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.
Kwara Muhammad Mustapha Suleiman Nigeria Computer Society Sa\'adu Salau Haleeman Salman Tosho Yaqub Kassim Babamale Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye Islamiya Abdulraheem Kola Adesina Idofin Raliat AbdulRazaq Emmanuel Bello Muhammed Taofeeq Abdulrazaq Senior Ibrahim Suleiman Siddiq Adebayo Idowu Salawu Oyedun Juliana Funke Hassan A. Saliu Kwara State Television Young Progressives Party CLAY POT Nigerian Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs Emmanuel Olatunji Adesoye Erin-ile Lola Ashiru Magaji Erubu Students Union Government Ilorin Metro Park Abdulganiyu AbdulAzeez Bayo Mohammed Onimode Abubakar Baba Federal Polytechnic Offa Ganmo Power Sub-Station Alabe Sunday Otokiti Isiaq Khadeejah Aremu Bose Deborah Sarafadeen Kayode Akorede Yusuf Abdulkadir RTEAN Valsolar Consortium Ayobami Akanbi Abdulhakeem Adelaja Amao Razaq Atunwa Elerinjare-Ibobo TESCOM Saka Asiat Ayinke Sunset Workers Aliyu Sabi Isau Alimi Yusuf Lanre Badmus AbdulRauf Keji Javed Khan Amoyo Junior Secondary School Certificate Examinations Bola Shagaya Garment Factory Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Harrison Osauwagboe Maryam Ado Bayero Forgo Battery Company Limited Dagbalodo Aminu Ado Bayero Saidu Isa Ishola Balogun Fulani Funmilayo Isiaka Oniwa Ijagbo Aliyu Olatunji Ajanaku Stephen Fasakin Centre For Peace And Strategic Studies Kwara Poly Dar-Al-Handasah Consultants Woro Alliance For Democracy Code Of Conduct Abubakar Imam

