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When he wasfarcically rigged out as Governor of Ekiti State four years
ago, theperpetrators of that dastardly electoral gangsterism thought that
Dr. KayodeFayemi was finished in Nigerian politics. They have many reasons
to think so.Then, the erstwhile ruling party, PDP, was going lyrical with
horrificelectoral shenanigans on which its claim of dominance of the
country’spolitical space since 1999 rested. Again, in former President
Jonathan, the PDPhad a mindless Trojan horse whose desire to vanquish the
state and put it underhis putative thumbs and that of his PDP was
legendary. Also, the electoralsystem was firmly subjected to the crude
force of PDP’s bestial gerrymanderingas nothing but outright procurement
of electoral triumph against its opponentsthrough very foul means
satisfied this maniacal craze by PDP. But those thathastily wrote the
political obituary of Fayemi based on the putrid outcome ofthe Ekiti farce
of 2014 never took time to study his political history. If theydid, they
would have known that they were dealing with a veteran long-distancerunner
who has the energy to last the whole distance they took the
electoralsystem to.
Even withthe overt display of chicanery with which the PDP stole Ekiti
from him, Fayemi acceptedthe outcome of the mangled election and handed
over to incumbent governor, AyoFayose for whom the PDP went beyond all
that is decent to snatch Ekiti. Let usrecall that a week to the election,
Fayemi as the incumbent governor was rudelycountermanded publicly by
policemen sent to the state by the Jonathangovernment for the purpose of
softening the state for eventual capture. Let usrecall that Fayemi’s
governor-colleagues from his APC were intercepted on theroad and prevented
from joining his campaign in Ekiti by soldiers and policemendedicated for
that nasty purpose. Let us recall the shipping of huge caches ofcash to
Ekiti by different operatives of the PDP federal government for thepurpose
of rigging the election. Let us recall that virtually all Ekiti APCleaders
were placed either on arrest or house arrest on election day to enablePDP
an unfettered rigging of the election. However, the dirty and
sadtrajectories that happened in Ekiti State four years ago were exposed
by anarmy operative who revealed to saharareporters.com the details of the
riggingincluding damning voice recordings that indicted several top
echelons of thePDP and the then Jonathan presidency in the audacious
rigging out of Fayemi asEkiti governor four years ago.
But as July14, the date for a new Ekiti election is approaching, it is not
difficult tosee that a lot of water has passed under the bridge. PDP is no
longer in power.It was defeated soon after they wrought the electoral
robbery in Ekiti. Theactive catalysts of the electoral sham in Ekiti four
years ago have been swept downthe dustbin of history. The ultimate
beneficiary of the farcical election fouryears ago, Fayose has become a
lonely pariah whose conducts and performance asgovernor have conspired to
make him a troubled loner that is more pre-occupiedwith life after office
than nursing a distant hope that he will swing theelection to his lackey
whom he wants to nudge to power. The boisterous PDP isnow like a ghost
house. It has become a waning desolate house and its membershave deserted
it in droves. It is shorn of the firing power with which itmanipulated the
Ekiti election in 2014. In reverse, the APC which bore thebrunt of PDP
ruthlessness four years ago is in control of power both at thecenter and
in most of the states. In fact, it controls the entire South West,sans
Ekiti and one can touch the eagerness of Ekiti people to shed
theunfortunate pariah status PDP levied on them in 2014 and join their
regionalbrothers and a burgeoning national family by July 14.
Verydramatically, the kid off the block is the same Fayemi that was
violentlyshunted off power four years ago. Soon after his defeat, he threw
himselfwholly into the utmost task to see off the PDP government and
enthrone his APCat the center. He was one of the most determined and
hardworking soldiers andof course, one of the intellectual egg-heads of
that epic historical battle. Infact, unknown to many, the electoral
maneuver in Ekiti that saw Fayemiundeservedly out of power, was the
catalyst that prodded the APC sweepstake in2015. I will do more on this in
a separate report but suffice it to state thatwith the crude and bacchanal
way PDP prosecuted the Ekiti conquest in 2014, APCleaders, members and
supporters were roused to a rude awakening that theruthless PDP needs to
be tackled on all fours and not given any space tomaneuver if the party
was to dislodge the unscrupulous hitherto ruling party.The Osun
governorship contest, which came almost immediately after the
Ekiticharade, was good testing ground for APC’s resolve to stop PDP’s
crude tacticsthat was in full display in Ekiti. It spilled over to the
general electionwhere APC trumped PDP to take over the control of the
country.
Fayemi wasto emerge President Buhari’s Minister of Steel and Solid
Minerals, which wascritical to the new regime’s effort to diversify the
economy and enhance theexport profile of the country. He was to do this
job so well that he polished amoribund and dead sector and brought it to
be one of the country’s majorrevenue earners today. The nation’s
exportable mineral resources havequadrupled and new vistas for expansion
of the country’s mineral exports arebeing charted every day; thanks to the
innovative and creative input Fayemibrought to that sector. Today, the
ministry’s export value has so increasedthat it rivals the agriculture
sector as the main largest new export sectors ofthe economy, outside crude
oil. Fayemi worked so hard and assiduously to bringback to life the
nation’s expensive but abandoned steel companies. Today, manyof the
abandoned steel companies have either been oncessioned, revived or puton
the paths of revival. Some, like the Delta Steel Company Aladja, have
staredproduction while the Ajaokuta Steel Company, the nation’s largest
steel companythat has been left to rot for several decades now is at the
concluding stagesof pre-concession transactions and will soon be
concessioned and switched tolife.
With hisstellar showing as Minister, it was easy for Fayemi to emerge from
a hugelycrowded field of APC governorship aspirants to set up what is seen
as anexciting match with the same PDP that procured a pyrrhic victory over
him fouryears ago. His defeat in that election, even when the details are
known, isstill a mystery that tarred the image Ekiti people have promoted
for themselvesas a land of knowledge. That event still evokes
uncomfortable embarrassment tothe average Ekiti man till today and the
readiness to put the ghost of thatmystery can be felt in Ekiti today. Come
to think of it, Fayemi, as a governor,performed very well in critical
areas that assured the state real progress;infrastructures, human capital
development, job creation, poverty alleviation,etc. No one imagined he
would be removed in such unexplainable manner as hewas. The incoherent
effort to explain his defeat to the weird and primitivestomach
infrastructure politics which the PDP played, cast more slur on theimage
of the Ekiti man. These are features the proud Ekiti man is desperate
toaddress and the July 14 election is a veritable medium to do this.
Let usrecall the tortuous journey of life Fayemi had gone through. He was
among thefirst grade NADECO activists that fought the military to a
standstill andprocured for us the present democratic dispensation. He
remains famous for theRadio Kudirat initiative that offered a platform for
expression against theanti-military struggle. Let us recall the long,
arduous journey he embarked onto become governor; how the same PDP stole
his mandate and how he went on a longjourney to court; going back and
forth until the courts ordered a supplementaryelection he was tipped to
win but which was manipulated in a bizarre fashion.He went back to court
and re-started the long circuitous journey again, whichended in October
2010 when his stolen mandate was retrieved and he was sworn inas Governor.
Being apatient, long-distance runner, Fayemi has shown that he has the
energy to lastthe distance. His upbringing prepared him for that. His
political experienceshoned him to go the distance such that his urbane
disposition that flows fromhis upbringing has not deterred him from
engaging those that underestimate hisstaying power in politics. All
thesehave combined to prepare him for the July 14 slugfest and the
aftermaths andthe way and manner he managed and contained the predicted
combustible outcomeof the APC primaries suggests that the coming election
will be a walkover forhim; the crowning glory of his matured politics and
the ultimate vindication ofthe Ekiti man from the filthy dance of four
years ago.
All said,July 14 is Fayemi’s show. He has shown through his [public,
political life thathe deserves the comeuppance of this date. It is a
crowning day for the famedlong distance runner who has shown that the race
of life is not a short put andhis second coming will be a deserved reward
for his political sagacity anddurable political value.
Peter ClaverOparah.
Ikeja,Lagos.
E-mail: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com