A Chip Off the Old Block … Praises as Saraki Celebrates 58

It has always been the order of life that the tallest tree would face the strongest winds. For Senator Gbemisola Saraki, the second of the Saraki pair that has left behind deep footprints in the senatorial corridors of Nigeria, strong winds have only served to blow her further than her peers and higher than her expectations. At 58, she continues to bear witness that a solid upbringing is a foundation that nobody should jettison regardless of the cost.

Accompanying her new age was a deluge of salutatory offerings, many of them goodwill messages and many others extraordinary panegyrics pointing to her accomplishments in times past. But few of these offerings can stand on the same level as the birthday message from her older brother, Senator Bukola Saraki.

One really cannot compare the doings and achievements of Gbemi to other women in the senatorial arm of government in Nigeria. Although she is currently the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, that appointment came last year after her awesome work as the Minister of State for Transportation. But it is easy to see Gbemi’s political tracks and falsely think that these things capture all that she has done in her 58 years of life.

How many people are aware that Gbemi has one of the brightest accounting and finance-attuned heads in the country? She has a bachelor’s in Economics as her first degree from the University of Sussex, UK, and worked at more than one bank and financial institution before deciding to accompany her brother in politics.

While Gbemi has done much, one cannot but compare her to her father, the late Olusola Saraki. He was also a senator and laid the foundation for both Gbemi and Bukola. Clearly, Gbemi is the apple that fell to the foot of the tree, the chip off the old block.