Valedictory Address by Dr. Kayode FAYEMI, Governor, Ekiti State, Nigeria On the conclusion of his term of office as Governor of Ekiti State, Nigeria Wednesday, October 15, 2014

My dear people of Ekiti State, by the grace of God, in the next 24 hours we would come to the end of a glorious tenure of an administration I have had the privilege to lead as Governor of the land of honour, Ekiti State, Nigeria.

The Scriptures instruct us that “there is a time for everything and a season for every purpose under heaven”. If wise, we draw from this a keen sense that all earthly things are temporary and finite. All things born or made of man are transient and without permanence. The wind blows east in the morning then west at night. A person is young then old. Nothing lasts forever. Whatsoever has a beginning also must have an end. A public servant enters office and then he leaves it. An individual and his life come and go but life itself continues, children follow their parents, generation follows generation. With the limited time to which we are all appointed, our sacred obligation becomes visible. We must leave the path clearer than we found it. We must leave the world, our nation and our state better than we found it. The promises spoken in this regard are the promises one should keep. As I step away from office, I can say the promises we gave are the promises we kept. We have made Ekiti a much better place than we found it.

Governance is a continuum. Administrations come and go. Our electoral laws do not allow holding office in perpetuity, in order to accommodate a dynamic of constant renewal of creativity and democratic participation. Both those who govern and the governed require the opportunity to take stock, to reflect, to reassess their path, refine their vision and to evolve. Implicit in this dynamic is the understanding that no leader, however gifted or endowed, is indispensable or infallible. Government belongs to the people; thus, no one person may claim any office as his/her exclusive right. The promise of democracy is the promise of justice and peaceful change through the rule of law.

Reclaiming the Trust

Upon coming to office, we discovered that a profound distrust of leadership had grown where cooperation and understanding should have been sown. This distrust was understandable. Serially deceived and maltreated by those entrusted to lead them, our people had grown weary and cynical about politicians who made promises to get into office only to renege on them in order to remain in office by improperly amassing wealth and power in obscene proportion. People had ceased to believe what their political leaders said and came to believe that politicians simply entered office to enrich themselves.