire state. So if he is claiming to be fighting for democracy, he should let the people decide what they want. So I don't know whether it is ego; I have asked him what his sister has done to him, and he said she doesn't respect him, never took part in his government. When I asked Gbemi, she said his brother never invited him to participate in his government and for eight years he never asked her to bring a candidate for even a councillorship position, much less a commissioner, or a P.A. (personal assistant). If it is egoism, we wait till the election and the people will decide.

Apart from throwing your political might behind Gbemisola, what else do you think will work for her during the election?

It is just for me to go out and tell the people who she is, and that I support her. Kwara people know that I don't deceive them and they know whatever I tell them is the truth. She has also done so many things that I didn't even know of - so many children that she is responsible for their education up to university level. She is such a wonderful girl.

You are an Islamic elder. How true is it that women don't take leadership position in Islam?

It is not true; there is nothing like that. Even in Pakistan and Bangladesh, a woman is their leader. It is all part of Bukola's strategy in conjunction with the boys in his cabinet. We have women in high offices in this country like commissioners, ministers, ambassadors, (and so on), so what are we talking about?

How many wives and children do you have and are Bukola and Gbemisola of the same mother?

I have only one wife, Morenike; she is a Christian and I am a Muslim and we never discuss religion in our house. My wife is the first wife in the world because she is very wonderful. I married her in London in 1962. Bukola was our first child born in London in December 1962, when I was doing my house job as a medical doctor. We both returned to Nigeria and gave birth to Gbemi two years later. So they are of the same mother. People are only saying rubbish that his mother is from South Africa. I have only one wife and she has four children for me. I don't have any wife elsewhere.

What sort of governance will Gbemisola bequeath to the state if she gets elected?

Peace, love, and positive development. She cannot do anything less than that and I am happy with the way Kwara people are accepting her. I quote Leo Max, a British poet: "Life that I have is all that I have and the life that I have is yours and yours and yours; the love that I have of the life that I have, is yours and yours and yours". My life is for the Kwara people.

Why did you float the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria, ACPN, considering that you were a respected person in the PDP?

ACPN was registered in January 2011, and we were led to do that because of the way the PDP was behaving. In 2003, Atiku Abubakar and former PDP chairman, Audu Ogbeh, met with me and begged that I joined the PDP because then, they could not win ordinary councillorship seat in Kwara State. They asked me to take any positions I wanted, so I took the chairmanship, secretary, woman leader, and treasurer. It was on that platform that Bukola, my son, contested election in 2003. I actually formed the ACPN in 2003 but mellowed on it. I ensured that my members were going for INEC meetings with parties and running the party, as if I knew that things might change. Thank God for that reasoning, now look at what Bukola, my son, has done to me. According to the PDP constitution, the governor is the leader in the state, and at the national level, it is the president. I told Bukola that I cannot be here in Kwara and still be in politics and you call yourself the leader of the party; I thought he would take note of that but he didn't and was acting in that capacity. When he was to nominate the executive, he brought the list to me and I changed one or two persons on the list, but he was fully in charge of the party without telling me what was happening. I immediately saw that his idea was to ensure that Gbemisola, his younger sister, did not have a single delegate when it came to contesting the primary. So I decided it was better for me to leave the PDP for another party, but my team of elders advised that we should return to our party, ACPN, and we came fully on stream. We are now fully ready to win all the offices in the state. We have no presidential candidate but whoever wants to talk to us we are ready. I told President Jonathan that I am not a member of PDP, but a supporter because I have two of my children there. But what Bukola and the PDP are doing is wrong. The party should be independent and the government independent but now for a governor to be running the party is not healthy at all. Here in Kwara, PDP cannot deliver anything for anybody; it is ACPN they need to talk to.

What do you make of Bukola's refusal to toe your line of realising Gbemisola's ambition? Does he now command enough following to claim leadership of the political terrain in the state?

That is the mistake he is making. He believes because people have been praising him that he has done well by building roads, water, light and others, that has made him to become a leader. I have been telling him several times that all these boys you are carrying about in your cabinet are nobody; they can't tell even their sisters at home to vote for you; they have no value. They tell Bukola that he is the leader and that the people of Kwara are deceiving me, his father. But do you see any sign of the people deceiving me now? (Referring to the crowd that gathered in his house during the interview). We are waiting to see how things go. But what can I do to him, absolutely nothing because he is still my son. We have all spoken to him, especially the mother; but there appears to be another force pushing him. He claims he wanted a change in Kwara, but I don't know what change he can bring in eight years; I have been in this thing for 47 years, when he was only six months old when we brought him home from London, and when I contested in 1964, he was only two years old, but he believes eight years is enough to change things in Kwara. You don't know how sad I am that my son is doing this against me; but I pray that God will change his mind to let him know that this is wrong. I believe that Bukola's eight years cannot wipe out my 47 years in Kwara politics; the elections will show who is who and I am waiting for that. Well, I think it is very clear now that Gbemi is going to succeed, maintain and look after the dynasty because she has my qualities - she is kind-hearted and available Bukola is not a politician that is why he is doing this because he has seen that there is no way for him. How can he oppose me? Who put him there (and) why does he think in his eight years he can change the setting in Kwara? I believe that Bukola's eight years cannot wipe out my 47 years in Kwara politics; the elections will show who is who and I am waiting for that.