It was a clean sweep seen as a plus to the massive Oto Ge (Enough is Enough) campaign mounted by loyalists of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Even the proponents of the campaign were surprised at their own feat as the all-conquering Saraki political machine caved in and appeared to have crumbled under the weight of that campaign.

The Saraki political camp, however, immediately got over the defeat at the presidential and National Assembly election, with the Senate President rising to a level of statesmanship by issuing congratulatory messages to the winners of that election, praying God to grant them the wisdom to serve the people of Kwara successfully.

Expectedly, stakeholders within and outside the state have been attributing that victory to different sources and factors. Some have said the Saraki political dynasty was undone by the crack within, which saw the Senate President, Bukola, on different political divides with the sister, Gbemisola Saraki, a former senator from Kwara Central Senatorial District like her brother.

Gbemi’s presence in the Oto Ge circle was not only a deep arrow against the dynasty but a big blow to efforts of her brother to maintain the family’s hold on the state. A number of observers also say that the failures of the Governor Abdufattah Ahmed (real and imaginary) were easily visited on the Senate President Saraki who is seen as the ultimate godfather. The ‘sins’ of the governor, believed to be many and multifaceted, were said to have been visited on and ruined the chances of Saraki of ever retaining the state.

But proponents of the Oto Ge slogan believed that their campaigns were responsible for the ouster of Saraki dynasty, which has led the state in more than four decades. One of the proponents, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, exclaimed that the “Berlin Wall” had collapsed in Kwara. While the national publicity secretary of APC, Mallam Lanre Isah Onilu, was also active in the social media celebrating the victory and “liberation” of Kwara, the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, and the party leadership also rejoiced over the defeat of an “enemy.”

However, all through the campaign process, leading to the defeat of Bukola Saraki in Kwara, the Oto Ge slogan gave not much away. For some observers, what was at stake is the quest to end the reign of “one man” and the holding down of a people by one political dynasty. It was a campaign dictated by envy and hatred on either side. Therefore, with the resounding victories now recorded by the campaigners, the time has come to face it all.

Saraki, while congratulating the governor-elect, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of APC, said he wished all victors well. Writing on his official twitter page, @bukolasaraki, the Senate President said: “I thank all Kwarans, particularly PDP supporters, who worked for the party in the just-concluded elections. My congratulations go to Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq and all those who emerged at all levels. I wish them all the best.”

But beyond the sloganeering, the time has come for the Oto Ge campaigners to face the reality of the times and chart the way forward. The time has come to check the ingredients of the campaign and what it should mean for the people of the state, going forward. This is especially so as the campaign process was filled with bile, envy, hatred and gerrymandering. It looked more like a plot to grab power and not much of developmental aspects of the Oto Ge campaign slogan were expanded.

Observers of the political terrain in the state would however say that the time has come for the new gladiators to see the election as having been won and lost and for the new holders of power to move on, especially as Saraki and members of his team have congratulated the winners after the fallout of the two polls.

But signals emanating from the state, during the week, however, appeared muddled and they gave an indication that the new gladiators might still be steeped in the propaganda mode. The governor-elect, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, was quoted during the week as promising to dwell further on the celebrated Offa robbery incident and ensure it was taken to a logical conclusion.

Recall that the Offa robbery incident was one of the politicised issues that put Senator Saraki on collision against the police authorities, just shortly before the commencement of the electioneering process. It got touchy at a stage and was later handed over to the state Ministry of Justice for prosecution.

But the governor-elect, while speaking at a press briefing in Ilorin during the week, promised to interface with the police to ensure that those implicated in the Offa robbery incident were promptly prosecuted.

Going by the controversy the celebrated Offa robbery incident generated during the tenure of the immediate past Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, many would expect that the governor-elect would leave such a matter for the judicial system to adjudicate while he focuses on developmental objectives.

“We will organise health care summit, education summit and special summit on how to improve the state infrastructure,” Abdulrazaq was quoted as saying, while also adding that his government would respect the traditional institution in the state.

As expected, the state chapter of PDP immediately took the governor-elect to task over his statement on the Offa robbery saga. The party, in a statement by its state publicity secretary, Tunde Ashaolu, described the statement as a “misstep,” adding that the governor-elect was unaware of the vexed issues underlining the Offa robbery case.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to Mr Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq who has just been elected as next the governor of Kwara State in last Saturday election to the effect that he will probe the Offa robbery incident after he is sworn in.

“While we consider it the prerogative of a governor to choose what will be the priority of his administration, we believe this statement suggested one of three things is happening to the governor-elect. Either that he is ignorant of the issues concerning the Offa robbery case and has been given a wrong briefing; he does not understand how criminal investigation and prosecution process works or he is just out right mischievous. He may also just want to start his administration by overheating the polity.

“Whichever one is the case, we in the Kwara State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will like to let Mr AbdulRazaq know that the police have comprehensively investigated the Offa robbery case and sent their reports to the Director of Public Prosecution in the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) on two different occasions. And on each occasion, the DPP gave a clean bill of health to both the President of the Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, and the incumbent governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed.

“It is also on the basis of these concluded investigations which started in the state and later moved to Abuja and the legal advice from the Office of the DPP of the Federation that the suspects are now being prosecuted in the High Court in Ilorin.

“We, therefore, wonder what investigation Mr AbdulRazaq still wants to conduct on the issue which the then Inspector-General of Police had worked on and in which the DPP stated clearly that no prima facie case had been established against the duo of Saraki and Ahmed.

“However, if this is a priority to him, he should feel free to pursue it. We are sure that just like the previous efforts to implicate the leaders of Kwara PDP in the Offa robbery case ended as exercise in futility, this new project Mr Abdulrazaq wants to embark on will end the same way.

“Mr Abdulrazaq was insinuating in his statement that there was a coverup of some politicians in the investigations into the case, but this is far from the truth. The whole world knows that the then IGP who directed the investigation could never favour PDP leaders.

“Also, we need to state it clearly that if in his first public statement, Mr AbdulRazaq sent a strong signal that he would lay emphasis on victimisation, demonisation and witch-hunt, rather than talk about governance and the need to diligently serve the people, he may actually have also indicated that the peace, stability and development of the state will not be a priority to him.

“Mr Abdulrazaq should know that, though our leaders have trodden the path of peace by congratulating him and others who emerged from the last elections, if the style he wants to adopt in governing Kwara State is to blackmail and victimise people, we shall be ready for him.

“Our leaders have made it clear that we are willing to give him the opportunity and cooperation he needs to provide good governance for our people. However, if his interest is to jeopardise the peace and create disharmony in the state, we shall be ready to show him that we have the capacity to match his war-mongering. A word is enough for the wise.”

Though many would say that PDP was making a big deal of the first official media engagement by the governor-elect, the fact remains that the new order in Kwara State has got to quickly move away from electioneering propaganda mode, if it must satisfy the yearnings of the people that listened to its campaigns and decided to give it a try.

A stakeholder in the state said, during the week, that the Oto Ge campaigners, rather than further orchestrate the campaign-time hostility, needed now to appreciate the hands of fellowship extended by Saraki and his followers following their loss at the polls. Not a few would agree with such submission, in view of the quick swing the mood of the ordinary people are prone to and the enormity of developmental challenges at hand in the state.

You would think that rather than remain sold to the Oto Ge slogan, the campaigners would roll up their sleeves, unveil the blueprint for development and take the state to higher realms of human and infrastructure development.