Bukola Saraki

Abubakar Bukola Saraki MBBS (born on 19 December 1962) is a Nigerian politician who served as the 13th president of the Nigerian Senate from 2015 to 2019.

Saraki was born on 19 December 1962 in London to his mother Florence Morenike Saraki and his father Olusola Saraki, who was a Senator in the Second Nigerian Republic.

Bukola Saraki is married to Toyin Saraki (née Ojora), they have four children together.

Popular among his children are Seni and Tosin Saraki.

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

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

He 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.

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

He was a director of Société Générale Bank (Nig) Ltd from 1990 to 2000.

In 2000, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Saraki as Special Assistant to the President on Budget.

He previously served as the governor of Kwara State from 2003 to 2011; and was elected to the Senate in 2011, under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), representing the Kwara Central Senatorial District, and then re-elected in the 2015 general elections under the party of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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

On 29 May 2003, he was sworn into office and was re-elected in 2007.

As governor of Kwara, Saraki led reforms in agriculture, infrastructure, health, education, power generation and environment policy.

One of his major achievements was inviting displaced white farmers from Zimbabwe to Kwara State and offering them an opportunity to farm.

This led to the establishment of Shonga Farms programme, which is now being replicated across Nigeria.

He was also appointed as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors' forum.

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

In collaboration with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, 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.

Kwara also completed 4 electrification projects which meant power became stable 18–22 hours a day.

90% of people living in Kwara have access to electricity, compared to a national average in Nigeria of 30%.

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

As chairman, Saraki increased his national influence and he led efforts for a more reformed and unified relationship with other states governors.

The Forum also developed better and more extensive polio immunisation in Nigeria.

Signing a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), with a number of international organizations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, DFID, GAVI, UNICEF, UNDP.

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

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

He won, succeeding his sister, Gbemisola Saraki-Forowa.

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

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

Other motions and private member bills he has sponsored include the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency Amendment Bill 2012, the Gas Flaring Prohibition Bill 2012 and the Climate Change Commission Bill 2013.

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

He currently serves as GLOBE Nigeria's president.

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

After his re-election in 2015 general elections, he was on 9 June 2015 elected unopposed as President of the Senate by an across the party alliance comprising PDP and APC Senators.

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

He left the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC) and returned to his former party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Where he became the opposition leader, on 31 July 2018.

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

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