Date: 2019-12-29

Former President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has declared that the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has crossed the line of decency with his recent efforts to erase the legacies of his (Saraki's) late father, Dr Olusola Saraki.

He, however, said, "No evil design, negative plot or propaganda can successfully rewrite the history of Kwara State."

Saraki made this known in a statement he personally signed and released in Lagos on Saturday.

He stated that the war of attrition waged against the legacy of his father and everything that belongs to the late politician simply portrayed the governor as a man who lacks the sense of history.

He also alleged that the governor set out only to fight the Saraki family rather than to serve the interest of Kwarans.

The statement read, "Yesterday (Friday) night, the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, finally showed his true colour when he announced his decision to revoke the ownership of a property rightfully held by my late father, Dr Olusola Abubakar Saraki on Plots 1, 3 and 5 Ilofa Road, GRA, Ilorin popularly known as Ile Arugbo (Old People's home).

"The property, since the Second Republic, has always been used to host the weekly gathering of a multitude of aged people in society who are provided food, money and health services, as part of the social welfare programme sponsored by the late politician. The tradition has since been maintained.

"Before now, this same governor had invited all the members of the State House of Assembly and directed them to commence the process of amending the law to change the name of the state university which the last administration renamed after my late father, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki.

"He then followed up on this act of vengeance by initiating a bill to rename the university and expunge the name of the late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki.

"Now, he has decided to also revoke the titles of the landed property which belongs to the late politician."

He explained that the property had been rightfully allocated to his late father under the name of one of his companies, Asa Investment Limited, since the 1980s.

He added that contrary to the claim of the governor, the land was properly allocated and a Right of Occupancy title issued on it.

He said, "It should be noted that the excuse given by Abdulrazaq in his revocation order holds no water since it is clear that this is the height of his vengeance against my father, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki and I.

"Till today, many Kwarans have been wondering what problem the governor has with the late Oloye Abubakar Olusola Saraki or what the late politician did to offend him.

"It is surprising that of all vacant plots of land in strategic places across Ilorin township, the one that Abdulrahman found useful for his vengeful plan is the one owned by the late Dr Saraki.

"It is beyond comprehension why a governor would set as his main agenda the objective of undermining and waging a war of attrition against a man who is no longer around.

"This action is clearly a manifestation of vengeance and it shows that this governor is not out to serve any public purpose or pursue any development agenda.

"In his narrow-mindedness, he believes his victory at the polls is an empowerment, entitlement and enablement to settle scores, provoke and pursue inter-family rivalry.

"Those who voted for the party in power in Kwara State and Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq obviously did not vote for the man to enable him to wage war against Dr Olusola Saraki and his legacies. They expected development and fulfilment of promises.

"If the governor believes that people are not taking stock of his misguided and deceptive actions and that because he is in power, he could do whatever he likes, he must be a joker.

"Also, this war against the Sarakis will not successfully veil his unpreparedness for governance and divert people's attention from the glaring lack of visionary, clear-cut plan to deliver on his empty promises to the people. He definitely cannot get away with all the atrocities he has been committing.

"Since the outcome of the elections in March, despite the fact that there are clear grounds to challenge the results in court, I have decided to demonstrate maturity, statemanship and sportsmanship.

"I have chosen not to make comment on the policies, programmes and actions of the administration in Kwara State or that of its head.

Also, I deliberately stayed away from the state to avoid creating any distraction for the administration.

"My decision is borne out of a genuine restraint to enable the administration to settle down and fulfil its numerous promises to the people of our state.

"However, seven months down the line, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq has shown that his cardinal programme is to wage war against my late father and I.

"He has demonstrated that his only competence and astuteness is in the area of viciously assailing the late Oloye Saraki and I.

"Definitely, he is a man with no sense of history. Enough is enough. Now, he has crossed the line.

"Perhaps, I should let it be known that if Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq thinks he is taking all these actions to get at me, he is only deceiving himself.

"There is no basis for competition between us. Our paths cannot cross because the status that he is struggling to attain, Almighty Allah has given it to me many years before now.

"I became governor 16 years before him and served out my constitutional limit of eight years.

"Within the period, I was Chairman of Nigerian Governors' Forum. I have moved on to serve in the federal legislature and by the grace of God, I headed the National Assembly as the number three man in the country.

"No matter how well he tried to rewrite history, it is on record that I left Kwara State a lot better than I met it.

"In fact, the university that he is struggling to rename was established by my administration as just one out of many legacies we left behind.

"This governor needs a lot more efforts, years, intelligence and resources to attain the level Allah has taken me, not to talk of my late father, Dr Olusola Abubakar Saraki, the Senate Leader in the Second Republic.

"As governor, I used the position to serve the people and during the period, I did not dishonour his own father or anybody's father for that matter.

"Just as I did after the election, my advice to Gov Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq is that he should devote his time and energy to providing good governance and genuine development of the state.

"It is well known to the governor that I fear nobody, except Almighty Allah, the ultimate owner of all powers.

"With all his subterranean and open moves against my family, person and property, I remain unmoved.

"However, his open antagonism against my late father and his legacies is unwarranted and will not be tolerated.

"He has definitely gone beyond bounds as he cannot be allowed to ride roughshod on the deceased. In this war against my late father, he will not win.

Meanwhile, the Kwara State Government could not be reached for comments as of press time on Saturday.

Several calls to the mobile line of the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Rafiu Ajakaye, were not answered while a message sent to his WhatsApp platform was not answered.

However, a retired civil servant in the state who identified himself as Bamidele Aberuagba said government was right to have revoked Saraki's land for the purpose of building the state secretariat.

He said, "I don't know whether Baba Saraki had bought the land, but I remember that the foundation of the second phase of the state secretariat was built on that particular land by the then governor of the state in the second republic, Alhaji Adamu, Attah in 1982 and the foundation was on the land with feasible iron rod up to 1998."