Henryi Ojelu
The Ekiti State governor-elect who claims to have changed his past negative ways has four years to prove this
Ayodele Fayose may have won the Ekiti State Governorship election but his past cannot be easily forgotten. Born on 13 November 1960, Fayose in 2003 became one of the youngest governors in Nigeria. His tenure as governor was however characterised by terror, intimidation and open display of impunity. Wallowing in his description as “a man of the people”, he endeavoured to crush everyone that dared to oppose him.
He was, however, humiliated out of office when Obasanjo was at the height of his powers in Aso Rock. Two of Obasanjo’s major weapons in those days were the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and declaration of state of emergency. Anytime a governor fell out of his favour, he usually deployed one or the other to get him out of power.
On 6 October 2006, Fayose and his deputy, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, were impeached and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Friday Aderemi, assumed office as the interim governor. But that was not where Obasanjo was going. As it turned out, Olujimi was also encouraged to declare herself governor and the full script unfolded. With “two governors” in place, Obasanjo declared that there was a breakdown of law and order in the state and quickly declared a state of emergency, promptly appointing Brig-Gen. Adetunji Olurin (rtd.) as the sole administrator of the state on 19 October 2006.
Fayose fled the country as he was removed from office. With his impeachment, he had lost constitutional immunity, paving the way to be arrested on charges of corruption and murder. His exit from Nigeria was said to have been facilitated by two top police chiefs, and he was in exile until Obasanjo left power in May, 2007.
Fayose returned to the country in December 2007 and was well received in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital. That was clearly a signal that he had not lost his support base, which he had amazingly built to unseat Chief Niyi Adebayo as Ekiti governor in 2003.
Fayose told the large gathering at his reception: “Today, my joy knows no bounds as I return home into the warm embrace of you, my good people and admirers in Ekiti. Life away from home was never the same, going by the affluence and influence associated with the office of a governor.”
He added: “On the other hand, my wilderness experience has offered me enough opportunity to reflect on my ordinariness as a man, as the way up might be the way down, because nothing, they say, lasts forever. I was made to suffer for what I knew nothing about. Rather than being honoured, I was humiliated. Rather than being promoted, I was persecuted. You are all living witnesses of how I turned around our non-existent social infrastructure, empowering you, putting smiles on your faces and touching your lives individually.”
His attempt to run for senate in 2011 on the ticket of the Labour Party failed, and he returned to the PDP. He had been expelled from PDP but got his readmission backdated by two years, making it possible for him to seek an elective post immediately.
In November 2012, EFCC docked Fayose over alleged misappropriation of state funds amounting to N416 million. That was part of the 27-count amended charge for which he was standing trial before Justice Adamu Hobon of the Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of conversion of public funds for personal use and abuse of office while he was governor. He was earlier arraigned in 2007 at the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly misappropriating funds belonging to Ekiti State. He later challenged the jurisdiction of the court on the grounds that the alleged offence was not committed in Lagos, but Ekiti State.
In his first coming as governor, Fayose was separately accused of complicity in the murders of Messrs Tunde Omojola and Ayo Daramola, though he claimed that the allegations were political as the police had cleared him of any complicity.
Two things worked in his favour. First, no court of law has pronounced him guilty. Second, he threw his hands wide as a prodigal ready for rehabilitation. Fayose claims that the Ayo Fayose of 2003 to 2006 is not the Ayo Fayose of 2014 and that his misdeeds at that time were informed by his young age. The question remains: Is this a new, reformed Fayose?