Niran Adedokun
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.
Source:
Twitter: @niranadedokun
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