​Re: Kwara Youth Threaten to Recall Saraki

We have just been alerted to a very irresponsible statement issued by a faceless group which styles itself as Kwara Youth Stakeholders Forum. In it, the group threatened to spearhead the recall of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki from the Senate for being an encumbrance to the federal government and for not, in their own words,  ‘’feeling the impact of having a Senate President from our State.’’

 
Ordinarily, we do not think it is proper to dignify such a group of misfits and nobodies with a response. These days, anyone with an access to a computer and internet can make wild and reckless allegations. But we have elected to respond to this group because of the seriousness of the issues it raised and because some non-Kwarans may believe that there are elements of truth in its statement.
 
Firstly, we wish to state that the Kwara Youth Stakeholders Forum is a mere paper-tiger with no clout whatsoever in Kwara State. Until they issued their obnoxious statement, no one had heard of the group, which as it emerged is made up of few disgruntled individuals with no pedigree.  They therefore do not speak for the youths or people of Kwara State. 
 
Secondly, they lack rudimentary understanding of how democracy works in our nation. Their statement reveals their ignorance of the true powers and function of the Senate. To enlighten them a little, the Senate is not a rubber stamp. It is constitutionally empowered to serve as check to the executive through its oversight functions, which it has done to various degrees over the years. 
 
The current Senate President, Dr Saraki has stated severally that he has no personal issues with the President or Acting President, but leading the Senate to play the role envisaged for it by the framers of our constitution. To buttress this, we recall that all the ministerial nominees of Mr President were cleared by the Senate, despite the serious protests from the PDP.
 
Over the years, we have witnessed disagreements and tension between the executive and legislative arms. There is nothing new about this and it is not exclusive to the 8th Senate led by Dr. Saraki. In fact, this should be the norm in any thriving democracy, suggesting that both arms of government are alive to their responsibilities. If anything, we believe that the current Senate President has done a marvellous job of leading the upper chamber, balancing all the tendencies and interests, while ensuring that more bills and motions are passed than at any other time, at this same point in, in the Senate. 
 
There is therefore no basis to fault the leadership of the Senate by Dr Saraki. We true Kwarans are happy with his leadership style and especially proud of the development he has attracted to our state by being in the Senate.
 
We actually believe the ‘threat’ of recall by this group is laughable, for they and their paymasters lack the political clout to even win a councillorship election in Kwara State, not to talk of recalling the number 3 citizen in Nigeria.
 
Finally, we call on the media not to taken in by groups such as the one that issued the statement, which are merely seeking undeserved attention reckless and wild allegations. 

The Kwara Consensus Group
Sign…. Yinka Dallas (Kwara South) 

Katun Ibrahim (Kwara North) 

Mayaki Yusuf (Kwara Central)