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Saraki and the rest of them
Written by Sam Adesua Tuesday, 26 October 2010
The political courage of Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State must be lauded. This is not because the contest into which he has thrown himself can be likened to that of David versus Goliath. Dr Saraki is about to finish his second term in office as the governor of Kwara State and he is having his eyes on the nation’s number one seat in Aso Rock in 2011.
This ambition is ostensibly on the platform of the much flogged zoning policy of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has also been a subject of criticism by many Nigerians. With emphasis on this policy by Northern aspirants, there is this assumption in some quarters that the presidency should revert back to a Northerner in 2011. After all, the late President Umaru Yar’Ardua did not complete two terms in office before his demise that paved the way for Dr Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy and a Southerner, to constitutionally take over the mantle of leadership. Some even see the issue as more atavistic.
On the same platform, Dr Saraki is facing formidable opponents in the former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida; another former military head of state, retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and General Aliyu Gusau. They all share the ambition of picking the only PDP presidential ticket on behalf of the North. Thus, within the assumed but outdated philosophy of a monolithic North, it is one ticket but four Northerners.
Given the ruthless disposition of an average army General in the Third World, Saraki’s gentle mien betrays his boldness in confronting the erstwhile army generals in such a political contest. More so, in Nigeria, politics is seen as a do-or-die affair.
As governor of Kwara State for about eight years now, even if many people will not acknowledge his performance, a very few people can boldly accuse Saraki of non-performance as a governor so far, his aristocratic background notwithstanding.
Unfortunately, in prevailing Nigeria’s geopolitical milieu, high performance or ability to perform always trails far behind other odd criteria, such as where the aspirant comes from, in the scale of political office considerations.
But why is Saraki undaunted in this political adventure? This may be difficult to unravel now. However, the hard fact is that, he may appear bold and undaunted now, but going by the history of the nation’s ethno-politics, what Dr Saraki will soon discover is that everyone within the geographical boundary of the old political North may be regarded as a Northerner; some Northerners are more Northerner than others.
On ethnic platform, Nigerians are dexterous in placing political disclaimer on anyone seen as obstacle to their political aspiration.
Remember the story of Chief S.L Akintola and Chief Akpata in the defunct Western Regional politics of the First Republic?
Chief Akintola, a super orator, was quoted as telling Chief Akpata that “Akpata tire ni ke,” meaning that, his own Akpata “has k” unlike the “original” Yoruba spelling of Apata without “k”. Implicit in this is the disclaimer that “you may be with us, you are not one of us.”
Nigerians should not be surprised whenever Dr Saraki is told in an unambiguous language by “fellow Northerners” that his own “Akpata” has a detestable “k” for the comfort of the “original Northerners.”
Issues like this will always come up in the country to throw up the sense in the philosophy of political irredentism of the Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his efforts at proffering a workable federation instead of the lopsided and asymmetric tripartite federal arrangement of colonialists. His political enemies found this view too complex for their understanding or rather, preferred to always twist and exploit it for selfish reasons throughout the pre-independence and the immediate post-independence political era.
The jettisoning of this philosophy is what has put someone like Dr Saraki in an awkward position. An awkward position likened to that of the bat in the animal kingdom. In the animal kingdom, when there is something to share and benefit from, rats would disclaim the bat with a plausible argument that no rat can fly. So, since bats can fly, they are not rats and, therefore, should go to birds for its share. So, bats cannot partake in the sharing of what is meant to benefit the rats.
The bat is visited with the same disclaimer on getting to the congregation of the birds. They told the bat point blank that all birds were known with beak to swallow their food and not with the kind of head and teeth of the bat.
Now that the North is aware of the herculean task of confronting President Goodluck Jonathan in the race for the presidential ticket of the PDP, the zoning sentiment notwithstanding, the apostles of zoning are of the conviction that there must be collaborative efforts. A single (consensus) candidate must emerge among the aspirants.
Is it possible for Saraki to emerge as the consensus candidate? The bitter truth, based on the bat’s awkwardness theory vis-à-vis Northern political history, is that it is impossible for Saraki to pick the ticket.
Thus, the contest is likely to be left to Saraki’s co-aspirants who are the “genuine” Northerners. To the “real” Northerners, it is only when there is the need to exploit the asymmetric or lopsided federal arrangement for the exclusive political benefits of the North that people in Kwara, especially those of them bearing Yoruba names, could count. Here, some controlled fringe benefits could reach them. Saraki is only being allowed to be involved in the spirit of a monolithic North, which of course, has become amorphous.
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