Gov. Fayose

By Bolanle Bolawole

Mr. Ayodele Fayose needs little or no introduction. He is the mercurial, and at the same time, imperial, tempestuous as well as pedestrian governor of Ekiti state. He is the undertaker of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti state and the undertaker of so-called progressive politics in that part of the country. He is a fledgling Adelabu Adegoke aka Penkelemesi and a Busari Adelakun aka Eruobobo all rolled into one. Like them, he flirted with progressivism before firmly pitching his tent with the conservatives. Unlike both who are Ibadan, Fayose aka Osoko is Ekiti. He dominates his environment in a way that will make military despot, Ibrahim Bademosi Babangida, envious. His opponents he has reduced to appearance only on television and the pages of newspapers.

Perhaps, because of this unexpected success at home, he has ventured abroad with his own peculiar brand of politics, which has been derisively described as “stomach infrastructure” but which, like the “amala politics” of the late Lamidi Adelabu, the GOC of Ibadan politics, has resonated well with the downtrodden. Fayose may be Ekiti but the political blood that flows in his veins is that of errant Ibadan politicians of the schools mentioned above. What made those ones popular, successful, irresistible, and irrepressible may also be what is working for Fayose. Students as well as scholars of politics need to do dissertations on this genre.

Ideally, Fayose ought to be struggling to survive politically and should have neither space nor respite for the kind of advocacy he has taken upon himself. Like his first, his second coming as governor has not been devoid of controversies of rigged polls, for which some military officers were recently penalised. The full powers of the Presidency under ex-President Goodluck Jonathan plus his own truculence saved him from impeachment for the few months he had to co-habit with an opposition-dominated House of Assembly. Being the governor of one of the nation’s poorest states, it is also a marvel where he gets the resources for his costly advocacy. There are many other hidden costs that Fayose and Ekiti will pay as a result of the governor’s posture – in terms of Federal Government largesse, for instance. Under Jonathan, while PDP governors benefitted from the ecological funds and other largesse, opposition parties were left out in the cold. I expect no less to happen to Fayose and Ekiti under the APC\Buhari administration.

Buhari

Fayose has assumed the position of the unofficial mouthpiece of the PDP. He started showing the traits long before Jonathan was booted out of office and APC\Buhari enthroned. There are three prongs to Fayose’s advocacy. One: His opposition to Buhari, first as presidential candidate and now as president. Two: His opposition to the politics of APC. Three: His opposition to the APC government of Buhari. While Buhari was running as candidate, Fayose did his best to convince Nigerians not to vote for him on account of his age and assumed ill-health. Fayose was so caustic and audacious in his choice of words that many accused him of wishing Buhari dead. He has not relented in his vitriolic attacks on Buhari.

There are many who are aghast at Fayose’s demeaning attacks on the person and office of the president, saying it drags the high office in the mud. Fayose and PDP’s riposte is that APC and its leaders, while they were in the opposition, did no less to then President Jonathan. And they are damn right! What names, for instance, did Lai Mohammed, the APC spokesperson at that time, not call Jonathan – clueless, incompetent, Nero! What is sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander? But we should be learning our lessons right now: The office and person of the president deserves some respect. How the APC\ Lai Mohamed treated Jonathan was bad. Fayose’s payback in the way he has treated and continues to treat Buhari is equally bad. When are we going to pull the punches?

Former President Goodluck Jonathan

When Jonathan was president, APC and its leaders celebrated every security misfortune that came his way, especially on the insurgency in the North-east and the Chibok girls’ case especially. Every bomb blast was an occasion for the then opposition party to lambast Jonathan and his government. Every raid by Boko Haram was celebrated and shown to Nigerians as evidence that Jonathan was ineffective and should be booted out. Very well, Nigerians have heeded the call and have booted out Jonathan; but has the suicide bombing stopped? Has Boko Haram been defeated? Has the Chibok girls been found, least of all being retrieved and brought back? It is two years hence; nearly one of it under the government of APC\Buhari and nothing significant has been achieved on the Chibok girls.

The truth of the matter, under Jonathan as well as under Buhari, is that insurgency is a difficult nut to crack. But APC mischievously made it look as if it was a bread-and-butter issue. Now they are there, why have they not quickly resolved the problem? They sold a dummy to Nigerians when they were in the opposition to give Jonathan and his government a bad name. It may also be that they were, in all honesty, ignorant of the difficult terrains that insurgency is. Now they know better! While in the opposition, APC petitioned the world powers not to sell arms to Jonathan and his government. When efforts to surreptitiously buy arms from South Africa failed and that country embarrassed us to no end, rather than close ranks, we celebrated the failure as Jonathan’s and pilloried the PDP to no end. Now, what is wrong in Fayose also writing to the Chinese asking them not to give the APC\Buhari government loans?

It is tit-for-tat; but one that hurts the country, I must say. Asking for the loan is bad enough because many Nigerians are opposed to this country increasing its debt stock, but fighting ourselves in the market place and giving an impression that our home front is in disarray portrays us in very bad light. What Fayose did in travelling to China to pursue a course opposed to the official position of the Federal Government does not dignify us. As governor and member of the Council of State, he has ample legroom to make his views heard on the matter without the roof-rofo fight he engaged in on the international scene.

But everyone understood he was trying to make a point. He was only serving APC its own bitter pill, which the then opposition party forced down Jonathan’s throat. But shouldn’t we find an end to such unnecessary embarrassment that diminishes us in the comity of nations?
When we play dirty politics at home and tar the country’s image in the international arena and diminish its standing, the effects are long-lasting. The country does not automatically recover lost ground and status simply because new persons come into power. One of the stated reasons why Buhari is globe-trotting, according to him, is to repair the damage done to the country’s image during Jonathan’s tenure. I dare to say that much of that damage was done by the APC’s brinkmanship as opposition party.

But I admonish Fayose not to add to or compound that problem. It is not only Buhari or APC that will suffer its adverse consequences but the country as a whole. In other climes, once elections are over, political leaders make concerted efforts to climb up the ladder from brinkmanship to statesmanship. Fayose as a state governor is a leader. He should live up to the billing. I can assure him APC and its leaders have learnt their lessons already and he should desist from flogging a dead horse. There are no quick fixes to the myriad problems afflicting this country – from the economic, social, political to security issues. APC as opposition party sweet-talked Nigerians, giving the impression it has a magic wand it would wave and the problems would just evaporate.

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There are many who are aghast at Fayose’s demeaning attacks on the person and office of the president, saying it drags the high office in the mud. Fayose and PDP’s riposte is that APC and its leaders, while they were in the opposition, did no less to then President Jonathan. And they are damn right! What names, for instance, did Lai Mohammed, the APC spokesperson at that time, not call Jonathan – clueless, incompetent, Nero! What is sauce for the goose should also be sauce for the gander? But we should be learning our lessons right now: The office and person of the president deserves some respect. How the APC\ Lai Mohamed treated Jonathan was bad. Fayose’s payback in the way he has treated and continues to treat Buhari is equally bad

Jonathan, we were told, was the only obstacle. Now Jonathan is out of the way – but what of the problems? I dare to say that but for the insurgency, which has diminished (kudos to APC\Buhari for that), all the others still bestride the country like a colossus. In fact, fuel scarcity and power outages have never before been this bad. Poverty looms large over the country, again, like never before. Suddenly, APC\Buhari are confessing they do not possess any magic wand! Not only that, they have even reneged on some of their election promises! They never knew the situation was this bad. I dare to say that they deliberately trivialised the issues at hand simply to demonise Jonathan\PDP. Now, they are roasting in their own pot of hot oil.

To conclude: The office and person of the president must be accorded the deserved respect. The interests of Nigeria as a country must also be seen to supersede the partisan political interests of politicians and political parties. Drawing the line between what is good for us as a country vis-a-vis what is politically expedient is an imperative incumbent on all leaders. Incidentally and importantly, Fayose is one of the nation’s leaders. As a state governor, he, too, is the symbol of authority of Ekiti state, just like Buhari is for the entire country. I expect Fayose to be treated with the respect due his status and office as a state governor, regardless whatever reservations anyone may have of him.

Let him know to accord similar respect to the man above him (i.e. Buhari) as well as those below him (i.e. local government chairmen). Nigeria operates a three-tier system of government, with each head of government vested with executive powers by the Constitution. Concerning the third leg of Fayose’s advocacy, which is holding the feet of this government to the fire, I encourage him to fire on, on all cylinders. Every true democracy needs vibrant opposition. Who provides it is immaterial; for, as the Yoruba adage goes: a man sees a snake, a woman kills it; what is important is that the snake got killed.

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