2011: We’ll meet on the field, Saraki tells son
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- Category: Politics
- Published on Monday, 03 January 2011 08:52
- Written by Punch
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At the event, Saraki said he would meet his son, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on the field. This development has set the stage for an epic clash between the veteran politician and his son, who is also the governor of the state and leader.
Saraki, who joined the ACPN at a formal ceremony at his Iloffa residence in the Government Reservation Area, Ilorin also said, “The Peoples Democratic Party is officially dead and buried in Kwara State.” At the event, the politician also directed his supporters to discard PDP property in their possession, adding that he was still discussing with other parties.
The leadership of the All Nigeria Peoples Party and the Congress for Progressive Change led by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and Maj.-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (retd.) respectively, had visited the elder statesman last week.
Speaking on Sunday, Saraki said, “Now that they have eased us out of the PDP, the party is officially dead in Kwara. There is no more PDP here. For now we are joining the ACPN, though we are still talking with other parties.
“I was the one you voted for in 1999, 2003 and 2007; but since they have decided to treat us like this, we will move to a party that will favour us and not suffer us the way PDP is doing.”
Saraki, who told his supporters that though his son had done well on many fronts, said he (the governor) failed to understand the balance of power in the state.
“When you (his supporters) told me you wanted Bukola in 2003, I told you he was not a politician, but you said it was him you wanted. Now you are saying you want Gbemi (his daughter). When I told him Gbemi would take over from him, he said ‘no problem.’ I called him and asked him, ‘Do you know anybody who is better than Gbemi?’
“I should be recuperating after undergoing a surgery in my right leg, but I can’t afford to leave behind a Kwara I cannot be proud of. Those we do not know their fathers are now the ones abusing me.”
He flayed the leadership of the PDP in the state for capitalising on the “inexperience of the state leadership to perpetuate themselves and turn themselves into something else. Those who were not involved in the building of the party have now capitalised on the inexperience of the leadership to perpetuate themselves and to decide the fate of the real people on the state’s political turf.”
He added, “We now have a PDP that lacks cohesion, focus, direction and is bereft of ideas on how to carry people along and win elections. Though we have taken the situation in good stride, I call on you not to be despondent. It is testing time.”
He noted that the governor had wanted to stop him from making Gbemi a senator, but could not because he didn’t have the full complement of security agencies under him. The supporters, who were drawn from the three senatorial districts in the state, had earlier restated their support for Saraki.
