The greatest test of Oloye’s political popularity and sagacity came under the governorship of his one-time political surrogate, late Governor Alabi Lawal, a retired navy commodore. Lawal had earlier served as the Military Governor of Ogun State under the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida. Like some of his predecessors, Lawal, this time in the tradition of the jackboots, waged a well-coordinated “political war” against his discipler, giving him a good run for his money and influence. Political watchers rationalised that Oloye had an uphill task dousing the rampaging powers of Lawal, unlike his predecessors, based on three clear reasons. One, that Lawal was the first Ilorin indigene to be sponsored to the Government House by Oloye, a situation that became an albatross of some sort for the kingmaker, given the fact that Lawal most times flaunted the fact that he was a “blue blooded Ilorin man like Oloye” who would not blink first for anyone.
As a way of garnering support, the political camp of Lawal sometimes played up the sensitive and inflammatory Afonja and Fulani acrimony to gain political advantage on either sides of the divide. Two, unlike previous protégées of Oloye, Lawal had enjoyed a robust military career with considerable pecks, including holding the position of a state governor which exposed him in no small measure to fame, power and money. But like the irrepressible powerhouse that he was, Oloye pulled all his political strings to drown the political warship of the naval warlord by capitalising on his deep entrenchment in the heart of Kwarans.
In the aftermath, Bukola, the medical doctor biological son of Oloye, emerged as governor in the epic 2003 general elections. In the same tradition of proving that his personality was greater than any political party as far as Kwara was concerned, Oloye had vacated the ANPP which he founded with all his supporters to raise the then “sagging umbrella of the PDP” in the state, under which Bukola contested and won. The emergence of Bukola silenced the venomous criticisms in many quarters about the propriety or otherwise of Oloye installing his son as the governor, a scenario they quickly likened to political faux pas of the banana republic.
Perhaps the only difference between Bukola and his predecessors or beneficiaries of his father’s goodwill was that he exhausted his two terms in office, albeit not with serious combustion in the dying days of his regime. Whilst the game of choosing a successor for Bukola heated up, Oloye had preferred the perpetration of his political dynasty through Gbemi, his biological daughter, then a serving senator. The ambition was stoutly resisted by Bukola who had a contrary position to Oloye. It was believed that Bukola took that position in a bid to save the image of the Saraki dynasty for generations to come. But be that as it may, it was a bitter “fratricidal political war”. Bukola pitched his tent with incumbent Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed, a long-term crony who also served in his cabinet as commissioner for finance.
Discovering that the ruling PDP had been ossified under Bukola, Oloye in tandem with his usual style energised the comatose ACPN as an alternative political party platform for Gbemi to contest the election. But alas, Bukola and his camp had their way as Abdulfattah, a native of Share in Ifelodun Local Government Area, won the election to become governor in the 2011 general elections. It was believed that the choice of Ahmed from the Yoruba-speaking non-Ilorin side of Kwara worked the magic, considering the fact that most of the non-Ilorin electorates desired a change in who occupies the Government House, other than an Ilorin indigene. Although Ahmed’s victory apparently signified diminishing marksmanship and influence for Oloye, it was not lost on Bukola’s camp that it could be “politically suicidal” for them to row in opposite direction to Oloye. Hence, Bukola acted like a good crisis manager by reconciling his camp with his father’s camp, albeit with remnants of misgivings smouldering underground before the demise of his father.
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It is noteworthy that the present regime under Ahmed, who is seeking a second term in office, is the only civilian regime in the state that was not implanted by Oloye in the last 30 years. The second-term bid of the incumbent governor under the APC is being turbo-charged by support of Bukola Saraki, former governor, serving senator and son of Oloye. On the second major political divide is another offspring of Oloye, Gbemisola, who is also angling to govern the State of Harmony come 2015 under the banner of the PDP.
The unrepressed question that constantly agitates the minds of some political analysts and watchers is: what exactly gave Oloye the type of irrepressible influence that he wielded, especially in a turbulent political clime like ours where many so-called political titans of his ilk had long vapourised from the scene? In any case, Oloye’s success was based on his superb understanding of what motivated each electorate and how to satisfy them for long-term personal advantage. He mastered the act of establishing “covenants” with the people by meeting them at their points of different needs. This appears to be the missing link in the political behaviour and career focus of many of our nation’s politicians of today. They have the erroneous impression that the electorates are nothing but “food is ready people” that should only be courted before election and quickly discarded afterwards. No wonder many of them run out of the radar of public significance in a short space of time after office.
Irrespective of the side of divide that one falls, one cannot but admit that Oloye etched his footsteps indelibly in the sands of Kwara politics and would continue to be a study in political relevance, particularly in a turbulent political clime like ours.
Tope Adaramola Salminen