THE RETURN OF FAYOSE Kolawole Igandan Tribune Opinion page June 12, 2014. Sir Winston Churchill, the famous Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955, may have gained critical acclaim for his leadership prowess and sagacity, but that is not all there is to him. He is also highly revered for making statements that has shaped the English nation. One of his timeless words on marble is “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” This is vintage Churchill. This exactly leads me to the point. The title of this piece is not to draw us into scenarios but to address issues poignantly. Ekiti state is in the news again and this time, it is for the same purpose that it had been known for. Elections! Governorship elections have always ruffled feathers in the state that was created on October 1, 1996, alongside five other states by the then, Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, General Sani Abacha. From the beginning of the current democratic dispensation, elections in Ekiti had always been fiercely contested; it has generated such rancour that had seen the nation endure screaming newspaper headlines. The governorship election in the state in 2007 would probably go down in history as the most controversial election in the country. It was a testy period for the people of the state as they had to undergo the torture of having the state in the news for the wrong reasons. Political gladiators and their supporters went from one court to another until the case was decided in favour of the Action Congress on October 15, 2010. That is a brief summary of how the state was held at its tether for three years. Today, the same old game has begun and the players are not new either. It is still the same crop of politicians that had consistently dominated the arena. That is the reason for the apprehension, anxiety, tension and excitement that has currently enveloped all activities in the state. The social media, public analysts, political commentators and self-styled opinion leaders have turned their attention to the Ekiti governorship election. They are daily churning out all sorts of pejorative statements . Obviously, the leading candidates in the contest are, Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress, Michael Opeyemi Bamidele of Labour Party and Kole Ajayi of Accord party. In fairness to them all, they have hit the ground running and are also optimistic of victory. In a normal election, if there is such a thing, it ought to be clear by the end what the race is about, whether the candidates are promising continuity or change, bright contrasts, or fine distinctions; whether it is about character or competence. Whether the results will actually matter in most people’s lives or just change the background music on the morning news. If you are promising continuity. The discerning public would ask continuity of what? If at the same time you are talking about change, the sophisticated people of the Ekiti hue would also ask, what change are you seeking to make? Now, what about character and competence? This is very important to the Ekiti man. Can a candidate be trusted simply because he said so? That is why it is worth stopping for a moment to look at all the candidates as more than just the one-dimensional stereo type that they have become. Today, what is generating a buzz in the state is the entry of Ayo Fayose into the contest. Truth be told, there was much calm before the primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. The people had waited with bated breath before the primaries. Everybody seems to agree that PDP has a knack for keeping people guessing and eventually coming up with a candidate that would change the face of politics in the state. So if the other parties had to wait for PDP to choose their candidate before they also strategise on how to win the election, it was always worth the wait. In the case of the party’s primaries, pundits didn’t give the party a chance because of the rancourous events preceding it. All the PDP aspirants put up a great showing. Almost everybody agreed that managing the crisis after the primaries may be an unattainable feat. Now, having won the primaries of the party, Fayose went all out to reconcile the various political interests. It was, indeed, a herculean task because the dramatis personae had for so long been enmeshed in an intricate web of power play. Today, the dust has settled and Fayose has embarked on real consultations with his people, not token consultations like the others are making. He is negotiating, connecting and really impressing it on the people that the time for change is now. He is corralling people from far flung provinces of his party and harnessing them into an effective team. Now, Fayose prides himself as one governor who left a legacy for all to see during his first reign in power. •Igandan lives in Igbara Odo- Ekiti, Ekiti State
Posted on: Thu, 19 Jun 2014 09:50:10 +0000
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