SARAKI/DOGARA GOOD TIMES HERE FOR NASS STAFF

We all looked forward to the Grand finale.  The hype surrounding the build-up to the National Assembly leadership election was much.  Newspapers, Television, Radio, billboards all pointed to one direction.  The icing to the cake was when the All Progressive Congress (APC) Chieftains apparently thought they had settled the leadership question declaring support for Senator Ahmed Lawan and Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila for the Speakership of the House of Representatives.  This was on Thursday.  Instead of peace to reign, crisis took centre stage.

The interlude that followed during the weekend paved the way for a shock treatment.  While the “anointed” candidates went to sleep waiting for Monday to be coronated, a double shuffle awaited them.  The resistants were cooking their ace.

Over the weekend, they dusted the record books.  By now national patriotism had given way to personal survival.  In this game, the strategy is to outwit the other.  The sharing of booties, the spoil of office had just begun.

In the record books, the various camps remembered that, oh, the APC is after all an amalgam of five political parties pieced together, namely the ANPP, CPC, ACN and the old PDP.  Already, using the umbrella of APC, the acclaimed Godfather had already produced the President (CPC); the Vice-President (ACN). The National Party Chairman is from ANPP.  The breakaway faction of the old PDP had nothing.  If the Godfather of ACN succeeds in grabbing the leadership of the National Assembly, then he would be unstoppable for 2019!

So the arithmetic was this: the new PDP with 27 Senators in their fold simply aligned with the 49 Senators who voted eblock and at the same time retained the Deputy slot!  The 59 APC Senators didn’t see this coming; they ought to have known.  In any intra political battle, lessons abound that without a joker in the pack, defeat is imminent!  So while they waited at the international Conference Centre for the President, election were held and the rest is now history.

Now that Senator Bukola Saraki has been crowned, what next to expect?  So much have been said about him already.  In fact some of the comments passed carried a veiled attempt of blackmail.  But the Senate President, from birth have been a blessed figure.  As the elders would say, his palm kernel has already been cracked for him.

He is smart, cool and calculated.  Meeting him for the first time at a function you think he cannot pull a punch.  But on closer examination, I was smart to detect the steel in his eyes that always remained expressionless.  If I wasn’t in the know that this was the scion of the famous Saraki dynasty, I could have mistaken him for a Permanent Secretary or the Vice-Chancellor of some foreign Institution.  He appeared polished, suave and gentle unlike the other smoky, combative elements that parades the corridors of power.  When he read his speech at that meeting, his voice was inaudible and I nearly strained my ears listening to him.  Yet he was purposeful, fixed and determined.  By instinct I immediately knew that this was not the kind of man to be pushed around – exactly what played out with the APC Chieftains.

Somebody like Saraki who had seen and conquered – name it – financial wealth, silver spoon, blue chip companies, executive positions, it is normal that his famous philanthropic father’s gene runs in his blood.  The new Senate President is a natural giver, and money means nothing to him.  As a born winner, doubtless that he has come to accept the fact that he has no option than to build and build people.  Some say he has deep pockets; matter of fact, anyone who had been Executive Director of a bank, two times Governor; S.A to President on budget, Senator and now Senate President is not expected to have “slim pockets”.  My friends who once worked with Saraki are amazed at how their names were removed from the grip of poverty.  Saraki ensured they were well taken care of – legitimately.

This is why I believe that now that he is at the saddle, both permanent and non permanent staff of the National Assembly are in for good times.  Saraki is gifted in welfare matters; I don’t know whether he read Abraham Maslow’s hierrarch of needs – shelter, clothing, food, finance – but he seems to be a master in these circles.  They have said it before: a child of a father is easily identifiable.  Saraki has taken after his father’s footsteps.  And now we look forward to a new lease of life for National Assembly staff.  I have not mentioned his colleagues, because I know they will be carried along.  I concentrated on Legislative Aides because, for too long, they have remained stagnant.

As for Hon. Yakubu Dogara, those who wrote him off and saw him as the wary transgressor are mistaken.  The new Speaker never left anyone in doubt about his ambition to be the new Speaker of the House.  When the political intrigues and maneuvers were thrown up Yakubu Dogara did not remain in the shadows.  He hit the ground running canvassing for support although from the grapevine it was made known that the immediate past Speaker Hon. Tambuwal now Governor of Sokoto had been his sponsor.  The Sokoto State Governor had always wanted independence for the House, and indeed he got it.

So what is in store from this highly literate Northerner?  A man who is able to pull 184 votes and has quickly closed the gap amongst his colleagues?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Dogara, it must be mentioned is another legendary giver.  Tales about his prolific assistance to associates, colleagues are too good to be true.  Suffice to say, with a man like Dogara, members of the House, Legislative Aides and permanent staff are going to smile.

Already, the House is agog with enthusiasm and expectation.  It is understood that Dogara will improve on the legacy left by Tambuwal and build lasting legislative structures for both permanent and non-permanent staff.