As Nigeria awaits the inauguration of the 8th national assembly, the political space has understandably become awash with speculation about who will be Senate President and therefore President of the National Assembly. The speculation is understandable.
The Senate president will not only be the number three man in the country, he will play a pivotal role in governance and the political direction of the country’s post May 29. However, much of the speculation about who the cap best fits has focused on geopolitical issues especially the zoning formula of the in-coming governing party.
Most Nigerians expect, and expectedly so, the position to be zoned to the North Central geo-political zone of the country. The North Central not only delivered over whelming votes to the APC, it is the minority north with a convergence of ethnic nationalities.
If the position is truly, as speculated to come from the North, it is generally hoped to come from the North central since the core north, North West already produced the President. Therefore, zoning the senate presidency outside the north central will be tantamount to deepening alienation of the zone.
More importantly, given the sensitive times the country is going through, the Senate needs a competent, respected and accomplished president who can command the respect of his colleagues, provide effective leadership at the national assembly and work well with the other arms in the interest of democracy and good governance.
Therefore, if it is about equity, fairness and competent Senator Bukola Saraki deserves our support.
To say that Senator (Dr) Bukola Saraki, has made Kwara State the envy of many, including the leadership of his former party so much so that he became a target of political persecution is to say the obvious.
Though rough and tough as it were, Bukola Saraki’s influence did not wane as he insisted on pushing for the deepening of democratic tenets and today, he has emerged as the undisputed political heavyweight in Kwara State.
Driven by a high sense of accountability and respect for the rule of law, Senator Saraki abandoned the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) where he was apparently comfortable, to pitch his tent with the APC and thus began the task of cleaning the mess he discovered in the PDP from the position of weakness as a member of the opposition party, using the broom.
This, he did fearlessly, not minding threats of witch-hunting using the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Special Fraud Unit (SFU); the two agencies that trailed him for nearly  four years and found nothing to charge him with.
This was a governor poised to instill accountability, established the Price Intelligence Unit, (PIU), in Kwara state to checkmate over invoicing, through which he saved millions of naira for the state for which he got an international award. For a state with a meagre resource a little above N3b, he established the Shonga farm, health insurance policy, aviation college and Harmony diagnostic centre, which till date, remain models in prudence financial management.
Without doubt, these explain why Saraki’s emergence as a strong contender for the office of Senate President was greeted with joy, particularly as the new government is expected to usher in government of prudence management of national resources.
All over the world, the ability of the Senate President to organize and lead, as well as ensure a smooth and cordial relationship between its members and the presidency or otherwise, has been known to largely affect the running of the country and the delivery of electioneering promises.
With the sensitive and strategic position of the Senate President, it requires that the man or woman who will lead the senate must be one that understands the leadership intricacies, operation, body language of most members and has negotiating powers, as well as the ability to rally support for the president with little or no difficulties.
Indeed, these qualities cannot be compromised if the party at the centre or by extension, the president, must redeem and execute party manifesto, and maintain law and order, while grappling with the task of governance and delivering on people-focused policies.
While most names on the table for the exalted position qualify to lead being senior members of the National Assembly and of sound intellectual judgment,  Senator (Dr) Bukola, however, fits well and has the administrative exposure needed for a stable senate that will assist the new Buhari presidency to quickly settle down to work, particularly as he was a former chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), a period that saw the governors’ forum witness relative peace and the governors enjoy true friendship.
Interestingly, the new senate will be peopled by a good number of some former governors most of whom were part of the NGF when Dr Saraki was chairman.
Traversing the chairmanship of various committees in the senate such as chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Food Security, Education and later Environment and Ecology, debates were robust and deliberations ideal and people-based.
The high-point of his quality committee leadership was the championing of bills to sanitise the environment, such as the Gas Flaring Bill and the Noses Amendment Act on oil spillage.
Saraki’s passion to formulate laws to ensure total eradication of oil spillage in oil bearing communities as well as ensure timely clean-up, remediation of impacted areas and payment of adequate compensation to affected communities remains unrivaled.
As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ecology, he proposed the Nigeria Oil Spill Detection and Regulatory Agency (NOSDRA) Amendment Bill which aims to ensure that oil companies responsible for Oil Spillage and other harmful environmental activities do not go scot-free. It is on record that Saraki’s effort resulted in the $83.3million compensation paid by Shell to communities in Ogoniland that were victims of oil spillage for decades.
?Dr Saraki as a first term senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is credited with raising the motion considered as the most important motion of the 7th Assembly. His motion on “TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF FUEL SUBSIDY SCHEME” has been referred to as the singular legislative act that exposed the monumental fraud in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) where officials illegally diverted over N1trillion in the name of fuel and kerosene subsidy in 2012 alone.
There is no doubt that Saraki’s intellectual weight, good nature and friendship contributed in no small measure to the success of the current republic. This played out during the party convention in which the leaders of APC led by Asiwaju wanted Odigie Oyegun as party chairman, while most of the governors wanted former governor of Bayelsa, Timipre Silva.
Saraki played a stabilising role by insisting that the wish of the leaders and legacy members of the Party must be respected. Saraki also eschewed primordial sentiments, voluntarily stepped down his presidential ambition  by insisting that Buhari was the best option for Nigeria, which expectedly, pitched him against certain dominant interests.
Indeed, if Saraki is allowed to lead the next Senate, it is definitely not for him but for Nigeria. A Saraki senate presidency will not only be a stabiliser, a bridge builder but ensure a robust senate. Saraki’s Senate Presidency is definitely for Nigeria’s progress.  This will also give the president a breathing space.
A product of King’s College, Lagos and Cheltenham College, Cheltenham, London, Dr Saraki studied at the London Hospital Medical College of the University of London where he obtained his M.B.B.S (London). He had worked as a Medical Officer at Rush Green Hospital, Essex and as a Director of Societe Generale Bank (Nigeria) Limited, as well as appointed Special Assistant to the President on Budget in 2000.
Senator Saraki is the leader of Kwara State politics and by extension, North Central and one of the national leaders of APC, who ensured that Buhari won the state and ultimately changed the direction of the election. He also serves as a tribal nobleman of high rank in Kwara State in his capacity as the Turaki of the Ilorin Emirate and also Turaki Raya Kasan Nupe.
?In a country deeply divided along religious, ethnic and political lines, Saraki is seen as a blend of all by having his origin in North Central with close ties to the South-West. Saraki is a Muslim with a Christian wife.
His consideration by the APC to serve in the capacity of the Senate President of the 8th National Assembly where the party and Nigerians are hoping he will further contribute his quota to the development of the country by firming up existing legislations and initiating new ones for the benefit of all Nigerians, certainly, is a good sign of the better things to come in the years ahead. Therefore, he deserves the support of all who genuinely mean well for Nigeria, APC and Nigerians.
Oba, Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, writes from Ilorin.