What Ekiti People Expect From Ayo Fayose

Eromosele Ebhomele As Ayodele Fayose takes oath of office as governor of Ekiti, residents of the state and citizens of Nigeria remain expectant It was on Saturday, 20 September. The event was the South-West mega rally of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which its members boast is the biggest party in Africa and one that has called the shots at the centre since 1999 when Nigeria began another democratic journey. All clad in light brown Aso Oke, most of the party members who had the opportunity to speak hammered on the need to clinch the south-western part of the country from the opposition party. They did not pretend to any listener that they were especially interested in Lagos State, which they severally referred to as the “commercial hub” of the country. Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom State and chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, even called it the economic centre-point of Africa. And while the governor spoke on this urgent need for his party to claim the state and its other sister states, he announced that the party was focusing on none other than Peter Ayodele Fayose, the governor-elect of Ekiti State. In fact, Akpabio called Fayose the nucleus through which the party would breathe its life on the South-West zone during the 2015 general elections and beyond. [caption id="attachment_11908" align="aligncenter" width="245"] •Fayose: Ekiti governor-elect[/caption] Fayose simply smiled. He recognised his importance; the level of power and responsibility placed on him by his party. Though with an educational background that continually stirs up controversy, he knows that he remains a case study of real and successful politicking, the Nigerian method. Or how else could he have won the governorship election in Ekiti State which held on 21 June in spite of the many issues hanging on him which he had battled to off-load since his first term in office from 2003 to 2006? How could he have ousted Governor Kayode Fayemi, who many thought was a successful governor? The All Progressives Congress, APC, has maintained that the Ekiti election was technically rigged with many analyses to point to its argument. But a top member of the PDP in Lagos told this magazine that Fayose merited the victory because of the characteristics he possesses and with which the people of the state and Nigeria now brand him. According to him, “Fayose knew what he wanted. He has a unique voice, which is one of his greatest gifts because with that voice, he is able to melt even the most stony heart.” Understanding that he has the gift, the source explained, Fayose was able to put his voice into use at every given opportunity, convincing the people and creating an air of being persecuted. “He also understands the emotion of the ordinary man on the street, he knows the problem of the poor, he tries to make them know that he feels their pulse and knows when things are hot for them. He further understands that the poor are not always after money; sometimes, some soothing words heal more than the amount you give a person. Above all, he is a very humble person and dresses like those who the average Nigerian politician would call the downtrodden masses of the society,” he said. The party member may just have said the obvious. The election was proof that in Nigeria, those who majorly turn out to vote in elections are the downtrodden masses made up of artisans, traders, youths, the unemployed and, maybe, the seemingly hopeless. Survey has shown that the elite in Nigeria hardly vote during elections. What happens is that this set of people is good at churning out opinions, criticisms and showing verbal support for a candidate of their choice while remaining indoors during elections. This was what Fayemi may not have understood, but which Fayose latched on to climb the ladder of victory. But Fayose’s romance with the average residents of Ekiti State did not just begin when he began his campaign. Unlike what happened in Osun State during political campaigns that preceded the governorship election held in the state in August, when some candidates suddenly turned pro-people overnight, Fayose, for years had sustained his investment in the relationship with the people of the state. Like every disciple of Dale Carnegie, one of the world’s celebrated authors, the governor-elect is attuned with the strategies of winning friends and influencing people. Therefore, in the eyes of his people, Fayose can do no wrong. He earned the sobriquet ‘Man of the people’ during his first term in office in spite of the many battles he had to fight with members of his party, the opposition and even then president, Olusegun Obasanjo, with the consequence being his impeachment. [caption id="attachment_11913" align="aligncenter" width="249"] •Niyi Adebayo: Succeeded earlier by Fayose[/caption] It was the confidence that he had earned the trust of the people that this 53-year old politician exuded even prior to the election when he declared that, like he sent Otunba Niyi Adebayo packing from the Government House in 2003, he was going to same to Fayemi. It came to pass, and it was an unprecedented victory. He beat Fayemi, an incumbent, in all the 16 local government areas, beating the out-going governor even in Oye, the latter’s home local government. With a total score of 203,090 votes, Fayose made good his boast against Fayemi who polled 120,433 votes and Opeyemi Bamidele of the Labour Party who had 18,135 votes in an election considered the freest, fairest and most credible ever held in the state. This feat by Fayose became the fulcrum on which political watchers carried out another round of study. Many could not fathom why Fayemi, a sitting governor considered to have manifested true leadership with his achievements in office, could not record success in the election apart from in Isan-Ekiti where he got 157 votes against Fayose’s one. Issues Against Fayemi While some opine that the people of the state lost track when they gave consent to their immediate needs and concerns during the election and that this led to Fayose’s victory, others put the blame at the doorstep of Fayemi. For example, Mallam Mohammed Haruna, a former managing director of the New Nigerian Newspapers, said Fayemi’s defeat was because the people became interested in politics of the stomach instead of a long-term view of the dividends of democracy. “Whereas the ordinary American has a long term view of his needs, the ordinary Nigerian’s view, circumscribed by his abject poverty, is that of satisfaction here and now,” he said in an opinion in which he maintained that this could only be the explanation behind Feyemi’s loss. [caption id="attachment_11907" align="aligncenter" width="291"] •Fayemi: Outgoing governor[/caption] But while Tunji Abayomi, a senior advocate, posited that Fayemi’s failure at the polls was the result of his inability to have a good hold on his lieutenants while he held sway as governor, Bayo Adeyinka, a social media commentator, listed what is popularly seen as the many sins of Fayemi’s administration. “Some people attributed Peter Ayodele Fayose’s victory to the sharing of rice and other inducements but this is begging the question because APC also shared rice and even doled out money. Those who were on ground confirmed this and most of them collected from both parties. Consequently, it was not the victory of ‘raw rice’ over ‘cooked rice’.” Of course, according to Adeyinka and many other Nigerians, though Fayemi built roads and embarked on an aggressive urban renewal, there was the impression that his projects were merely elitist in nature. To these people also, the governor busied himself bringing bloggers from Lagos to assess his performance and engaged in high use of social media whereas Fayose continued to have a one-on-one relationship with the people at the graasroots, especially those who hardly patronised social media and the bloggers. Fayose, through the election, proved Robert Greene right in advice on how best to tame a perceived enemy in the 48 Laws of Power. Greene gave the impression that one’s perceived enemy is more predictable than one’s friend and as such must be given a major consideration in such a way that he would be used to one’s advantage. Fayemi did not realise this. As Adeyinka put it: “It would have been a walk-over for Governor Fayemi if they had kept Fayose in their corner of the party.” Adeyinka, while naming Fayose a major contributory factor to Fayemi’s emergence as governor in the first instance, added that this was done allegedly on the understanding that Fayose would be given a senatorial slot, an agreement that never materialised. He then left for the Labour Party from where he returned to the PDP. “He brought his bruised ego into the political field. When a man’s ego suffers, other things bear the consequences. What would it take to cede a slot to ‘Oshoko’ and let him retire at the Senate? Even the Holy Writ asked us to quickly make friends of our adversaries lest they put us in gaol,” he explained. The history of Fayemi’s loss in the election had always been partially tied to the long dispute his government had with civil servants in the state. Even after the election, the dispute has continued to rage. Just last week, the Ekiti State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers warned its members against resuming as instructed by Governor Fayemi. The union said the stay-at-home order would continue till government thought it wise to pay the teachers’ salaries for August and September as it was tantamount to a suicide mission to ask the teachers to resume work on an empty stomach. Will Fayose Be Sworn In? The baton of state affairs in Ekiti is supposed to change hands between Fayemi and Fayose on 16 October. However, as expected, a lot of politics and intrigues have been playing out over the character of Fayose since his victory at the polls. While some residents and a section of Nigerians are of the view that he lacks the integrity to be made the governor, others argue that any attempt to stop him from assuming the position would be an affront on democracy. [caption id="attachment_11905" align="aligncenter" width="200"] •Akpabio: Describes Fayose as the nucleous through which PDP would breathe its life on South-West[/caption] On 23 May, just after the PDP endorsed him as the party’s torchbearer for the governorship election, the Ekiti socio-cultural group e-Eleven instituted a legal suit challenging Fayose’s eligibility as a result of the question mark put on his integrity. Pegging the suit on an argument that Fayose contested in error, the e-Eleven argued that while filling the ‘Form INEC CF001’, Fayose claimed he had never at a time been indicted of fraud by a judicial commission or any administrative panel of inquiry, but that this alone questioned his integrity to serve the people of his state. The group backed its claim with a list of indictments on Fayose as well as his impeachment by the state House of Assembly in 2006 after he was found guilty by a panel set up by the House to investigate his activities in office. In the suit instituted at the High Court in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, and which had the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as defendants, the e-Eleven said Fayose, with his denial, went against sections 177 and 182 (1) (d-e) of the Constitution (as amended) and sections 31 and 87 of the Electoral Act of the country. While Section 182 (1) (d-e) stipulates that no person shall be qualified for election to the office of governor of a state, if he is under a sentence of death imposed by any competent court of law or tribunal in Nigeria or a sentence of imprisonment for any offence involving dishonesty or fraud; or within a period of less than ten years before the date of election to the office of governor of a state he has been convicted and sentenced for an offence involving dishonesty or he has been found guilty of the Code of Conduct, Section 31 (4-6) of the Electoral Act stipulates that one could apply to the INEC for a copy of nomination form, affidavit and any other document submitted by a candidate at an election and the commission shall, upon the payment of a prescribed fee, issue such person with a certified copy of the document within 14 days. The law further gives an opportunity for anyone who thinks any information given by a candidate in the affidavit or any document submitted by the candidate is false to head for the High Court of a State or Federal High Court “against such person seeking a declaration that the information contained in the affidavit is false. If the Court determines that any of the information contained in the affidavit or any document submitted by the candidate is false, the Court shall issue an order disqualifying the candidate from contesting the election”. The PDP, on its own, sees a grand ploy by the group in collaboration with the APC to create a crisis of succession in the state following the loss recorded by the APC at the election. Olisa Metuh, in a statement on behalf of the party, said the APC was planning to influence the judiciary in order to stop the inauguration of Ayo Fayose as governor of Ekiti State, adding that this would amount to a slap on the face of the people of Ekiti if the inauguration of Fayose was stopped. “In the past two weeks, we have witnessed series of lies, propaganda, threats and blackmail by the APC in their desperate bid to truncate the wish of the people. This desperate party has gone notches up in this awkward quest for power by inciting violence and outlandishly calling for the arrest of the state governor-elect. After losing roundly in an election widely acclaimed as one of the most credible in our recent history as a nation, the APC in its desperation for power has shamelessly designed a heinous plot to compromise certain judicial officers in order to stop the inauguration of Mr. Ayo Fayose as the democratically elected governor of Ekiti State,” Metuh said insisting that the APC sought to remain in power in the state through any means it deems fit. “We are indeed taken aback that the same Governor Fayemi who was among the first Nigerians to congratulate the governor-elect, an action that earned him very wide commendation, would now allow himself to be a tool in the hands of politicians who are desperate to truncate democracy and destroy the unity of his state,” he said. [caption id="attachment_11911" align="aligncenter" width="269"] •Metuh: APC wants to truncate people’s wish[/caption] Apart from the PDP, one individual who has declared that Fayose must be sworn into office on 16 October is David Mark, President of the Senate, who has declared that nothing would stop the inauguration of his party man as governor of the state when the time comes. Also, Mr. Lere Olayinka, media aide to Fayose, while defending the governor-elect, noted that the e-Eleven had been acting as a mafia group in the state and giving every governor of the state trouble since 1999. The only governor that had enjoyed the group, according to him, was Fayemi and this is simply because the governor is part of them. “They would not allow the governors to work, because of their selfish interest. They congratulated Fayose after the election, I mean, their president. But to now turn around to obtain one black market judgment, that Ekiti people will not accept,” he declared. [caption id="attachment_11910" align="aligncenter" width="217"] •Mark: Nothing will stop Fayose’s inauguration[/caption] Babafemi Ojudu, the senator representing Ekiti Central in the National Assembly, does not see anything wrong in taking to the court against Fayose and how that could mean that the party was planning to frustrate the inauguration of the governor-elect. “It is not true that the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State is plotting to frustrate the inauguration of Fayose on October 16,” he said in response to the allegation from the PDP. “What APC had done is to go to the tribunal to challenge the election of Fayose and the court was about to sit when Fayose invaded the court with his thugs and disrupted it. The e-11 had gone to court since May 23 to challenge the qualification of Fayose to contest the election. But there was a strike, and the court later went on vacation; and the suit suffered some setbacks, so they are just hearing it now. Why is the PDP in Ekiti blaming its misfortune on other people? It is taken that when anybody is aggrieved, the place to resolve it is the court and not through self help. The e-Eleven went to court, and the APC went to court.” Fayose Versus Judiciary A major hurdle that Fayose needs to cross currently to continue from where Governor Fayemi would stop on 16 October is the weight of the alleged attack on a judge of the High Court, lawyers and judicial workers in Ado-Ekiti on 22 September. The incident led to a round of violence which saw the destruction of property and the murder of a top member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, an ally of Fayose. The governor-elect has maintained his innocence and accused the APC of orchestrating such just to tarnish his image further. He even called on the National Judicial Council to probe the incident further and expose the ‘can of worms’ and propaganda that is embedded in the crisis, which had resulted in the beating up of Justice John Adeyeye by thugs allegedly loyal to the governor-elect. “What I am saying is that the NJC should launch a thorough probe of the happenings in Ekiti State judiciary and through that, the rot in the system will be exposed. A lot of things are happening there and there are signs that some judicial officers are conniving with the outgoing governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and the APC. The current crisis is an agenda of the APC and their sole aim is to try and get through the back door what the people of the state did not give them on June 21 when they voted overwhelmingly for me and the Peoples Democratic Party. I did not and cannot slap a judge. “I cannot slap a house boy, let alone a High Court judge, and I have utmost respect for judicial officers. The media propaganda that I beat up a judge is an APC agenda to portray me in bad light, having failed to take my mandate through the back door. The Ekiti State Attorney-General, Wale Fapounda, has disclosed that he has spoken with the judge in question...where he made it clear that the news that I slapped the judge was all lies. I did not enter Justice John Adeyeye’s court because I had no business to transact there. The tribunal venue, where I went to, is quite a distance from Adeyeye’s court. Then the pertinent question is: At what point did I meet him? Is it that the judge left his courtroom with his robe to face the so-called protesters? Investigation will reveal all this. Up until now, nobody has been able to provide photo or video evidence that I slapped the judge. And the APC people should know that I will not succumb to blackmail and surrender the mandate freely given to me by the people of the state,” he explained. Despite his defence however, he is still being held down by parties to the attack and the APC that has demanded that he be arrested. Ayodele Daramola, the state Chief Judge, recently told the NJC, in a petition dated 26 September 2014, that the governor-elect actually led the thugs to beat up the judge and that while the attack went on, the police at the scene of the incident looked the other way. He said two attacks on the court premises happened between 22 and 24 September. “On Thursday, the 25th day of September, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, the governor-elect, again led thousands of people and thugs into the premises of the High Court beating and maiming members of staff. The thugs invaded my court where I was to deliver a judgment in a land matter, tore the record books, beat court officials and vandalised the furniture in Court No. 1. The political thugs descended on Hon. Justice J. A. Adeyeye, the presiding judge in Court No. 3, beat and dragged him on the ground. The judge’s suit was also torn into shreds. I could not gain entrance into the premises of the court and had to hurriedly turn back on being alerted that I was the prime target of the hooligans,” his petition read, adding that: “The above in the main was just the beginning of what would appear to be a pre-planned long siege and onslaughts on the court and its personnel.” Also, narrating what transpired in the first attack in a petition to the office of the Inspector-General of Police and dated 25 September, 2014, Norrison I. Quakers and M.J. Onigbanjo, both senior advocates and counsel to the claimant, said the disruption of activities in the court began at 11am when the police ordered people around to leave as tension was mounting. “Around 11:30am, we heard voices from inside the courtroom and upon looking outside the window, we discovered that a light skinned man wearing white Yoruba traditional attire whom we later learnt is one of Fayose’s right-hand men led the crowd of restive male and female hoodlums in their hundreds back into the Court’s premises and the Court room. Although the Police initially resisted; however, the crowd under the leadership of the light-skinned man prevailed due to their huge numbers. “Subsequently, the man and a part of his crowd marched into Justice Olusegun Ogunyemi’s courtroom, where they immediately started to stir trouble by challenging the police officers on their partiality in allowing the Claimants to sit in the courtroom and not the Defendants,” they said. “The hoodlums proceeded to forcibly grab another of the Claimants’ representatives (litigant) in court, tore his clothes in the courtroom and started hitting him with fists, legs and objects with the intent of causing grievous bodily harm. The policemen in the area were helpless while we saw that the policeman who was recording while this inhumane assault was going on was subsequently assaulted and his telephone taken away from him. The litigant was thereafter dragged out of the courtroom and thrown against a locked chained glass door; which he broke through with his body to land outside. “As their momentum increased, the mob started destroying properties and jogging round the courtroom chanting slogans such as ‘Power, Power, Power, Doro Power, Doro PDP, Fayose Ko Duro Soke, No sitting, etc.’ As the ensuing melee fast degenerated into pandemonium, we began to hear gun shots within the court premises; very close to the court room. At this juncture, people were being dragged out of the court windows by the mob, phones were being snatched and men and women alike were being frontally attacked for attempting to record the ensuing pandemonium. While the chaos persisted, the Judge, Honourable Justice Ogunyemi was holed up in his chambers, the Senior Advocates of Nigeria and legal team present, other lawyers, and few litigants were also in the court room, the rampaging mob started jogging around the court room repeating their chants ‘Power, Power, Power, Doro Power, Doro PDP, Fayose Ko Duro Soke, No sitting etc.’ and threatening to machete the judge whom they called all sorts of unprintable names. They were however prevented from carrying out their threats by the presence of some security operatives. Those remaining in the Court room, excluding the judge who was still in his chambers were subsequently ordered amidst threats to leave the Court room with the mob emphatically telling the Court’s registrars that no Court sitting will take place.” As the resulting mayhem escalated, the Chief Judge shut judicial activities in the state while the state government imposed a curfew with Fayemi reminding the people the larger consequences of continuing with the carnage. The NJC, while condemning the attack on the judges and those in the legal profession in the state, urged Suleiman Abba, the Inspector-General of Police, to investigate the case and prosecute the perpetrators. In further wanting Fayose arrested and prosecuted for the attack, the APC, through Lai Mohammed, its national publicity secretary, recently said since the chief judge of Ekiti has confirmed, in a petition to the NJC, that Fayose was complicit in the attack, the NJC should treat the issue expeditiously by taking a decisive action that will make it very costly for anyone to ever attack a judge again. “The need to act is urgent so that no judge gets killed simply because some powerful personality does not like his or her ruling. Had the relevant authorities acted with dispatch when another court in the same state was invaded by pro-Fayose thugs earlier the same week, the attack on Justice Adeyeye would have been averted,” the party said, recalling that “not even during the chaotic political crisis in the then Western Region, which earned it the tag ‘Wild Wild West’, were judges beaten up like Mr. Fayose and his thugs did in Ekiti. Only in Idi Amin’s Uganda can one recall, in recent memory, that this kind of attack happened. In 1972, the Ugandan Chief Justice was murdered by Idi Amin’s agents, after the then president publicly criticised the judge’s ruling...We do not want the buffoons who have found themselves in power in Ekiti and elsewhere in Nigeria to take us to those days of buffoonery, days of anarchy as witnessed in Uganda and elsewhere.” [caption id="attachment_11912" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Mohammed: NJC should take[/caption] In response, the PDP accused Daramola of bias and pitching tent with the APC just to ensure that Fayose was not sworn in as governor. According to the party, the chief judge must face the truth and stop being biased in the interest of the sanctity of the judiciary. While the outcome of the NJC probe is eagerly being awaited by Nigerians, Fayose has maintained a reasonable level of confidence that he would be exonerated in the end. Fasoye’s Second Coming And What It Portends There is fear among some people that the return of Fayose to the Government House could be used by him as an opportunity to take revenge on all those who offended him in the past. Those who nurse the fear are of the opinion that being the only term he is to serve the people of the state, he could decide to take his pound of flesh knowing that he is not returning after four years. Femi Falana, a Lagos-based rights lawyer, also said this much recently when he expressed fears that with the attack on the judges in Ekiti and other judicial staff, the state could become a war zone under Fayose. Falana further maintained that he was sure many residents of the state would relocate for the four years the governor would remain in office. Falana said: “With the ongoing political crisis, some development agencies have decided to pull out of the state. I know industrialists who have decided to relocate to neighbouring states. I have some friends who have resolved to go on exile from Ekiti State for the next four years. The exodus of business and the elite will have adverse effect on the fragile economy of the state because no investor takes funds to any place where the rule of law is in abeyance.” [caption id="attachment_11906" align="aligncenter" width="200"] •Falana: Many residents will relocate from Ekiti[/caption] Even with the fears he raised, he still had an advice for Fayose like many others who have spoken regarding the new political journey of the state. Falana, a native of Ilawe-Ekiti, said Fayose owes himself a duty to turn away from violence because no leader can govern in an atmosphere of anarchy and chaos. He has to embrace the rule of law. Fayose’s aides have since replied Falana and discredited his claim as baseless and lacking in substance. They reminded Falana that the people have spoken and they would never be disappointed. They also told Falana that it was only those who had skeletons in their cupboards that would think of running away from the state, a vague claim that those who may have soiled their hands may not find it easy with their boss. “We know for sure that as our Lord lives, that expectation will not be cut short. Ekiti is as peaceful as any other state, it is people like Falana who are beating the drums of war and propaganda that are having nightmares and sleepless nights over the return of Fayose as the governor of the state. Those causing trouble in the state in the last two weeks are leaders of the All Progressives Congress and their thugs. If people like Jaruu and Apase, who have murder cases hanging on their necks, are leaving the state, security agencies know how to handle their cases. If trouble-makers and people that the Bible calls ‘the troublers of Israel’ are relocating, then, it is good riddance to bad rubbish. If those who have looted the state’s treasury and are afraid of probe have decided to relocate, they should know that the long arm of the law will catch up with them. It is common sense that it is only the guilty that are afraid. Anybody who does not have any skeleton in his cupboard will not be running helter-skelter when nobody is pursuing him,” one of the recent statements from Fayose’s camp read. Aside this, Fayose has since winning the election taken to every available medium to inform the people of his readiness to meet their yearnings and expectations. Few days after the election, he announced that he had a blueprint of what he wanted to achieve and that he would build on the strides so far achieved by successive governments in the state. He has also severally told the world through social media that he is a changed man and ready to make positive impact on people of the state. In a recent tweet to mark the World Teachers’ Day, he told the teachers in Ekiti State that they should just endure till he would begin work as the governor. “In the next four years, your welfare shall be my priority. We shall celebrate your Day as we used to do. No teachers, no nations!” he declared. But while a set of the civil servants seems to be happy at his promises, another set has been working in apprehension. The latter set includes those recently employed by the out-going Fayemi. Governor Fayemi, in what Fayose described as a ploy to create a major crisis for him, employed a total of 4,000 into the Ekiti State Civil Service. While 3,000 workers were recruited into the civil service, 1,000 were recruited into the Ekiti State University, with their appointments allegedly backdated. Fayose, who called this a landmine set for him, warned civil servants against colluding with Fayemi to set hindrances for him. “If you are a civil servant and you are colluding with Fayemi’s government to set landmines for my administration, you should be prepared to pay the price. All public servants should realise that they have career to build unlike the politicians. To be fore warned is to be fore armed,” he warned them. Fayose also warned that he would not accept to work with the 19 local council development areas created in the twilight of the out-going administration. To him, the councils would be starved of funds: “I see such an action in the twilight of his administration as setting landmines for the incoming government. This is apart from the fact that the matter is in court and the order given by the court has not been vacated. If the people of the state want him to continue with his policies, they would have voted him. The funds coming to the state come in the name of specific local governments.” Fayose’s argument has been supported by some people who wonder why Fayemi would consider a hasty creation of more councils at a time he was leaving. It is believed that Fayose would know how to handle the situation in such a way that he would not create a negative impression in the hearts of his people. Moreover, he has constantly told listening ears that he is a changed man and has learnt from his mistakes. His messages on social media also portray him as truly changed ahead of the inauguration. An APC-dominated House The crisis in the state may not just end with Fayose’s oath-taking, as analysts posit that another grave danger the governor-elect could have to contend with is the APC-dominated House of Assembly. Those who see this as an obstacle for Fayose fear that the House may frustrate his administration and even make things worse for him than he experienced in his first term. Reports had it at the heat of the impeachment of former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State that the APC had vowed to replicate this in Ekiti after the swearing in of Fayose. The way the House had worked with Fayemi also shows that the APC House is a formidable force that should make Fayose tread softly. But for those who view the country’s situation generally, that threat may just end with Fayose’s inauguration. To these people, since Nigeria is a place where anything goes, it may not be surprising to suddenly see the lawmakers defect to the PDP in order to continue to hold on to their positions. Just few weeks after Fayose’s electoral victory, speculations emerged that the lawmakers were plotting to move en masse to the PDP. The report, which has not been discredited so far, states that 13 lawmakers under the APC have concluded plans to move over to the PDP which becomes the ruling party in the state from October, with Ajibola Oyedele (Ekiti East Constituency Two), who is the lone PDP member of the House, now becoming the most celebrated by his colleagues. If this happens, it means Fayose’s prediction that the PDP would govern Ekiti for another 25 years could materialise. Then, too, Akpabio, who named Fayose as the fulcrum of the PDP’s anticipated success in the south-western region of the country, would just have meant his statement. Moreover, before the important role was placed before him, he had gone round some parts of region including Lagos and Ogun, promising that these states would be won over to the PDP. During a ‘thank you’ visit to Lagos two weeks after the election, Fayose made it clear to the APC that he meant business. “I want to give the APC an assignment after leaving this place. After leaving this place, their leaders, their followers, should come and sweep the whole of Freedom Park for me. The conspiracy against me in 2006 is now their albatross. It is the problem they are facing now and that is what is going to take all of them out of government house, one after the other.” The outcome of this challenge from Fayose is one Nigerians are watching out for come 2015. Then, the people would be able to tell which party truly holds the aces between Fayose’s PDP and the APC.