THE QUESTION: Will Ekiti regret voting Fayose?

It was celebrated poet, Gabriel Imomotime Okara, that invoked the anxiety of the morning after a celebratory event in his poem, The Fisherman’s Invocations. In the poem, Okara asks that now that the celebration has ended, will the ‘child-front’ settle down and face the task before him?

For the people of Ekiti State, their child-front is a certain Ayodele Fayose. His resounding victory in the June 21 governorship election threw up many questions as the people of the state prepared for another political culture different from the one they have been used to in the last four years.

The return of violence to Ekiti politics ─ with increasing physical attacks against judges handling the cases against Fayose ─ has brought back memories of his first tenure in office when such incidents were regular. The death of a Fayose supporter in the hands of gunmen on Thursday looks all too familiar. Violence is back in full force to Ekiti.

Although Fayose has denied his supporters are responsible for the attacks on judges, observers, both inside and outside the state, have been asking if the people of the state made the right choice in voting for Fayose ─ or voting out Dr. Kayode Fayemi.

The emergence of Fayose left many asking if the people of the state were not “out of their minds” by voting out a gentleman and someone who has all it takes, both academically and in performance terms, in favour of someone with history of political brigandage and who still has some issues to sort out with the law.

Even those who don’t have a stake in the state have been asking how a Fayose could have defeated a Fayemi in a governorship contest. The governor himself, in his broadcast to the people of the state after election, had, and while congratulating Fayose, alluded to this in a subtle manner.

He said: “Indeed, a new sociology of the Ekiti people may have evolved. However, the task of understanding how the outcome of this election has defined us as a people will be that of scholars. For us as an administration and a cadre of political leaders in Ekiti State, we have fought a good fight, we have kept the faith.”

Blasts in the past

This statement is poignant: how has the emergence of Fayose defined the Ekiti people?

To be sure, Fayose was not a failure in his first term. Credit must be given to him for certain initiatives which subsequent administrations built upon. When he came in in 2003, there was no single dual carriage way in the state capital, Ado-Ekiti.

He started the process of dualising major roads in the state capital and today, while most of the roads have been upgraded and made more durable, the fact that he laid the foundation should not be denied. Perhaps, that is why he likes referring to himself as the architect of modern Ekiti.

It must be noted that the present state Governor’s Office was actually built by Fayose. Though he planned it as a three-star hotel, it was converted to a Governor’s Office. He was the one who built the second and third phases of the state secretariat. He also initiated the Fountain Hotel in Ado-Ekiti and the dualisation of the Ado-Ikere road. He built schools during his brief but turbulent tenure as governor of the state.

However, the question still reverberates: did Ekiti people make a mistake in putting their political destiny in the hands of a Fayose again?

This question is relevant going by the crush-at-all-cost politics of Fayose. He was not ready to brook any opposition when he was in the saddle in the state. Legend has it that he used to boast that no one could unseat him the way he unseated Niyi Adebayo as governor.

Fayose was said to have expressed shock at the way Adebayo, as a sitting governor, allowed him to campaign unhindered and unfettered. He vowed he would never allow anyone to have that kind of luxury. And he made good his promise with clinical ruthlessness.

He bared his fangs within a year of his tenure during a house of representatives bye-election in Omuo-Ekiti when he personally supervised the harassment of opposition members and ensured that the poll was anything but free and fair. He declared that it was a war and he treated it so.

Femi Bamishile, who was to later become majority leader in the house of assembly and who has since moved to the All Progressives Congress (APC), is lucky to be alive to tell the story today. He was beaten blue and black during the election in his hometown.

Next was Ifaki-Ekiti. The governor, against all dictates of political decency, had gone to “supervise” the conduct of a councillorship bye-election. In the process, fracas broke out when the process was to be manipulated and the opposition resisted. A young man, Tunde Omojola, was beaten to death.

Segun Oni, another former governor of the state and now a leader of the APC in the south-west, was to have a bitter taste of Fayose’s brand of do-or-die politics. Oni’s offence was that he had a governorship ambition and was bold enough to express it by setting up a quasi-political organisation, Ekiti Development Agenda (EDA).

He was holding a meeting with his political associates, including veteran journalist and former editor of the now defunct Daily Sketch newspaper, Idowu Odeyemi, when Fayose’s goons moved in and they were dispersed. Some were thoroughly beaten but Oni was the worst hit.

He was beaten and dragged on the road for some metres before being let go. He had to leave PDP and moved to the now Advanced Congress of Democrats, ACD. It was after the exit of Fayose from the Government House that he moved back to the PDP. Those close to Oni believe that the man is bitter till today and reason he vowed not to have anything to do with Fayose again, politically though.

Not to be forgotten is the late Ayo Daramola, the World Bank chief who also nursed a gubernatorial ambition. He was murdered in cold blood in his hometown of Ijan-Ekiti. There was also Taye Fasuba, the Ado council chief, who was always against Fayose’s political high-handedness.

Fire in the future?

Many have been saying that Fayose has learnt his lessons and they are of the opinion that he would be a totally different governor this time around. Many Ekitis are hoping for that. They would rather have a governor that will justify their trust in him.

Another prayer is that he continues and completes projects that the outgoing governor has embarked on. It is a practice among Nigerian politicians to assume office and discontinue projects their predecessors had embarked upon, no matter how laudable these projects are.

Will Fayose be gallant enough and see governance as a continuum?

Most importantly, are we going to see less of violence during his second coming? As governor-elect who will be assume office in October, violence has already erupted.

The weather forecast is not looking bright on that score…