41 Facts About Bukola Saraki

Abubakar Bukola Saraki was born on on 19 December 1962 and is a Nigerian politician.

Bukola Saraki was the 13th President of the Senate of Nigeria from 2015 to 2019 and Chair of the 8th Nigeria National Assembly.

Bukola Saraki was previously the Governor of Kwara State from 2003 to 2011; and was elected to the Senate in 2011, under the Peoples Democratic Party, representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District, and then re-elected in the 2015 general elections under the party of the All Progressives Congress.

Bukola Saraki left the ruling party, All Progressive Congress and returned to his former party People's Democratic Party Where he became the opposition leader, on 31 July 2018.

Bukola Saraki was announced as the director general of Atiku Abubakar's presidential campaign for the 2019 presidential election, which he lost to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bukola Saraki is married to Toyin Saraki, they have four children together.

Bukola Saraki was educated at King's College, Lagos, where he graduated in 1978.

Bukola Saraki attended Cheltenham College, a public boarding school in the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1981.

Bukola Saraki then proceeded to London Hospital Medical College of the University of London from 1982 to 1987, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.

Bukola Saraki worked as a medical officer at Rush Green Hospital, Essex, from 1988 to 1989.

Bukola Saraki was a director of Societe Generale Bank Ltd from 1990 to 2000.

In 2003, Bukola Saraki ran for Governor of Kwara State on the platform of the People's Democratic Party defeating the incumbent Governor Muhammed Lawal of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party.

Bukola Saraki was appointed as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors' forum.

Under Bukola Saraki, Kwara became the first state to complete the Nigeria Independent Power Project.

In collaboration with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Bukola Saraki re-energised the Ganmo Power Station at Ilorin, and connected over 3750 rural communities to the national grid through the development and installation of 725 transformers and 7 substations.

In 2007, Bukola Saraki became Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum.

In 2011, after the completion of his two term tenure as Governor of Kwara State, Bukola Saraki ran for Senator representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District.

Bukola Saraki was appointed as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology and is a member of the Senate Committee on Capital Markets and Finance.

Senator Bukola Saraki has campaigned extensively on health, food security, education and the environment - arguing for strengthened laws on the clean up of oil spills.

In 2010, Bukola Saraki intervened in the lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara State in 2010.

Bukola Saraki pushed a motion in the Senate to end the fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria, which has been an excessive waste of the country's national resources.

In 2013, Bukola Saraki established GLOBE Nigeria as an affiliate of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment, establishing a platform for legislators to advance environmental and sustainable development laws in Nigeria.

Bukola Saraki has spoken and campaigned internationally on issues such as better governance, deforestation and economic development.

Bukola Saraki had faced stiff opposition from Senator Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan who was a preferred candidate by a group of senators-elect within the APC.

On 6 June 2019, Bukola Saraki gave the valedictory speech at the final plenary of the 8th Senate.

In 2011, Bukola Saraki declared his candidacy for the Peoples Democratic Party for the presidentially primaries, but later stepped down in support of the northern consensus candidate Atiku Abubakar.

Bukola Saraki is currently a member of the People's Democratic Party and was previously a member of the All Progressives Congress.

Bukola Saraki defected from the All Progressives Congress on 31 July 2018, some days after 14 Senators defected to the opposition People's Democratic Party.

Bukola Saraki blamed his defection on intolerance of the influential persons of his former party.

Bukola Saraki declared his presidential campaign for the PDP presidential ticket in the 2019 election, but lost the primaries to Atiku Abubakar.

Bukola Saraki was announced as the director general of Atiku Abubakar's presidential campaign for the 2019 presidential election, which he lost to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bukola Saraki polled a total of 68,994 votes against Oloriegbe's 123,808 votes in the four Local Government Areas of Kwara Central Senatorial District, leaving a margin of 54,814 votes.

In January 2022, Bukola Saraki declared he was running for the office of the president under the umbrella of the People's Democratic Party for the 2023 General election.

Bukola Saraki was defeated by Atiku Abubakar who pulled the highest votes with 371 votes, followed by Nyesom Wike with 237 votes and Saraki with 70 votes at the People's Democratic Party presidential primary election which held at MKO Abiola National stadium, Abuja on 28 and 29 May 2022.

From 1990 to 2000, Bukola Saraki was a director of Societe Generale Bank Nigeria Ltd.

In May 2021, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the sales of Kwara State Government Assets between May 1999 and May 2019, a commission set up by Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, accused Bukola Saraki of selling state assets at suspiciously low prices to cronies and recommended Bukola Saraki along with his successor as Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for prosecution.

Bukola Saraki denied mismanagement and claimed the commission had not invited him to respond.

Bukola Saraki claimed the commission was biased and simply AbdulRazaq's attempt to "stain" his predecessors.

Bukola Saraki became the first Senate President in Nigeria to be issued with arrest warrants, when Danladi Umar, Chairman of the Code Of Conduct Tribunal, issued an arrest warrant against Saraki on 18 September 2015.

Nigerian statutes and code of conduct provisions do not prohibit public officers from taking loans nor purchasing properties in Nigeria or abroad, while Bukola Saraki was widely acknowledged to be a very wealthy international businessman prior to public office, as attested by the Code of Conduct Bureau which certified his pre-public office asset declarations.

Bukola Saraki was made the Turaki of the Fulani emirate of Ilorin during his tenure as governor.