Ekiti 2018: The Gaffe of Fielding a Former Governor
by Alonge Olufemi Alonso
L-R; President Buhari, APC Ekiti State Governorship Flag bearer, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and APC Former Interim National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande during the President Buhari’s Dinner Reception with APC Southwest Leaders to rally support for Dr Fayemi in Abuja.
No doubt that Ekiti State is truly blessed with many intellectuals who cannot be underrated anywhere in the world. In this light, I will like to say that I am more than happy that the two leading gubernatorial candidates in the state, Prof. Kolapo Olusola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are amongst the erudite scholars which the state will continue to be proud of anyday, anywhere and anytime.
Despite my joy on the academic prowess of the duo, still, I won’t allow my happiness to preclude me from unripping the blunder in Fayemi’s candidacy. I won’t run down anybody but will equally not shy away with the truth that must be told.
To be frank and sincere; the leading opposition party in the state made a gaffe in not picking her candidate from a senatorial district that is yet to produce a governor since the state was created in 1996.
It is needed to state it that Ekiti Central Senatorial District which comprises Ado, Ijero, Efon, Irepodun/Ifelodun and Ekiti West had produced the first, second and the current governor of the state while the North had produced two governors.
The APC candidate (Fayemi) is not new in Ekiti politics. He was the candidate of the Action Congress (AC) in 2007 gubernatorial election in the state and also the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2009 re -run election. Fayemi governed the state between 2010-2014, he was the gubernatorial candidate of APC same year and he is currently serving as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing the state. What a greedy man!
In my humble opinion, making the man whom every reasonable citizen of the state won’t like to associate with in politics their candidate in 2018 shows how unserious the party is in the state.
As it is today, Fayemi is the most powerful/ influential person and a monster which no one in his party can tame. This monster will however be tamed by majority of the Ekiti people who know what his being in power means.
Another gargantuan mistake of our brothers is their over reliance on federal might. I don’t underestimate federal power, just that it’s worth being relied upon only where the candidate is popular, loved and accepted by the electorates.
Fayemi is not the choice of the people and he is planning to use federal power and money to impose himself on the people. Let me say very clearly that such a man will encounter many problems if he goes ahead with his plan. If Fayose wasn’t the people’s choice in 2014, he would have been impeached by the powers beyond his control.There is peace in the state today because of the mandate that was freely given to the governor by the people in 2014.
Fayemi as a Minister of Mines and Steel Development has not done anything for Ekiti State since he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari, just of recent, the National Assembly passed a vote of no confidence in him over his arrogance and negligence of duty.
When he was in saddle in Ekiti, he commissioned many uncompleted projects like Oba Adejugbe Hospital, Pavilion to mention just a few.What about the unseen flowers in Ado-Ekiti? The local government Boko Haram, the debt he plunged the state into, the school principals that were demoted, the evil maltreatment of the teachers and all his obnoxious policies. It will be difficult for Ekiti people to once again repose their confidence in a man who was tested and failed.
On a final note, APC should have done everything possible to make a man who share parts of the loveable qualities with Prof. Kolapo Olusola Eleka their candidate and not a spendthrift who have nothing to offer the state than to keep seeing everybody in the state as a fool.
The time for Ekiti people to liberate themselves from a man who wasted a lot of lives and properties over his ambition and plunged the state into heavy debt is now.
