Fayose and PDP: Bounded by Desperation
This magazine gathered last week that it would be difficult to persuade Fayose to abandon his campaign against Buhari. And this is not just because of his position as one of the leaders of President’s Jonathan and PDP campaign in the South west. This magazine gathered that Fayose feared that Buhari’s presidency may signal the end of his stay in office given his series of various misdeeds not just in his short tenure, but also the various corruption cases against him during his first tenure of office. During a meeting with London Metropolitan Police last week, Ibrahim Lamorde, Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC lamented that Fayose contested and won the Ekiti governorship polls, despite the cases of corruption hanging on his neck.

A man that seems to abhor every form of orderliness and rule of law, Fayose, just before he was sworn in last October, hired thugs who beat up a judge on the premises of Ekiti State High Court during the hearing of a case instituted against him by E-11, a pressure group in the state contesting his eligibility to contest the 21 June gubernatorial polls.

•Fayose: No pat on the back over advertorials

The pandemonium which followed the action led to closure of all courts in Ekiti State for several weeks. He has since ratcheted up his love for impunity since he assumed office, unleashing thugs and embarking on campaigns of hate against those he perceived as obstacles to his desire to govern Ekiti as his fiefdom. For example, Fayose with the support of the Police backed seven out of the 26 members of Ekiti state House of Assembly to remove Adewale Omirin, the Speaker who was not ready to be his lapdog. This was after intimidating Omirin by sealing his office, cutting off water supply to his residence grounding his official vehicles and arresting a couple of his aides. He has since been working with the seven members who cleared Commissioners for Works and that of the Justice ministry and also sat and approved the 2015 Budget of the state even though they are in clear minority. Meanwhile, other members of the House of Assembly and members of the opposition have virtually been living in hiding as a result of his regime of terror unleashed on the state since Fayose became governor for the second time. Fayose’s hose first tenure was cut short by impudence and allegations of corruption had told the world that he was a ‘changed man’ just before his election.

This, going by emerging scenario of regime of impunity in Ekiti State, has turned out to be a lie used by Fayose to hoodwink voters. This magazine gathered that Fayose realized that a President ready to enforce rule of law can stop his ongoing shenanigans by simply asking the Police and other security agencies to act in a more professional manner by refusing to back his series of roguish behavior.

Hence, Fayose had recently told leaders of PDP that the party should do everything possible to retain the presidency and in corollary, control over the security agencies. He was even reported to have asked President Jonathan to be prepared to use the army and the police to win the presidential election if he cannot do so by fair means at a recent meeting of South west caucus of PDP held in Ondo State. Still, analysts contended last week that the rambunctious Ekiti State Governor was only queuing behind the Presidency in the smear campaign against Buhari.

Okupe’s Attack
Worried by the momentum of support the APC presidential candidate seemed to be attracting since his emergence as the flag bearer of the mega opposition party, the PDP had unleashed various attacks on him both in the online and mainstream media. Doyin Okupe, Senior Special Assistant to President Jonathan on Public Affairs had embarked on tour of media houses, granting interviews on why Nigerians should give no consideration to the former military head of state when they go to the polls to elect their next president on 14 February. Okupe had during a visit to a media house in Lagos described the choice of the former Head of State as presidential candidate as a fatal error by the opposition: “Their decision to elect Buhari as their standard bearer is a fatal error. I have been in this game for nearly 30 years or more. I understand this game of politics very well.” He added that the fourth attempt of the former Head of State at the presidency will end up as his previous efforts.

In contrast to Okupe’s assertions, the candidacy of Buhari appears to be gaining traction by the day due principally to what many Nigerians considered as the failures of the Jonathan administration. Many Nigerians have come to accept that the President has failed to rise up to the occasion in terms of tackling the problems of terrorism, especially with the over 200 girls kidnapped from Chibok, Borno State in April yet to be rescued.

•Okupe: Buhari’s choice an error

In the same vein, despite recent successes by the military, the insurgents were sacking villages and communities turning thousands of Nigerians to refugees daily in their own country. Many Nigerians believe that Buhari has the capacity to totally liberate the country from the yoke of terrorism and associated security challenges. This supposition is also based on the track record of the of the APC presidential candidate. Supporters of the retired General had touted how, under President Shehu Shagari administration in the early eighties, Buhari successfully fought the Maitasine Islamic fundamentalist group, leading his troops in pursuit of the insurgents into Chad as a military commander. Also, many Nigerians also believed that the President has performed poorly in the area of curbing corruption as reflected in different allegations of corruption that have been raised in the oil sector like the multibillion naira petroleum import and kerosene subsidy scam, the alleged $12 billion unremitted revenue campaign issues, leakages in the oil industry among others.

In contrast, many Nigerians perceive Buhari as a frugal, strong, disciplined and incorruptible and that he is capable of providing the country with strong leadership and putting an end to the endemic corruption that has eaten deep into the national fabric. To back up this characterisation of the retired General, his supporters have cited how as a military Head of State, Buhari ensured that politicians identified as corrupt were arraigned in court, tried and jailed following the overthrow of the Shehu Shagari administration in the second republic.

They also pointed out how the APC presidential candidate tried to institute orderliness and eradicate indiscipline in all aspects of national life with his War Against Indiscipline. And despite having served as minister for petroleum, the chief executive of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and a head of state, the former Head of State, his supporters claimed, refused to corruptly enrich himself unlike other occupiers of similar offices. Buhari’s record as an unrelenting graft fighter has turned out to be one of the major attractions for the candidacy of the retired General as the country moves towards 2015. “At a time when sleaze is now six for a penny and when the country cries for moral leadership, this plays to Buhari’s strength,” said Adio.

Also, analysts said the decline in the economy as a result of the continuous fall in oil prices ahead of the election may work against President Jonathan in the 2015 elections, especially if the process was not well managed. What’s more, the tremendous goodwill enjoined by Jonathan with his promise of “fresh air” which made many Nigerians even across party to vote for him in the 2011 elections has fizzled out over time. Thus, the President will have no choice now but to convince Nigerians that he has done enough in his first term of office and deserves to be re-elected. But PDP and the supporters of the President have a contrary narrative with which they have ceaselessly pummeled the candidacy of Buhari.