OPINION - Senate Presidency: This is our chance in Kwara. By Kayode Oyin-Zubair

Date: 2015-04-19

In 1979, Providence presented to our dear state - Kwara the opportunity of leading the Senate of the second republic and the cap was hovering over the late Dr. Olusola Saraki of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Saraki eventually wore the cap and became the senate leader.

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.

Odolaye Aremu     Ojo Fadumila     Segun Abifarin     Olatunji Ibrahim     Nagode     Al-Hikmah Radio     Convocation Ceremonies     CT Ayeni     Bolakale Kawu     Seed Technologies     Ahmed Mohammed Rifun     Abdulraheem Olesin     Jaigbade Alao     Maryam A. Garuba     Hijaab     AGILE Programme     Fatai Garuba Labaka     Awwal Jawondo     Isau     Gobir Organization Foundation     Abdulazeez Arowona     AbdulHamid Adi     Abdullahi Dasilva Yussuf     Hikmah AbdulKareem     Kwha.gov.ng     Saka Keji     Femi Ogunsola     Chief Imam Of Offa     KW-GIS     Abdulazeez Uthman     Agboola Babatunde     Lanre Badmus     Kwara Coalition Of Business And Professional Associations     Abubakar Olusola Saraki     Saheed Akinwumi     PPS     Sheriff Shagaya     Lai Mohammed     Sarah Jubril     Kubra Kazum     Benin Republic     Shonga     Tunde Idiagbon Road     Radio Kwara     SSA Youth     Tunde Kazeem     Share-Tsaragi     Adam Abdullahi Al-Ilory     Ezekiel Yissa Benjamin     Sarakite     Oyin-Zubair     All Peoples Party     Magaji Erubu     Mohammed Saidu     Olabode Towoju     Chemiroy Nigeria Limited     Aminat Omodara     Ayinde Oyepitan     Ganiyu Taofiq     Gwanara     Alfa Yahaya Road     Amule Elementary School     Simeon Sayomi     HYPPADEC     LABTOP     Ibrahim Kayode Adeyemi     Code Of Conduct Bureau     Gaa Olobi     Iliasu     Hassan Saliu     Idofin     Olaitan Buraimoh     Prince Bola Ajibola     Shehu Jimoh     Raliat AbdulRazaq     Asa     Temitope Ogunbanke    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Sarah Jubril     Kwara State Pension Board     Balogun Fulani     Wahab Issa     Pakata Development Association     Osinbajo     Ademola Kiyesola     The Herald     Bello Abubakar     John Kehinde Salako     Garba Ado Sanni     Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye     Ibrahim Bio     Yakubu Dogara     General Hospital, Ilorin     Okin High School     Alaiye     Police Commissioner     Lawal Arinola Kudirat     Jalala     Tunde Idiagbon Road     Abdulrauf Yusuf     Kola Bukoye     NULGE     Taofik Abdulkareem Babaita     Hassan Taiye Salam     Taiwo Joseph     Elerin Of Adanla Irese     Abdulrosheed Okiki     Sabitiyu Grillo     Abdulmajeed Abdullahi     Ahmed Alhasssan     Mahmud Ayinla Giwa     Lithium     Lanwa     Bolaji Nagode     Medview Airlines     Saeedat Aliyu     Jimoh Olusola Imam     Sulu Gambari     Babatunde Ishola Babaita     Gbemi Saraki     Abikan     Fatimat Saliu     Ayinde Oki     Salihu Alhaji Musa     Ahmed Bayero     Niyi Osundare     Abdullahi Saadudeen Alikinla     Alao Ayotunde     Afeyin-Olukuta     Transition Implementation Committee     Otoge     Lola Ashiru     Council Of The Wise     Mohammed Alabi Lawal     ANCOPPS     Ishola Abdullahi     Funmi Salau     Sunday Fagbemi     Olajumoke Monsura Gafar     AbdulRaheem Ahmad Shayi     Voices Of Tomorrow     Sayomi     Wahab Olasupo Egbewole     Lucky Omoluwa     Senior Special Assistant On Student Affairs     Mutawali     TIC     Tosho Yaqub     Ndakene     Yusuf Abdulkadir     Isaac Aderemi Kolawole     Shuaib Boni Aliyu     Bayer AG     Tunji Ajanaku     Asa