Why Saraki shunned Ilorin Eid Praying Ground
By: Abdulyekeen Mohd Bashir
I just had the time to read Alhaji Wahab Oba’s piece titled, “Abdulrazaq, Watch the Moon…Tonight.” As colourful and eventful as this year’s Eid Prayer was in Ilorin, it is no surprise that as a seasoned Journalist that Alhaji Oba is, the news peg for him was the show of ‘muscle’ put up by the first family in the State as obviously sanctioned by His Excellency and the Chief Security Officer of the State, Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq. For the sake of those who may not know what a news peg means, it is a particular happening that makes an event newsworthy.
Known for its deep Islamic heritage, the Eid prayers in Ilorin are particularly outstanding, and that was what non-indigenes like my friend who was with me yesterday hoped to see at the hallowed worship ground; before we were presented with the embarrassing and needless distortion of traditional protocols by members of the first family who should, under normal circumstances, be the symbol of decency and orderliness.
It is a good thing that Saraki stayed away from the Eid prayers, otherwise, I do not know how his supporters would have endured the provocation of having the senior brother to the Governor, Dr. Alimi Abdulrazaq, the Muttawali of Ilorin, usurped the space traditionally reserved for the Waziri, a title Saraki currently holds.
To show that the whole charade was a choreographed attempt to show the dominance and the newfound power of the latest but emerging political family in Kwara; the Abdulrazaq family even went an inch further by positioning a younger member of the family, Baba Abdulrazaq to occupy the space that was reserved for another title holder, the Turaki of Ilorin. The fact that the Turaki, in this case, Senator Saliu Mustapha, is a member of the same APC as the Governor negates the argument that the Abdulrazaqs merely intended to embarrass Bukola Saraki.
With the way they pushed back influential community leaders, including a former Justice of the Supreme Court; some Baloguns, not to talk of a House of Representatives member, Hon. Muktar Shagaya that was forced to a little corner, it was clear that the Abdulrazaqs were out to prove to anyone who cares to take note that the Abdulrazaq political family has supplanted the Saraki political family and that the former is now fully in charge.
What is more, as Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq who, as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, now stays more in Abuja to immerse himself in national politics, the other members of the Abdulrazaq family are stepping in to control the levers of power back home. That is the message from what happened at the Eid prayer ground.
While there is nothing strange with having a political family hold sway in Kwara or anywhere else at a given time, after all this same state was for a very long time under the control of the almighty Saraki family; what is shocking is the “in your face” manner with which the Abdulrazaq family are going about it.
It is clear that the bleating and groaning of the Abdulrazaq family about the dominance of the Saraki’s was nothing but envy if they are already forcing themselves down our troats with only half a decade of their access to power.
It is even more appalling that the cerebral Dr. Alimi Abdulraq who should know better was also a part of the entire juvenile show of shame.
But if there is anyone in the Abdulrazaq family who still fears the omniscient power of the Almighty God, who alone gives and takes power at will, then they will tread with caution and rethink their new style of power display before the putrid smell gets too far.
