Senate President, Bukola Saraki, may have finally crossed the rubicon and shaken off the perception of flip-flopping between his party, the All Progressives Congress and his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party.
In the wake of his confirmation of Rotimi Amaechi, as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, words like ‘loyalty’ and ‘betrayal’ were bandied around social media, in an attempt to qualify and explain his action.
PDP Senators, perhaps, could be justified in perceiving Saraki’s approval of Amaechi in spite of their vehement opposition, as a sign of public back-turning.
For the APC Senators, Saraki’s handling of the entire ministerial screening should be encouraging and the ratification of Amaechi, should also give them a sense of cautious hope that he can be trusted again, to be a loyal party man.
If indeed Bukola Saraki’s trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal is politically motivated as generally believed, his recent actions may have softened the hearts of his traducers.
He may have bought himself hope and possibly secured an opening to a potential forgiveness of his past misdeeds against the APC.
On the flip side, the Senate President’s disregard of the protests by PDP Senators against Amaechi, may end up hurting him. The opposition party’s caucus may no longer support him… and escort him to his trial at the Conduct Tribunal.
But then, Saraki is believed to be a smart political strategist, hence he may have foreseen this scenario playing out, and could be playing a long game, for all we know.
A possible example of the long-game, is his decision to toe party lines for the first time since he became Senate President, which may have now saved him from an unlikely impeachment and even talks of future impeachment.
With the prodigal son of the ruling party- Bukola Saraki- appearing to have returned home, talks of his ousting may immediately simmer, but what happens with his case at the CCT, only time will tell.
If he survives the assets declaration trial, Saraki would go on to lead the Senate, unscathed, for the next three and half years, and not even the seemingly aggrieved PDP Senators can touch him, as long as he maintains his party’s support, trust and mutual loyalty.
