OPINION - Senate Presidency: This is our chance in Kwara. By Kayode Oyin-Zubair
Senator Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo, another son of the soil was a member of the senate at that time but rode on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) to the upper chamber of the legislative house. As the scramble for the exalted seat in the house started, C.O. Adebayo pitched his tent with his brother, Olusola Saraki even with their clear differential political leanings. Adebayo was proud of doing that and thanked God his brother made it.
You will recall that the former senate leader paid Adebayo back in the 1983 governorship election when he threw his weight behind him to become the governor of Kwara State.
Providence again beckons on Dr. Bukola Saraki to lead the 8th Senate, now as the senate president. Would any son or daughter of Kwara despise this cause?
The chief campaigner of Saraki senate presidency today is Lai Mohammed who holds that this is our chance in the state of harmony, he also believes this window will afford us the opportunity of contributing to nation building while our own is in the saddle.
Mohammed unlike Adebayo belongs to the same political party with Saraki. Mohammed unknown to many has a long standing relationship with the Saraki family. In 2003, before Senator Saraki joined the governorship race, political pundits held that the patriarch of the Saraki family was going to support Alhaji Lai Mohammed who was running on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). I was a coordinator of the Lai Mohammed Campaign Organization (LAMCO) in Ifelodun local government area.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State in 2002 and Lai Mohammed was his chief of staff (de facto deputy governor); when the late Oloye approached Asiwaju for an intervention on a Kwara matter. Lai Mohammed took it upon himself and honored the late pillar of Kwara politics. Little wonder through out his campaign in 2003 and later as the spokesman for MRD/MDD, ACD, AC, ACN and now, he never hurled attack on the Saraki family which many of the unreliable characters within us found unacceptable.
Lai Mohammed is urbane, humble and sincere. At the launch of his book - Witness to History, in Lagos in 2013, Asiwaju exclaimed that he would have protested should Lai Mohammed failed to allow him to present the book. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria's president-elect wrote the foreword to that book. Asiwaju didn't fail to expose the character of Lai Mohammed in his brief speech.
"Lai, you are intelligent, Lai you are smart, Lai you are an honest man. You are only being modest by saying you are a witness to history. You are the history. Lai is ACN, and ACN is Lai." It was about the time ACN was winding up and we had returned our certificate to INEC.
This is the man who believes in the socio-economic well being of his people and had pursued same with vigor over time. He is one man that believes in the Will of the Almighty God on every issue of life. He is a devout Muslim; some of his followers dare to address him as Alfa because he had on many occasions declined to behave like the average Nigeria politician.
As some may not know, Senator Saraki and Alhaji Lai Mohammed are on the same page on every issue as it affect our party since the merger was consummated. The senate presidency can't be an exemption. The cynics will be shocked to the marrow in the nearest future when Kwara finally carry the ace. To be concluded.
Kayode Oyin-Zubair, is the Head of Programs (Mandate 2015) and Secretary Kwara Unity Forum (KUF), political group of Lai Mohammed.
Cloud Tag: What's trending
Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.
Kemi Adeosun Abdulganiy Abimbola Abdussalam Afeyin-Olukuta Plat Technologies Abdulhakeem Adelaja Amao Kwara State Governor Muhammad Ghali Alaaya Apaola Kabir Shagaya Bola Magaji Abatemi-Usman Esinniobiwa Quareeb Ayekale Shehu Salau Hussein Oloyede Pakata Is\'haq Modibbo Kawu Ishak Mohammed Sabi Ayodele Kuburat Olaosebikan Abdulrasaq Alaro Sa\'adu Salau Bolakale Ayo Adisa Logun George Funsho Adebayo Tunji Ajanaku Salihu Yahaya Shuaib Boni Aliyu Just Law Forum Ibrahim Akaje Grillo Sobi Specialist Hospital Chief Imam Of Offa Nigeria Association Of Women Journalists Alapado Ahman Pategi Suraj Tunji Oyewale Yakubu Shaaba Emir Of Ilorin Toun Okewale-Sonaiya Na\'Allah FERMA Olaiya Victor Mobolaji Ishaq Abdulkarim Egbejila Ahmed Dankaya Kwara State Printing And Publishing Corporation Shehu Alimi Foundation Isiaka Oniwa Hassan Taiye Salam Sulaiman Gado Oke-Ero Najim Yaasin Sarafadeen Kayode Akorede Kwara-SAPZ Project Hamza Usman Akeem Lawal Hamid Bobboyi Babata Ajayi Okasanmi Yusuf Babatunde Abdulwahab Jalala Ilorin Central Mosque Yusuf Amuda Aluko College Of Education Marufat Oladosu Sam Onile Sidikat Akaje Yemi Sanni Photo News Ilorin South Association Of Kwara State Online Media Practitioners Chief Of Staff Taofik Mustapha Babaita Abdulrazak Shehu Akorede Muyideen Ajani Bello Elections

