The Sarakis, Sallah Day Stampede And Misgovernance Of A People By Ayodele Daniel

bukola-saraki1We usually say when something happens once, that it is a mistake. When it happens a second time, it is a coincidence but when the same sequence repeats itself for a third time, then it is more than meets the eye. That is the way I perceive last Wednesday’s avoidable incidence in Ilorin, Kwara State, when at least 12 persons, mostly women, were reportedly trampled to death at the late Dr. Olusola Saraki’s Ilofa Road home at the Government Reservation Area (GRA), as they queued while trying to collect the yearly Sallah largesse from Senator Bukola Saraki and other philanthropists.

Ordinarily, the deaths would have been swept under the carpet as is the case and life would have continued without anyone batting an eyelid but alas, this particular incidence is one too many to be ignored.

According to media reports, similar incidences have occurred in 2010 and 2011 involving the Sarakis whose philanthropic gestures in the state are as legendary as they are suspect; the practice of subjecting the ordinary folks to an almost perpetual life of servitude and feeling of indebtedness – a debt that has been paid over and over again with unquantifiable interests.

How have these debts been paid you might want to ask? By voting Bukola Saraki as governor for a maximum tenure of two terms of four years each from where he was again elected in 2011 to represent the people of Kwara Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly. Even while the scion of the late strongman of Kwara politics held forte as governor of the state, his sister, Gbemisola Saraki had at various times been elected as a House of Representatives member, Senator and was already eyeing the governorship position with the full backing of ‘Oloye’ until then Governor Saraki did the unthinkable and upstaged his father as a king maker. The rest as they say is history.

You see, the people of Kwara have been loyal and kind to the Sarakis by keeping faith with them but what did the people get in return? They got more deaths, more poverty and more political manipulation among others.

It is not a lie that Senator Bukola Saraki and indeed the Saraki dynasty have attracted their fair share of development to Kwara state in a way that no other dynasty can boast of in any part of the country, at least, politically speaking but is that enough to tie the people of the state to perpetual slavery? The late Dr. Olusola Saraki for decades decided the fate of Kwarans and when it was time for him to exit the political nay, life’s stage, his son was more than prepared for the task and is continuing from where his father stopped.

When will Kwarans say enough of this madness? When will they take charge of their political destiny and decide their own fate? When will Kwarans demand that the voice of the Sarakis will no longer speak on their behalf in matters that concern their collective future?

It is my belief that if the Sarakis had used the trust reposed in them by Kwara people judiciously and honestly, there would not have been the need for daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, grandmothers and even sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and grandfathers queuing to receive Sallah gifts of a few thousand Naira, yards of clothes, foodstuffs et cetera but in the process, losing their precious lives.

If as governor for eight years, Bukola Saraki had executed his mandate with such passion, vision and vigour of a leader in every sense of the word, he would have discovered that his yearly Sallah ‘ritual’ was unnecessary because the people would have been too empowered and enlightened to bother about leaving their homes to go and struggle for a piece of the ‘national cake’. But this is Nigerian politics where those, who have held us by the jugular for too long would rather see us choke and die from their stranglehold than let us breathe the air of independence or freedom away from their selfish machinations and schemes.

It is rather unfortunate that the people too have not learnt their lessons. I hear somebody say they are without fault, that poverty is to blame; yes, tell that to those whose bodies are lying cold dead on the mortuary attendant’s slab or already six feet below. If only they could relive the last few moments leading to that unfortunate Sallah day stampede, I bet most of them could have stayed away and found contentment in the little they had but all that is in the past now and this is life, not a movie scene where you can rewind, fast forward, pause, stop or even erase.

Certain events happen so the living can learn lessons but what does it make us if we keep forgetting and repeating the same mistakes of the past and describe them as an ‘act of God’ like one minister recently posited. We’ve blamed God enough for troubles created with our own hands and it is high time we began to accept some portion of the blame and ensure that we don’t keep falling into the same trap. Life is too precious to exchange for some few material gains – all the money in the world cannot equate to one soul.

More importantly, what does the law say on incidences of this nature? Are organizers of the Sallah tragedy going to be allowed to walk free as if nothing happened? Have they even being invited and questioned by the police? What steps have been taken to ensure such tragic incidences never reoccur?

Because I wonder, if we can accuse Boko Haram or armed robbers of a grievous offence for killing one, two or even three persons or more, why can’t we also accept the fact that anyone or group of persons, who gathers people without recourse to their overall safety with the purpose of distributing gifts to them but in the process leaves about 12 dead bodies behind is equally guilty of the same offence?

*Ayodele Daniel Is A Content Creator At Information Nigeria

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