‘Civil Conflict To Full-blown War’ – Former Minister Reveals Why Saraki’s Political Dynasty In Kwara Collapsed

A former Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, has described the 2018 defection of former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a major political miscalculation that hastened the collapse of the Saraki political dynasty in Kwara State.

Abia Radio News reports that Abdullahi made the assertion in his memoir, The Loyalist, which will be presented to the public on Tuesday (today).

The 297-page book chronicles Abdullahi’s two decades in Nigerian politics and offers an insider account of key political events at both state and federal levels.

Abdullahi, a long-time associate of Saraki and now spokesperson of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), revisits the 2019 general elections that ended the Saraki family’s long dominance of Kwara politics.

Before then, Saraki had spent eight years as governor and another eight years as senator, including serving as Senate President from 2015 to 2019.

According to Abdullahi, Saraki’s emergence as Senate President in 2015, without the backing of the APC leadership, marked the beginning of sustained political tension.

Saraki secured the position with the support of opposition senators, despite the party’s preference for Ahmad Lawan. Abdullahi said the move strained relations between the National Assembly and the Presidency throughout the life of the 8th National Assembly.

He argued that Saraki’s eventual defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2018 further worsened the situation.

Abdullahi said Saraki had a critical opportunity to mend fences after the Supreme Court cleared him of a false asset declaration case on July 6, 2018.

According to him, the ruling could have served as a turning point to rebuild relations with the APC and the Presidency, but Saraki failed to seize the moment.

“By leaving the party, he ended up transforming what was essentially a civil conflict into a full-blown war with an enemy that possessed vastly superior firepower,” Abdullahi wrote.

He added that remaining in the APC might have secured Saraki another term as Senate President.

At the PDP presidential primary in 2018, Saraki lost the ticket to Atiku Abubakar. He later returned to contest the Kwara Central senatorial seat but was defeated by APC candidate Yahaya Oloriegbe.

Abdullahi noted that the PDP governorship candidate, Abdulrazak Atunwa, and most other PDP candidates also lost their elections in 2019.

The defeat enabled the success of the “O to ge” movement in Kwara, which dismantled the Saraki political structure.

According to Abdullahi, the 2019 elections marked the first time since 1979 that political leaders emerged in Kwara without Saraki’s backing.

He added that the APC’s dominance in the state during the 2023 elections further cemented Saraki’s absence from elective office and underscored the long-term consequences of his defection.