By Michael Egbejumi-David<\/b><\/p>\n
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I first encountered Ayo Fayose quite a few years ago through a mutual restaurateur friend in South London.\u00a0 I think the man was known as Oluwayose back then, and I think he worked mostly as a cab driver around town.\u00a0 But even then, there was a certain energy, a certain swagger about the chap.\u00a0 He was ambitious and talked big.\u00a0 Sort of reminded me of 50 Cents: Get rich or die trying<\/i>.\u00a0 The next I heard of Fayose, he has turned up as Governor of Ekiti State \u2013 home of the PhD holders.<\/p>\n
But things quickly went south for Fayose in Ekiti.\u00a0 He and the PhDs didn\u2019t quite see eye to eye.\u00a0 Fayose seemed more at home in the company of miscreants and thugs.\u00a0 He would sometimes be found in their company tearing through town, wielding a considerable cudgel.\u00a0 He was also accused of being rude and uncouth, a no-no in a place like Ekiti.\u00a0 There quickly followed ugly rumours about mindless corruption and about a killer squad as a few prominent Ekiti people who looked like posing a formidable challenge to Fayose were summarily dispatched to a Tombo bar in the great beyond.<\/p>\n
Things began falling apart in 2005 when Obasanjo arrived in Afao, Ekiti to commission a poultry farm.\u00a0 OBJ\u2019s moustache twitched indelicately; the former President, a successful farmer, complained that he couldn\u2019t smell the usual fragrance peculiar to poultry farms the world over.\u00a0 Turned out Fayose was pulling a fast one.\u00a0 Just the day before, Fayose had hurriedly put up a few chicken cages.\u00a0 Then he placed some chikens he had hired from a farm in Ibadan in those cages.\u00a0 Obasanjo, not known for being overly subtle, promptly yelled out that Fayose should check himself and fear God.\u00a0 He also advised Fayose to leave the poultry business entirely to private firms and individuals.<\/p>\n
Shortly after that, Fayose\u2019s friend, one Gbenja James, and a former aide, Goke Olatunji were arrested.\u00a0 They were nabbed for their involvement in what was known as the Ekiti State Integrated Poultry Scheme<\/i> for which over N1.4 billion had been expended.\u00a0 James had brought a proposal to Fayose to setup four poultry farms in the State at a cost of N400 million.\u00a0 The State government was supposed to put up N100 million while James would raise the rest of the money through bank loans.\u00a0 Fayose listened, smiled, and then he personally took charge of the project.<\/p>\n
But most of that N1.4 billion got diverted into personal use.\u00a0 The EFCC was to later charge that the monies were diverted through Fayose\u2019s wife, Feyi and through the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Olujimi.<\/p>\n
James also confirmed that some of the funds were used to build Fayose a house at Iyaganku, Ibadan, and that part of the money was used to purchase a car for Fayose\u2019s mother.\u00a0 For her troubles, Fayose\u2019s Deputy received 50,000 US Dollars.<\/p>\n
Taking his cue from Fayose, James regarded his share of the poultry project money as his own dividends of democracy.\u00a0 He dispatched himself on a shopping spree to Europe and America for exotic vehicles.\u00a0 He bought properties everywhere, and upgraded his farm in Ibadan.\u00a0 Meanwhile, not one chicken was produced from any of the farms in Ekiti.<\/p>\n
That was just one case of blatant corruption, but that poultry scam was nothing compared to the fraud Fayose pulled off in Ekiti with local government funds.\u00a0 Despite Obasanjo\u2019s initial reticence, Fayose and his Deputy were impeached and got kicked out of office in 2006.\u00a0 As we speak, EFCC corruption charges are still hanging over Fayose like the Sword of Damocles.<\/p>\n
It is incredible therefore that it is this same Fayose that has now been resurrected, dusted off and chosen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be their candidate in the upcoming Ekiti gubernatorial poll slated for this June.\u00a0 In a Party primary election conducted on Saturday 22nd<\/sup> March 2014 by none other than Peter Odili, Fayose emerged overwhelming winner.\u00a0 It was a PDP-style landslide.\u00a0 Of the available 477 votes, Fayose got a whopping 462.\u00a0 The other three contestants managed to scare-up only 11 votes between them.\u00a0 One contestant, Mrs Ogundipe got just 1 vote.\u00a0 That must hurt.\u00a0 It would appear even Mr Ogundipe wasn\u2019t convinced.<\/p>\n The choice of Fayose is a head-scratcher for me.\u00a0 That he was even allowed to participate in any credible political Party\u2019s primary was a surprise.\u00a0 I fear the PDP could be up to something again.\u00a0 I would have thought that a Party in central government that doesn\u2019t control any State in the Southwest would see the coming governorship election in Ekiti as one in which to put its best foot forward.\u00a0 I thought the PDP would be a little more serious about its ambitions in Ekiti, especially as 2015 looms.\u00a0 What am I missing?<\/p>\n Throughout his time as governor, Fayose exhibited a character and behavioural trait that were unfit and unacceptable for high office.\u00a0 Alas today, a few people in Ekiti look back on Fayose\u2019s three years as productive ones.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t.\u00a0 Those folks should remember that Fayose came immediately after gentleman Niyi Adebayo; a man whose idleness as governor was only surpassed by Lucky Igbinedion\u2019s in Edo.<\/p>\n Rather unfortunately, it has become common practice in Nigeria for all major political Parties to cheat during elections.\u00a0 The biggest rigger always wins unless the courts step in to save democracy\u2019s blushes.\u00a0 The last time around, it took an almighty battle before the usurper governor, Segun Oni was thrown out.\u00a0 Things got so tough, the previous Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo evaporated from her duty post and went on the lam.\u00a0 She claimed that some people (read, Maurice Iwu) wanted her to do things against her will.\u00a0 In the end, Iwu and the PDP had their way. \u00a0Mama Adebayo was later forced to compromise her integrity, her name and age.\u00a0 Moreover, Jonathan and his friends have since removed Justice Salami from the Court of Appeal.\u00a0 You just never know with the PDP.<\/p>\n Across the track, Iyiola Omisore is getting ready to become the next governor of Osun also on behalf of the PDP.\u00a0 Omisore has done it before: He won an election as a Senator of the Federal Republic whilst on prison remand on a murder charge.\u00a0 Perhaps there\u2019s a method to what ordinarily looks like the PDP madness.\u00a0 After all, this is realpolitik; it is certainly not about some bucket-load of PhDs in one thing or the other.<\/p>\n \n