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.
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.
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.