Game Over as ‘’O to ge’’ shibboleth send Saraki into Lethe in Kwara

Immediately one steps into Kwara State, either through Kogi State, Osun State, Oyo State, Niger State or even through Benin Republic, the first thing that stirs you in the face is ‘’O TO GE’’, the All Progressive Congress (APC) popular shibboleth that has sent the name Saraki into sudden Lethe in Kwara State.

The slogan ‘’O to ge’’ literally means, ‘’Enough is Enough’’. It was adopted by Kwara State chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC) as a representation of the feelings and resolve of the people to end Saraki dynasty in 2019 general election and even before the election, it appeared the game is over for Bukola Saraki, as the slogan has sent the name Saraki into oblivion.

Unlike in the past, when Saraki would be the dominant name ahead of the election. In Kwara today, the only name being heard is Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and his O to ge slogan.


Observers maintained that, in the past few months, life has not remained the same for the Senate President, as his clench and girth on Kwara State has percolated and waned away before his very eyes and every effort to reverse the trend is proving counterproductive.

Realizing the impact and implication of this ‘’O to ge’’ shibboleth, the Kwara State government initiated some intervention to stop the opposition from further using the slogan, claiming that it received a petition from the palace of Emir of Ilorin against the slogan over public incitement, but the legendary emir of Ilorin quickly dissociated the palace from such petition.

Many were really at a loss when the government claimed the slogan is inciting and they were asking, what is inciting about it? But till this day, the government is yet to respond.
Additionally, when an attempt to stop the slogan failed to yield any positive result against the growing popularity of the opposition, the ruling party decided to be clever by half, adopting the same slogan for their campaign and more like impersonating the opposition with a distorted message to confuse their followership.

The ruling party produced several campaign materials with the same slogan ‘’o to ge’’, using it to discredit the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and promoting their brand. However, it turned out that the efforts of the ruling party are rather making the opposition stronger.

Suddenly, out of the blues, a giant billboard with ‘’O to ge’’ boldly in scripted on it surfaced in Offa town, with the pictures of notorious armed robbers that killed more than 30 people in Offa town last year. The armed robbers at the time claimed they are political thugs of the Senate President and the billboard was reminding the people of Offa, what needed to stop.

Without wasting much time, thugs allegedly loyal to the ruling party vandalized the Offa ‘’O to ge’’ billboard and hundreds of others across the state and this became another rallying point for the opposition, as about a week later, a street walk was staged by the opposition with a personalized ‘’otoge’’ banner being waved by a large group of people, while a bigger version of the vandalized otoge billboard was restored.

The fear in the camp of Saraki is real and for the first time in a long time, Saraki was forced to appear in a radio interview, which was syndicated across all radio stations in the state and also streamed live on all his social media accounts.

When he was asked about the Offa robbery incident, in which the suspects claimed they are his political thugs, Saraki said he was being framed by the police. According to him, all funds available in all banks robbed in Offa was just N7million and when he went to condole with the community, he donated N10 million, arguing that he his beyond sending armed robbers to attack the community. However, this explanation didn’t go down well with many, as they have been asking, how did Saraki know the amount available in all the 4 to 5 banks robbed?

Some even chided the Senate President for demeaning the memory of the over 30 people who lost their lives in the unfortunate incident.

Reacting to the claim that Saraki donated N10million to the community, prominent people in Kwara State, including Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed have tackled the Senate president, claiming that he lied about donating money to the victims. He may have given money to his supporters they maintained.

Furthermore, while streaming the radio interview by Saraki, it could be seen that the majority of Kwarans are against the Senate President. Even on his own account, several demeaning comments such as ole, otoge could be seen flooding the live stream.

Surprisingly, while ole, criminal and otoge dominates Saraki’s online stream, the supporters of the Senate president were captured shouting ole at the APC governorship candidate at a programme organized by Ilorin Emirate Dependent Progressive Union (IEDPU), desecrating the revered emir’s palace.

This was frowned at by the public and Saraki and his associates were forced to apologize to the Emir for attempting to ridicule the royal palace, as the IEDPU president quietly resign to concentrate on his job as a Bukola Saraki’s aide.

On the other hand, while Saraki supporters felt that they have recorded some positive accomplishment by disrespecting the emir’s palace and using it as a platform for undue politics, this provided another opportunity for the opposition to advance the otoge campaign.

‘’Never again will our emir’s palace be so disrespected and never again will our cultural heritage be ridiculed, otoge (enough is enough) they echoed.

Ironically, Saraki is known not to talk too much, but this time around, he is eager to speak for reasons best known to him. But unfortunately, the people seem uninterested in what he has to say. Whenever they try to explain anything, the echo of otoge (enough is enough) becomes the only response they get. This is indeed new dawn in Kwara political history.

Conclusively, it should be recalled that about a month ago, Saraki’s candidate was defeated in the Kwara by-election won by APC Federal House of Representative candidate, Honourable Abdulraheem Ajulo Opin and this has been said to be a testament to the imminent collapse of the Saraki dynasty and observers are keen to watch how this history unfolds in 2019.