by Alexander O. Onukwue

Upon the motion by Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe and Kabiru Marafa, he immediately declared that they were “out of order”. But for more than the five minutes it took both to make the case possible, it must have run through Saraki’s mind just how good it would be to eventually become President of Nigeria.

“Eventually?” Unless it is not to be believed that the Senate President is not the ambitious man he certainly appears to be, Dr Bukola Saraki surely does fancy the Aso Villa job someday. He has made the point of being publicly supportive to the Buhari Government but the implicit traces point to a readiness to step in if need be.

Possibly the most influential public official at the moment, there is not much argument about Saraki’s ability to steer the machinery of Government. Even with the inability to totally shake off a long-standing accusation of corruption, the former Kwara State Governor is easily one of Nigeria’s politicians who will not struggle to mobilise the support needed for a shot at the Presidency.

He would have noticed the sense of approval given to the brief and abandoned motion from the general house. From the first day of the Eight Senate’s sitting in 2015, he has never lost the confidence of the upper legislative house, holding his alliances with Senators from across all platforms and regions. Saraki enjoys a firm support in the Senate and National Assembly as a whole that no other public official has in the office they control.

Certainly not President Buhari who, at present, seems under the manipulation of a few individuals. And surely not the Acting President, Prof Osinbajo, who is all too aware of the machinations progressively being amplified to make any possibilities of his becoming President, should Buhari become unable to continue, impossible.

Saraki knows all of this. His victory at the Code Conduct Tribunal has empowered him with an advantage of the offensive. In the face of sudden coronation, he summoned his consciousness to react in the way he would have been expected to. But within the period of that the argument was been buttered up, from Abaribe to Marafa, he would have sailed a couple of round trips to the other end of the Three Arms Zone and back.

Editor