Politics
How 40-Year Rivalry Between Saraki, Abdulrazaq Families Boiled Over
By Emmanuel Aziken
When Senator Gbemi Saraki accused Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of using his office of governor to settle perceived historic family grievances, she inadvertently gave a pointer to the historic rivalry between two of the most prominent families in Kwara State.
What Gbemi called a perception is, however, a reality in the impression of many who have followed the relationship between the two dominant families in Ilorin.
The Abdulrazaq and Saraki families are undoubtedly two of the most prominent families in Kwara State who had even surprisingly collaborated to help one another in the past. However, both families have often been rivals for ascendancy in the state.
The patron of the Abdulrazaq family is Alhaji Abdulganiyu Abdulrazaq now in his nineties, undoubtedly came to the limelight well before the Olusola Saraki, the patron of the Saraki family.
Abdulrazaq was the first Nigerian from the North to qualify as a lawyer and was specially invited into the Northern House of Assembly as a special member without election!
He qualified as a lawyer in 1955 when Olusola had not even started medical school.
When he was invited to take a special seat in the Northern House of Assembly in 1962, Dr. Olusola Saraki who had just qualified as a medical doctor was also trying to find his feet in the political terrain.
Saraki’s bid in 1964 to enter parliament failed at a time when Abdulrazaq was himself already a minister.
When the military took over power in 1967, Abdulrazaq was appointed the commissioner of finance in the newly created Kwara State while Saraki was practicing medicine in Lagos.
The two men faced each other in 1979 when Abdulrazaq ran as the governorship candidate of the Great Nigeria Peoples Party, GNPP.
Pointers To The Rivalry Between The Sarakis And Abdulrazaqs
| Year | Event |
| 1979 | Patron of the Abdulrazaq family is defeated in the Kwara State governorship election by Adamu Atta backed by Dr. Olusola Saraki |
| 1999 | Dr. Alimi Saraki is defeated in the governorship election by Mohammed Lawal backed by Senator Olusola Saraki. The Abdulrazaq family gets a breather when first daughter Khairat Gwadabe wins in Abuja |
| 2007 | Dr. Olusola Saraki is made Waziri Ilorin. The conferment of the senior title is apparently not received with excitement by the Abdulrazaq clan which had before then had a higher position in the emirate council. |
| 2011 | Abdulrhaman Abdulrazaq contests for governorship on the ticket of the CPC. He is defeated by Abdulfatah Ahmed backed by Dr. Bukola Saraki. |
| 2015 | Abdulrhaman Abdulrazaq contests the Kwara Central Senatorial election against Bukola Saraki and loses. |
| 2018 | Bukola is made Waziri Ilorin apparently in recognition of his efforts in rebuilding the Ilorin mosque. Again this could not have pleased the Abulrazaqs. |
| 2019 | Abdulrhaman Abdulrazaq riding on the popular Otoge revolution which is also backed by Gbemi Saraki wins the governorship election. |
Abdulrazaq apparently could not tolerate Saraki’s dominance in the National Party of Nigeria, NPN at that time and as such resorted to the GNPP.
Saraki who had his sights at the national level presented the Okene born Adamu Atta as candidate and with Saraki’s influence Atta became the first civilian governor of the state with Saraki as godfather.
It was a sore point that Saraki would go for an Igbira man to torpedo the political ambition of a fellow Ilorin man.
In 1983 Saraki reiterated his dominance when he backed the opposition Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN to win the governorship after Atta rebelled against him.
The two families did not face themselves again until 1999 when Saraki again sponsored former military officer, Mohammed Lawal as the candidate of the All Peoples Party, APP to defeat Dr. Alimi Abdulrazaq who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The Abdulrazaq family was, however, consoled with the victory of their daughter, Khairat Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe who emerged as a senator but far from the shores of Kwara in the FCT.
Since then repeated efforts by the Abdulrazaqs for political expression have been neutralized by the dominance of the Sarakis.
In 2011, Abdulrhaman Abdulrazaq popularly known as AA contested the governorship on the platform of the Congress for Progressives Change, CPC but was defeated by Abdulfatah Ahmed, the candidate sponsored by Bukola Saraki.
In 2015 AA himself contested the Kwara Central Senatorial District election and was again defeated by Bukola.
It is also claimed in certain quarters that the conferment of the title of Waziri of Ilorin first on the elder Saraki and subsequently on Bukola was not something that would have excited the Abdulrazaqs given the fact that the family was senior to Saraki in the Ilorin emirate circle.
Even more it is claimed that the Abdulrazaq family is also not pleased that the Saraki family has not always reciprocated the gestures from them. It is alleged that the elder Abdulrazaq helped Saraki to fend off the plot to take over his bank, SGBN.
Even outside the country, it is also claimed that Abdulrazaq helped Senator Olusola Saraki’s father to become the head of the Nigerian community in Ivory Coast, but that the children did not show gratitude.
The senior Abdulrazaq was also believed to have deployed his legal acumen to help Saraki in the dispute over the ownership of the family bank in the eighties, a gesture the Sarakis are said not to have also reciprocated by giving political accommodation.
There are also claims in political circles that Governor Abdulrazaq may not have been happy that despite Bukola’s promise not to go to court over his loss of his Senate seat that he did not restrain the PDP governorship candidate from also going to court.
But whether those were enough grounds for the incumbent governor to send bulldozers to demolish a centre used by the Sarakis to dispense patronage is another thing that is now in the court of public opinion.
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