By Michael Egbejumi-David<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Shortly after he was sworn-in as governor last month, Fayose ordered the closure of a petrol station in Ado Ekiti giving a standard made-in-Nigeria excuse.\u00a0 That filing station belongs to one Adewale Omirin.\u00a0 Omirin also happens to be the Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly and one of the progressives in the state.\u00a0 Last weekend, Mr Omirin retaliated by promising Fayose a second dose of impeachment before Valentine\u2019s Day, 2015.\u00a0 Clearly, these two are not lovers.<\/p>\n
But the Federal government and Fayose moved in first.\u00a0 24 hours later, Mr Omirin was \u201cimpeached\u201d by seven House members and a battalion of heavily armed Federal police.\u00a0 I guess when the Peoples Democratic Party promised Ekiti voters more Federal presence in their state they weren\u2019t kidding.<\/p>\n
A few days before that, the judge presiding over a lawsuit looking into Fayose\u2019s eligibility to contest the governorship removed himself from the case.\u00a0 His reason?\u00a0 He got a couple of death threats.\u00a0 Ekiti seems determined to keep itself in the news \u2013 bad news.<\/p>\n
Fayose\u2019s second coming was always going to play out like this.\u00a0 If you are a dealer in boxing gloves, I\u2019d suggest you relocate your business to Ado Ekiti.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that Ekiti is suffused with redoubtable men and women.\u00a0 But an Ayo Fayose is their governor, for the second time.\u00a0 You could see why there would be tension.\u00a0 But because of that tension, some folks down there are giving the word \u2018Progressive\u2019 a bad meaning.<\/p>\n
The first time Fayose called the shots in Ekiti, the place was in a mess, the state became an object of ridicule.\u00a0 But his people wanted him back.\u00a0 He was, surprisingly, their choice as leader.\u00a0 Well, the people\u2019s choice must be respected always.\u00a0 This is one bitter pill, one fact with which the elite and the progressives have got to come to terms \u2013 and quickly too.<\/p>\n
Fronting for the progressives in Ekiti at the moment is a group that christened itself, E11.\u00a0 Immediately after Fayose\u2019s victory in June, E11 rushed off to the Press and issued a congratulatory message, pledging to work with Fayose for the progress of the state.\u00a0 Then something funny happened.\u00a0 A few days later, the same E11 recanted.\u00a0 They declared that they will not accept Fayose as governor.<\/p>\n
It was the same with the All Progressives Congress (APC).\u00a0 Following his defeat, ex-governor, Fayemi who led that Party in Ekiti promptly announced that he accepted the people\u2019s verdict.\u00a0 Fayemi was rightly hailed as a true democrat and a progressive.\u00a0 However, a few days afterwards, his Party declared that the result of the election was unacceptable and headed to court.\u00a0 All of that, in my view, is sour grapes, and in fact, makes all these folks look bad.\u00a0 The APC might feel that it is doing what an opposition Party is supposed to do after an electoral loss, but at some point, political Parties in Nigeria have to recognise a defeat as just that, congratulate the winner and move on to prepare for other opportunities.<\/p>\n
I understand that E11 has been in court challenging Fayose\u2019s eligibility to contest, prior to the election.\u00a0 If this was the case, then it was very strange for the same group to congratulate Fayose publicly via a Press statement, only to return to court pushing their case.\u00a0 The whole thing is a joke, and if this is how the \u2018progressives\u2019 practice their trade in Ekiti, you can see why Fayose had an easy victory there.<\/p>\n
The Ekiti people have spoken and have (overwhelmingly) made their choice.\u00a0 That\u2019s democracy \u2013 warts and all.\u00a0 When Fayose drops the ball again (and he will), the same people have the choice and the mechanism to reject him.\u00a0 The current manoeuvrings by the progressives come dangerously close to attempting to override the people\u2019s mandate, and it makes Fayose look like a combative saint.\u00a0 In other words, it stinks and it\u2019s clumsy.\u00a0 All their exertions now look like class warfare. For all we know, the kerfuffle in the state could be from Fayose\u2019s camp or could be emanating from a disgusted and frustrated citizenry who sees what appears like an elite judicial coup against them.\u00a0 Heck, I would be upset too!<\/p>\n
Oh, there is nothing wrong with a group of sufficiently concerned citizens coming together, wanting to do something about what they perceive to be an anomalous situation in their community.\u00a0 Fayose should have been stopped before the election.\u00a0 But once the people have spoken, that should be it.\u00a0 A small elite group cannot take it upon itself to overrun and overturn the people\u2019s mandate.\u00a0 Today, there is one recluse in Minna called Babangida who with all the military might at his disposal tried to do the same thing back in 1993 but he was resisted.\u00a0 The gentleman was forced to step aside and he never recovered politically.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think Fayose is going to change in style or in substance.\u00a0 You heard his inauguration tirade.\u00a0 We already had a preview of what is to come.\u00a0 If Fayose stays true to type, he will be a disaster.\u00a0 But he will be the people\u2019s disaster as chosen by them and that choice has got to be respected, I\u2019m afraid.\u00a0 Even old governor Pilate could not overrule the people when they asked for freedom for Barabbas rather than for Jesus.\u00a0 Again, that\u2019s democracy \u2013 warts and all.<\/p>\n
So please enough of the inelegant hide and seek.\u00a0 Let the progressives leave the people alone to enjoy or to suffer their choice.\u00a0 Let Fayose and Ekiti, the stomach infrastructure state, now get on with it.\u00a0 Speaking of which, I cannot wait to meet that person who would introduce him or herself as the Special Adviser on Stomach Infrastructure, or hand out a business card with that title on it\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
demdem@hotmail.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Twitter: demdemdem1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Michael Egbejumi-David Shortly after he was sworn-in as governor last month, Fayose ordered the closure of a petrol station in Ado Ekiti giving a standard made-in-Nigeria excuse.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n
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