Dynastic Saga As The Saraki Senatorial Family Prepare To Battle Themselves

The departure of Nigeria’s Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki from APC ‎is currently the biggest talk in town.

But an unnamed source says his sister, former Senator Gbemisola Saraki, is currently preparing to use APC to take his senate seat in the 2019 elections.

Her posters announcing her senate candidacy on the APC platform have recently emerged.

Recall that she once held the seat her brother Bukola currently holds. That was when Bukola was governor of Kwara.

He was installed there by their father after the late Senator Olusola Saraki after undergoing a period of apprenticeship as an aide to then President Obasanjo.

But Bukola then ran for Gbemi’s senate seat while opposing her run for Governor of Kwara.

This apparently displeased their father. What he seeminly prefared was an exchange of positions between the siblings.

In spite of his support for Gbemi’s governorship campaign, Bukola’s candidate, current Governor Ahmed emerged victorious.

Since the creation of Kwara State, Saraki senators have been in supreme control of who becomes Governor of the state.

The only exception was when Bukola as outgoing governor challenged his sister, who was their dad’s choice.

No internal or external force has been able to change this till date.

Any governor who rebels against them has been democratically deposed. While loyal governors are allowed to govern.

With Bukola’s departure from the APC that rules Nigeria, APC lost the force that currently controls Kwara politics.

But with the entry of his sister, Senator Gbemisola, are they going to recapture control of Kwara?

Not An Easy Task

When their father, Senator Olusola was political boss, he spent most of time going to war to replace governors he had installed who later rebelled aganst him.

His son Bukola was the only governor he couldn’t defeat. They later reconciled.

But in  Bukola’s time, the governor has been so loyal to Senator Bukola that there has been no war to depose him.

Maybe he wisely learnt from the experience of seeing Bukola emerge victorious from a contest with father.

And where their father became majority leader of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola has surpassed that, becoming Senate President against the wishes of very powerful forces inthe ruling APC.

As Gbemi Saraki readies to battle her brother – if she decides to go ahead, she -more than anyone alive -realizes she is facing a giant slayer.

The only big weapon she wields might be federal support from APC.