Fayose and His Legacy

By

Anthony A. Akinola

anthonyakinola@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

Not many contemporary Nigerian politicians understand the art of self-publicity better than Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state. Of the nation’s 36 state governors, Dr Fayose is arguably the best known face on television to Nigerians living abroad. When he is not granting an interview to the London-based BEN television, viewers are being reminded of his great accomplishments via adverts or documentaries of monotonous frequency captioned "Ekiti transformation". Fayose’s accomplishments must have made a great impression on the authorities of the University of Ado-Ekiti that, barely nine months into his administration, he was conferred with the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Administration!

 

Governor Fayose carves the image of "man of the people" and his image makers have not failed to portray him as such. Halting a motorcade in order to have a glass of palm wine with locals and personally conveying old men and women to the bank in order to assist them with opening bank accounts, are some gestures which distinguish Fayose from those predecessors of his who were either perceived as arrogant or distant in the imagination of ordinary people. Echoes of "he is a kind and generous human being" can be heard in the various documentaries of the Fayose governorship, not least from those widows and market women to whom he had given gifts of rice and money on various occasions.

 

Governor Fayose is currently fighting to save his job, having been served with an impeachment notice by the state legislators. Of course his predicament will be mourned by those he had tried to identify with but not by the elite and intelligentsia who had nothing but contempt for his style of leadership. To them, Fayose is a mere thug and hooligan who has been responsible for some serious crimes committed in Ekiti state since he assumed office in 2003. They are quick to point to the peace and calm in the state during the preceding administration of Otunba Niyi Adebayo.

 

The veracity of this perception of hooliganism is not helped by the account of Fayose’s erstwhile deputy, Mr Abiodun Aluko, who had had cause to write to President Olusegun Obasanjo complaining that his life was being threatened in the course of his feud with his boss. Similarly, the erstwhile chairman of Ado-Ekiti Local Government Council, Mr Fashuba once fled the state capital for Abuja, alleging that an attempt had been made on his life by hired assassins. The event occurred at a time when he was having a bitter controversy with Governor Fayose. Fayose’s opponents or detractors as he would like them to be called, allege he may have been remotely connected with one or two murders in the state, including that of Dr Ayo Daramola who had indicated an intention to wrestle power from the incumbent governor in 2007.

 

In a society where modernism compares with traditionalism, Fayose’s conflict with one or two influential potentates would appear to have further decimated his rank of potential supporters. The Ewi of Ado-Ekiti and the Ogoga of Ikere-Ekiti, historical rivals that they are, united in their common resentment of Fayose’s "intransigence". Conferring a chieftaincy title of "Olu-omo" – meaning a child of great distinction – on Abiodun Aluko soon after his impeachment, was one "gesture of disloyalty" which got Fayose showing the yellow card to the latter. It is unlikely they would mourn his exit it he gets impeached, as would also some powerful Ekiti indigenes which include Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) who has consistently had a running battle with the young and inexperienced governor.

 

Dr Fayose’s opponents had hoped that he would not serve a second term as governor of Ekiti state, but that prayer may have been "over-answered" by the unanticipated intervention of Nuhu Ribadu’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has indicted Fayose of corruption and corrupt practices. Ekiti people can stomach many things but not the theft of their collective money on a scale that the EFCC had revealed. Chief Abiodun Aluko (as he now is) alleged that Fayose bribed the state legislators to impeach him from his erstwhile position of Deputy Governor, it would be interesting to know what the outcome would be now that the same state legislators have indicated their intention to impeach Dr Fayose if found guilty of the charges made against him.

 

The Fayose phenomenon is a product of the stagnation of a nation’s democratic growth and culture brought about by many years of corrupt military rule. In developed democratic nations of the world those aspiring to be President or Governor or its equivalent would have verifiable antecedents for the position they seek. Fayose rode to power on the platform of personal generosity. He became loved and renowned for distributing water to all and sundry with the help of tankers. Is it not sad that personal generosity of this nature was the attribute that qualified one to be governor in Nigeria after more than forty years of independence from the colonial masters?

 

Governor Fayose sees himself as a beacon of hope for every Nigerian who had been brought up without the silver spoon. He openly talked of his relatively poor background as the source of hatred by the privileged ones. One wishes him good luck as he defends himself against charges of corruption and greed but has he actually provided an enviable legacy and platform of future leadership for the class he claims he was a member of? In what direction has Ekiti transformed under a Fayose administration that would appear to be hurriedly concluding the final chapter of its history?

 

Email: anthonyakinola@yahoo.co.uk