FLASHBACK!!! IN HONOUR OF ASIWAJU OLUSEGUN ADEBAYO ONI WHO TURNS 60 TODAY, I HAVE DECIDED TO POST SOME OF THE ARTICLES I WROTE AS HIS SPECIAL ASSISTANT WHEN HE WAS THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF EKITI STATE. :OF ORACLES AND PUPPETS Whoever gave them that assurance must have placed a bet with his life that the medicine was potent enough to work magic. If it is on the strength of the assurance given to the Action Congress (AC) in Ekiti State that Dr. Kayode Fayemi would emerge victorious over Engr. Segun Oni in his petition challenging the election of the latter as the governor of Ekiti State, then the soothsayer that told them to go to sleep may very well pass for the most active conman in this part of the world. If, however, it is on the strength of the evidence and witness testimony at the disposal of that party (AC), then, the lawyer may have been economical with the truth with his client, the petitioner, Fayemi, the longest serving governorship candidate in the country. Putting the events of the last two weeks in perspective, Ekiti, indeed, may make history as a state where majority of its political actors, especially in the opposition fold, are also great comedians. They have done practically everything under the sun to treat inhabitants to some hilarious comedy. They begin by feeding the public with their own version of the tribunal judgment. They had said that: ‘It is morning yet for the people of Ekiti’. In their large numbers, they had begun thronging the court premises in anticipation of a judgment which date had not been decided. A very reliable source within its rank however said that a prophet they engaged had told them that, for seven days, they must go to the tribunal court venue, donning white apparels and thanking God in anticipation of a favourable judgement. This instruction, they adhered to strictly, as loyalists had embarked on this wild goose chase until Wednesday when the judgement was given in favour of Oni. As ridiculous as it sounds and feels, this is the brand of politics these party apparatchiks have imported into Ekiti: jejune and bereft of reasoning. They deployed the veritable instrument in their armoury- propaganda and slush funds from a conduit whose source is unending. Their ability to spin lies to a yarn and sell to a gullible few in the state would probably make them the gutsiest and craftiest set of politicians on the face of the earth. In the aftermath of the governorship re-run election on May 5, 2009, their leaders knew quite well that going to the tribunal to challenge Oni’s victory may be an exercise in futility. They admitted that much when, during, the announcement of the result at Christ’s School, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo, told them that, if they were dissatisfied with the result, they should alternatively head to the courts. Their leaders kicked against it, saying they would rather prevent the old woman from announcing the result than head for the tribunal. Today’s piece is not about Fayemi and his bid to rule Ekiti State. He is a citizen with ambition to rule his state which is absolutely the hallmark of the Ekiti breed. We aspire to be the first among equals. Even in school, an Ekiti pupil or student would do everything legitimate in a bid to come out tops. Fayemi, himself, possesses a cool mien. He is always projecting the image of rugged ease and striving to look confident at all times. This is the problem because while it seems like these attributes are complimentary, he has used them deceive the people in his fold for so long. Now, the latest talk is that, whilst, common sense may dictate a supposed decision not to appeal the judgement, he may want to use an appeal to hold the people down again. A school of thought had presumably analysed why the party (AC) must quickly file an appeal. They would do this to hold the party together to present a formidable front in the forthcoming election. They may have figured out that if, in the interest of peace and stability, they do not appeal the judgement, it may send a wrong signal to the rank of the party and this may be potentially fatal to the party in the state. This, to me, makes good sense and even logic to those of Fayemi’s ilk who had a good training in the strategy of wars. But for people, hungry for development and a passion to quickly snap off a very dark era, the strategy may be dangerous and the script is already playing out. You have in a state, young men and women who could otherwise engage themselves in constructive and legitimate source of livelihood who are calling themselves political leaders. It is not unlikely to see a 15-year-old boy politician of AC stock cursing with deep seated anger the refusal of the tribunal panel to declare his ‘Saviour’ the governor. He is not doing it for a patriotic cause, but for the fact that having dropped out of school, he naturally believes that politics holds the future for him. There are many of them like that in their midst now. To them, the tribunal has again dashed their hopes of ‘making quick money’ by becoming personal assistants and special assistants to high ranking government officials even with their very low qualifications. That is the unfortunate scenario that all men of goodwill should begin to address. What are the age long virtues that we hold in Ekiti? An Ekiti man or woman would put his or her integrity in the fore in total disregard of whatever monetary inducement he or she is offered. Can it be said of this same people today? It is worth stopping for a moment to look at Fayemi as more than just the one-dimensional stereotype that he has become. What would you say of a man who led his people to war with his people? It is this reputation that shaped how he operated in the chaos of Ekiti’s political disequilibrium. In the blink of an eye, Ekiti went from a lord pregnant with hope for peace, a place where proponents of the peace process have been all but discredited. The party (AC) should do a thorough analysis of where it got it wrong in the Ekiti context. Fayemi’s lieutenants must come to terms with the defeat at the tribunal but again, they must, in the future, not ignore one thing- cost of blindly following an untested “Messiah” By Kola Igandan Igandan wrote in from Ado-Ekiti
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 16:07:21 +0000
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