Date: 2012-12-20

At 50 years old, he is one of the few personages of his generation who have been decorated in some of the most imaginable phrases: 'the strongman of Kwara', 'the new Kwara kingmaker', 'the new godfather', 'new Lord of the Manor', and 'epitome of service and standard'. Welcome to the world of Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, former governor of Kwara State and now a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Senator Bukola Saraki turned 50 on Wednesday, 19 December 2012, a natural chronological milestone which, however, contrasts with what not a few persons have come to acknowledge as his present towering political stature and achievements. Many also think that for Bukola, who is apparently the standard bearer of a great political dynasty in Kwara, built and bequeathed by his illustrious father, the late Senator Abubakar Olusola Saraki, a retrospective glance at the last 50 years may provide the galvanising force they presume he would need to launch himself into greater glory. To them, Bukola has achieved so much in just 50 years! And that the prospects of achieving more are so inviting.

A man groomed in the best tradition of western education, this scion of the Saraki family was the trump card his father needed and used to established the ultimate hegemony and continued to maintain his domineering influence and control when he came under threat by his late godson and former governor of the state, Alhaji Mohammed Lawal. This was after years of throwing up other indigenes either in the old Kwara, now Kwara and Kogi states, or in the present day Kwara State.

With benefit of hindsight, the decision of the then leader of Kwara politics, late Oloye Saraki, to pick the junior Saraki as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2003 elections, is now regarded as a blessing to the Saraki family. Bukola would go ahead to serve two terms of eight years as governor, the first time anyone did so in the state.
Bukola's assumption of office as governor was the result of what turned out to be his father's final political victory. His own first major battle and victory was yet to come. It came when he, perhaps the only one to do so and succeed after the Oloye lost a parliamentary election in 1964, battled his father and younger sister, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, over the 2011 governorship election in Kwara. In the election, Bukola opted to support Abdulfatah Ahmed, a former commissioner in his cabinet, who eventually emerged the candidate of the PDP and now governor of the state.

Some political analysts have canvassed the view that had Bukola lost the election to his father's Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), which presented his sister, Gbemisola, he would have lost the battle for the control of Kwara, or at best the supremacy conflict would have continued between himself and his sister.

Nevertheless, it was a victory he did not gloat over as a mark of honour to his father from whom he certainly learnt all the lessons. These analysts also opined that his stance against his father and sister in the election put him up as a man of principle, shored up the integrity of his family, and enthroned him as a worthy successor to his father's political dynasty.

Happily, for the family, before Oloye Saraki passed on he had reconciled with his son and Governor Ahmed, all of whom ensured he was given a befitting burial as the Ilorin emirate council's numero uno political leader for over three decades.

His victory in the 2011 elections was double-fold. Beside the one already established in the installation of Ahmed as governor, he himself won election into the Senate, effectively replacing his sister as the senator representing Kwara Central district in the National Assembly. He has emerged as one of the shining lights of the current Senate and fast positioning himself as a man for the future, as he has to his credit bills and motions that have forced a redefinition of issues in Nigeria. Indeed, Bukola raised the motion which opened up the way for the probe of the oil subsidy regime in the nation's petroleum industry. As chairman, Senate Committee on the Environment and Ecology, Senator Saraki sponsored a bill that will ensure an oil spill management proposal that pays good behaviour and punishes recklessness.

Moreover, his commitment to the medical sector as a medical doctor is immense. His is that of global standard health service delivery, something he did as governor, and which he combined with quality education and success in the agriculture sector to set Kwara State on the path of growth and development.

Bukola Saraki has a somewhat transformational philosophy of leadership."Leaders are in the business of building bridgees to the future; this requires the breaking down walls of dissent and intolerance, sectarian chauvinism, bigotry, nepotistic leadership and dereliction of merit. Change will always require the destruction of walls and the building of bridges," he had said.

A number of persons have argued that Bukola was too much in a hurry to assume the leadership of a political dynasty he was destined to inherit and which he would have ultimately inherited. To buttress this position, they point to when Oloye Saraki stepped down as the Turaki of Ilorin to move up the traditional ladder as the Waziri of Ilorin, he supported Bukola to take over as Turaki. They, however, did not deny him the courage and capacity to be his own man which he has so eloquently exhibited amid daunting obstacles. At 50, many believe Bukola Saraki is standing up to be counted, and that he is actually being counted.

Born on December 19, 1962, Bukola attended King's College, Lagos (1973-1978) before proceeding to Cheltenham College, Cheltenham in London (1979-1981). He later moved to the London Hospital Medical College, University of London in 1982 and was there till 1987 when he obtained his M.B.B.S (London).

He worked as a Medical Officer at Rush Green Hospital Essex, London from 1988-1989, Senior Casualty Officer of Royal Free Hospital, London from 1988-1989 and Director, Societe Generale Bank (Nig) Ltd from 1990-2000.

He became a Special Assistant on Budget to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000. As Special Assistant on Budget, he served on the Economic Policy Coordination committee. He was also chairman presidential committee on non-oil Revenue Generation from year 2000-2001.