Governor
Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is an enigma. I know a lot of Nigerians
would find even the contemplation unacceptable but then truth must be
told. To drive the point home appropriately, let us attempt a definition
of the word “enigma”.
The online dictionary,
oxforddictionaries.com, defines enigma as “A person or thing that is
mysterious or difficult to understand.” I do not know a better word to
describe any man who sponsored some of the most virulent advertisement
against the person and candidature of Muhammadu Buhari before the
recently concluded presidential election but would equally be the first
to congratulate him when it became obvious that Buhari was winning the
election. Fayose just seems so adept at compartmentalising his emotions
even if just fleetingly. But this is not the only testimony of enigma of
Fayose and I am going to attempt a systematic construction from here.
When
he was declared winner of the June 21, 2014 governorship election in
his state, there were two phenomenal things about the declaration. The
first was that the 55-year-old defeated a sitting governor who was a
contestant in the election. Now, in Nigeria, you hardly find anyone
defeating an incumbent executive, be they president, governor or council
chairman. It is just not our way.
Fayose did not just win the
election, he defeated Governor Kayode Fayemi in all the 16 local
government areas in the state, including the latter’s Oye Local
Government Area. Although a tape allegedly recorded by an intelligence
officer who was on duty during the election increased speculations about
the likely manipulation of this election, two immutable factors testify
that Fayose attained this victory creditably.
One is that
elections are hardly ever rigged with the perfection of the results of
the electoral exercise under consideration. And the second is that all
possible courts in the land have conclusively decided that the election
was legitimately won by Fayose.
The second significant thing
about his victory in 2014 was the fact that he was returning to the
position eight years after his first tenure was terminated by an
impeachment. Fayose was first sworn in as governor of the state on May
29, 2003. He however soon ran into trouble with the Federal Government
under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. This was
followed by allegations of corruption initiated by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission and his eventual impeachment by members of
the House of Assembly for a myriad of charges in October, 2006.
In effect, he won the 2014 election with quite a baggage of moral and legal issues hanging on his neck.
These
accusations have formed the basis of a chain of actions and law suits
which continue to dog the governor since his election. At some point,
there were fears that he might not be sworn in because of the issue of
eligibility which was one grounds of appeal raised by the All
Progressives Congress against him.
Although the governor was
last week finally vindicated by the Supreme Court, he still has a case
with 19 members of the state House of Assembly who are bent on
impeaching him over a series of alleged constitutional infringements.
The
impeachment notice brought the cloudy situation that the House of
Assembly has been in since November last year when seven members of the
House sat and impeached Dr. Adewale Omirin as their Speaker and
appointed Mr Dele Olugbemi as his replacement to a head.
The
seven legislators alleged that the decision became imperative following
Omirin and his deputy’s “absence without official notice,” and that “the
business of the House cannot grind to a halt” in their absence. They
also accused Omirin of revealing official secrets, misappropriation of
assembly funds and signing of bonds with the past executive without the
knowledge of other members of the House.
This is the situation
that Ekiti has been in over the past few months. When the majority
legislators are not plotting to send Fayose out of government, they are
calling press conferences to draw national attention to allegations
including threats to their lives by the Fayose administration.
And
on the part of the administration, we have seen at least two massive
blockage of roads leading into Ado Ekiti as well as the House of
Assembly complex, all in a bid to ensure those who want to impeach the
governor do not have access to the complex.
Just last Monday,
private and public schools failed to reopen for the third term while a
lot of workers went back home out of fear of being caught in any
untoward situation that could emanate from clashes between supporters of
the APC and Fayose’s Peoples Democratic Party.
The Monday
action was a direct result of the governor’s broadcast the previous day
alleging that the opposition lawmakers planned to invade the Assembly on
Monday to effect the impeachment proceedings against him. He urged
transport unions, market women and workers to rise up to protect the
mandate they gave him. Incidentally, a day before that day, Fayose had
during a church service appealed to his political opponents to sheathe
the sword and join him in the very urgent need to move the state
forward. And then the broadcast just shortly after!
One week
before this, members of labour unions in the state staged peaceful
protests in support of the governor warning that any attempt to impeach
him was bound to meet the resistance of workers who voted him into
power.
The Secretary to the Nigeria Labour Congress in the
state, Mr. Ade Obatoye, was quoted as saying that: “…the people of Ekiti
did not only vote for Fayose, but the Supreme Court, the highest court
in the land, had also revalidated it. We appeal to the APC to wait for
four years when there will be chance to elect another governor and if
they can appeal to our people, they can get it back, but not the way
they are presently doing.”
All of these without any doubt point
to the fact that Fayose is quite popular amongst the Ekiti State
electorate and that those who voted for him are willing to defend their
mandate, something which put him in a rare class of politicians in the
country.
However, the governor must realise that there is a
difference between populism and delivering good governance, and that
there is a difference between being famous and being a role model, which
is what everyone who is in a position of leadership like Fayose should
aim for. The governor is totally far from that lane with these
invitations to protests and sieges to institutions of government.
Maybe,
the governor needed to do some desperate things for his political
survival at some point, but he has already started to beat the drums too
hard and risks a tear. As he gets close to the first anniversary of his
administration, he needs to face governance and seek peaceful
co-existence of all the people he governs. The governor needs to behave
like a leader, live up to the promises he made to work with the APC
lawmakers last Sunday, give them all their dues and work towards leaving
a legacy that would outlive him. He needs to seek the assistance of
traditional and religious leaders, who are too quiet by the way.
True,
the APC lawmakers and their party equally need to bury the hatchet and
allow peace to reign but the governor has more at stake. He has to
justify the second chance that God has given him and work for the good
of his people that is going up in waste. He needs to stop this
popularity show and work towards the peace and development of the state.
So, he will be on the right side of history. That is still possible.
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