Fayose is the only Nigerian who has defeated an incumbent state governor twice: He beat Governor Niyi Adebayo in 2003 and Governor Kayode Fayemi in 2014. The defeat of Fayemi was particularly shocking because Fayemi was said to be liked by Ekiti people based on his performance in office. Not only that, in his first term, Fayose ran a turbulent tenure and left office in 2006 under a gale of controversy, having been purportedly impeached. Furthermore, in 2014, Fayose was running on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party whose reputation was low in the state during the era of the court-sacked governor of the state, Mr Segun Oni. In addition, Fayose, who had a Higher National Diploma, was running against a classy and urbane Fayemi who had a PhD in a state whose slogan is the “Fountain of Knowledge”. In spite of all these conditions against him, Fayose still walloped Fayemi in all the 16 local government areas of the state.
The defeat was too hard to believe. It was also embarrassing. Quickly, a justification was found for it: Stomach infrastructure. It was alleged that the Ekiti people voted for Fayose because of the food items and other gifts that he distributed during the campaign. It did not matter that Fayemi also shared his own gifts, and, as an incumbent governor, had a deeper pocket than Fayose. It also did not matter that Ekiti State had been portrayed as the state of the intellectuals: the state where every household had a professor. So, in reality, such a state would have the least potential to be induced with gifts during elections.
Some months later, an audio recording surfaced online. In the audio, some voices were said to be purportedly plotting to rig the 2014 Ekiti election in favour of Fayose. Those who did not believe that Fayose truly won the Ekiti election pointed at it as proof. While that was on, the case instituted against him for not being qualified to contest the election was on in court. The 19 APC lawmakers also started a campaign of getting him impeached.
However, Fayose’s popularity in Ekiti was re-stated on March 28, 2015 when he got the record of being the only South-West state where Goodluck Jonathan beat Muhammadu Buhari. On the same day, all the three senatorial seats in Ekiti were won by the PDP, while all the six seats of the House of Representatives were won by the PDP. With the results, he silenced those who said his governorship victory was procured through inducement or fraud. But that was not all: Two weeks later when the House of Assembly election was held, the PDP won all the 26 seats.
Before then, he had won all the court cases against his eligibility and election. The only option left to get him out was by impeachment before June 5 when the tenure of the old legislature would expire. And with Buhari of the APC sworn in as President on May 29, it looked as if Fayose and his deputy could be removed, as the governor would not get any Federal Government protection. From last week Monday to Friday, it was a battle of wits between Fayose’s loyalists and the 19 lawmakers. When June 5 came and passed, Fayose breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he would no longer be watching his back every minute over the possibility of being impeached by the opposition party in his state.
It is obvious that Fayose is the king of grassroots politics and relations. But I have been wondering why Ekiti people love him this much despite all his glaring shortcomings. He most times acts and speaks exuberantly. His death wish advert against Buhari during the campaign was very much in bad taste. He was almost like a monitoring spirit to Buhari during the campaign that it seemed the APC would need a strong man of God to cast him out. He always seems involved with national issues that one wonders if he ever has enough time to administer his state. But he scored a good point against Buhari when he took some journalists to Transcorp Hilton, Abuja to prove that the interview Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, had said was conducted in London, was actually conducted in a room in that hotel.
Another point that makes it more difficult to understand what makes Fayose tick is that he is from the South-West where the politics played is peculiar from that played in all other parts of Nigeria. In the South-West, right from the First Republic, it is either you are in the mainstream South-West politics or you are a political outsider. A Mallam Aminu Kano could hold sway in Kano and Kaduna at a time Alhaji Shehu Shagari was contesting the presidency, yet Kano was still revered in the North. A Waziri Ibrahim could hold control of the politics of Borno State at a time Shagari was the President and Waziri would still be seen as a Northern leader. A Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and a Dr Alex Ekwueme could support a Shagari at a time Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was contesting to be President and they could still not be seen as Igbo traitors. But in the South-West, if you are not in the two parties led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo (Action Group and Unity Party of Nigeria) or any of their descendants (Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress, Action Congress of Nigeria, and All Progressives Congress), you would be regarded as a sell-out! You would always be playing opposition politics in the South-West zone. If the North had got the Presidency through the All Progressive Grand Alliance or Accord Party, it would not have minded. If the South-East gets the Presidency through the APC or the National Congress Party, it would not be an issue. But even though the South-West got the Presidency via the PDP in 1999, many in the South-West do not feel that someone from its zone had ruled the country.
This makes it even more difficult to understand how Fayose has been able to win the hearts of Ekiti people so much that the mainstream South-West party does not even win a seat in that state, a state where only five years ago there was jubilation when the court sacked Oni of the PDP and declared Fayemi of the APC the winner. This was a state where just four years ago, the APC (existing then as the ACN) won an overwhelming majority in the House of Assembly.
Fayose should be a research topic. He is a different kind of politician. But now that he has scaled all the hurdles and proved that he won through popular mandate and not the so-called stomach infrastructure or rigging, he has one last hurdle to scale: Himself. He needs to draw a line between being a state governor and a national politician. He should not be silent over national issues but he should give 80 per cent to his state and 20 per cent to national matters. There is much work to do in Ekiti. He should leave an indelible mark of achievements in Ekiti that will be a befitting appreciation to these people that have left their traditional political party and followed him in this second missionary journey of his. Only very few people are lucky to get a second chance in life. Fayose must not miss this golden opportunity.
Twitter @BrandAzuka
Source:Punch
Comments
Post a Comment
Lasgidi Online readers are solely responsible for their comments, Their comments does not represent the views of the admin.
We have a comment policy, if we find your comment insultive and not good for others to read, we will be forced to remove it.
Thanks.....keep commenting, we love them.