The dominance of Kwara Politics by the Second Republic Senate Leader, Dr Olusola Saraki received a blow weekend as his new party, the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) lost all the senatorial and five House of Representatives seats to his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Governor Bukola Saraki defeated three other candidates by polling 78,799 votes, followed closely by the ACN candidate, Dr Oloriegbe Yahaya, who got 53,058 votes, while the ACPN candidate, Hajia Rukayat Issa, scored 32,499, followed by Bilikisu Gambar (CPC), 5,928 ballots.

In Kwara North Senatorial District, former Gov. Mohammed Shaaba Lafiagi (CPC) defeated Alhaji Yinusa Yahaya (CPC) and Alhaji Shuaib Abdullahi (ACN). Incumbent Senator Simeon Ajibola (PDP) was returned in Kwara South after defeating the ACPN and ACN candidates, Mr Lola Ashiru and Anu Ibiwoye, respectively.

Saraki who has been the undisputed leader of Kwara politics has been the one responsible for the selection of those who has been governor of the state since 1979 when he fielded Adamu Attah as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) candidate. However in 1983 when he fell out with Attah he switched his loyalty to the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) gubernatorial candidate, Chief Cornelius Adebayo who won the election as the governor. From that time, Baba Oloye as Saraki is fondly called becomes the determinant of who take what in Kwara politics.

In the aborted Babangida political regime, Saraki supported Alhaji Shaba Lafiagi of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and he won the election as Governor of Kwara State in 1991 and in 2003 he switched over to the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) and with his support for its candidate, Mohammed Lawal, the party won the governorship election in 1999.

However, Saraki fell out with Lawal and dumped the ANPP in the build up to the 2003 elections. Realising that he has been having problems with his godsons after their elections, he decided to back his son, Bukola for the governorship race.

He won both in 2003 and 2007. In the build up to the 2011 election, there arose a conflict between Bukola and his father, Olusola about who to succeed him as the governor of the state. While the elder Saraki believes Gbemi, Bukola’s sister should succeed her brother, the governor felt otherwise. After a lot of intrigues and power play, Olusola Saraki dumped the PDP and moved to a relatively unknown party, the ACPN where he secured the governorship ticket for her daughter, Gbemi. Governor Saraki with his father moving out of the PDP automatically becomes the leader of the PDP in the state.

The battle line was therefore drawn between the father and son and the 2011 election becomes a test case as to who is the real political leader of the state between father and son. In the build up to the elections, the two camps exhumed great confidence but as the results of the National Assembly elections have shown, Bukola has gained the upper hand by winning three senatorial seats and Five House of Representatives on the platform of the PDP leaving his father gasping for breath after the first race in the 2011 elections.

Saraki defeat Saraki remains the song in the mouths of political watchers in the state of harmony and the myth surrounding the invincibility of Saraki seems to have been broken. How long can Bukola sustain the demystification of his father’s political hegemony? April 26 governorship poll will show that.