Ekiti 2014: Between players and jesters Tuesday, 18 March 2014 #GuardianNews Written by John Ajayi AS the clock ticks for the battle royale in the June 21, 2014, gubernatorial election in Ekiti State, one renowned historical personae that readily comes to mind is William Penn Adair Rogers. To the uninitiated, this may sound a bit Afghanistanism. For members of the intellectual community, Rogers is no stranger to history as history is no stranger to him. History has it on good authority that Rogers, in his hey days, was renowned for his earthly anecdotes and folksy style that allowed him to poke fun at gangsters, prohibition, politicians, government programmes, and a host of other controversial topics, in a way that was readily appreciated by a national audience of his era with no one offended. One of Rogers’ aphorisms, couched in humorous terms, is most relevant and apt in describing the politics of tom-foolery by some so-called political gladiators in Ekiti State. According to Rogers, “the way to judge a good comedy is by how long it will last and have people talk about it. Now, congress has turned out some that have lived for years and people are still laughing about them.” Don’t ask me how this relates to the present jostle for the top seat in Ekiti State come June 21, 2014, but politics is surely turning some characters into laughing stock. However, looking at the emerging political scenario in the state hitherto known as the “Fountain of Knowledge”, now rechristened as “Ile Iyi, Ile, Eye,” one can say without any equivocation that there are indeed a good number of jesters masquerading as political actors and gladiators. Nothing ever made this viewpoint more poignant than the recent revelation that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a major opposition political party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has cleared no fewer than 13 gubernatorial aspirants and disqualified three. Without any prejudice to the judgment of the PDP screening committee and the proposed primary election, the figure is anything but normal against the earlier cacophony of voices on consensus candidacy. The aspirants cleared for the party’s forthcoming primary election by the Senator Victor Ndoma Egba’s committee are: former governor, Ayodele Fayose; immediate past Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade; Gbenga Aluko, Adedayo Adeyeye and 9 others. While the aspirants are believed to have scaled the screening hurdle, what was before now uppermost in the minds of majority of them was a consensus candidate. However, the push for primary election is believed to have originated from the minority group of the gubernatorial hopefuls. Although it is not in doubt that PDP is the next biggest issue in the Nigerian body politic, yet its choice of gubernatorial hopefuls as indicated by the list of 13 aspirants leaves much to be desired. A very critical and objective review of the dramatis personae in the PDP political macabre dance will reveal that the list is populated largely by yesterday men. Just name one person among them, you would be greatly stunned to discover the worms buried in the Pandora box. Is it the former governor Fayose, the first-ever to be impeached governor of Ekiti State, who still has some Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s offences hanging on him like a sword of Damocles? Or can it be Chief Olubolade, who even his own party men could not see the democratic dividend his ministration at the Police Affairs brought to Ekiti land? Are we talking about the once beaten twice shy personae, Mr. Dayo Adeyeye, a former chieftain of Afenifere, now the butt of scornful gists, jests and jabs of some PDP political adherents? The list, though uncomfortably long, does not seem to consist of men who can turn the apple cart against the present All Progressives Congress (APC) political hegemony headed and personified by Dr. John Kayode Fayemi. In the PDP list also are the meek and political lightweights like former deputy governor under Fayose, Mr. Bisi Omoyeni; erstwhile deputy governor, Chief Abiodun Aluko; former deputy governor, Mrs. Abiodun Olujimi; erstwhile envoy, Ambassador Dare Bejide; former Speaker, Mr. Femi Bamisile; Mr. Bimbo Owolabi, Senator Gbenga Aluko and Oluropo Ogunbolude, Omolara Adubiaro and Ajayi Eldad Ayodeji. In all of these, we can see with the benefit of historical hindsight, men and women of yesterday who appear poised and set against themselves and the future. These characters are presently involved in kamikaze political melodrama in their quest to be noted. It needs be stated though that there are indeed a few of them who are yet to be discovered, as they have neither been tested let alone being trusted. How sincere and genuine these few individuals may be in their quest to occupy the exalted position in Ekiti State remains conjectural. For them, it can be argued on mere assumption that they may be serious contenders as there are no known social or political garbages around or about them. As the contest for the Ekiti State gubernatorial seat beckons, the case of the lone Labour Party candidate, Mr. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele (a.k.a. MOB), becomes pathetic. Indeed, MOB’s political peregrination has brought out more poignantly the political wisdom in William Pen Addair Rogers on the futility of a man in servitude to his own wisdom. The House of Representatives member in the Green Chamber, himself a political activist ipso-facto, has become a “rebel” without a cause or so it seems. (To be continued tommorrow) • Ajayi is a Lagos-based journalist and public commentator.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 19:16:53 +0000
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