Persecutors of Dr. Kayode Fayemi Lack Fear of God
The myriad of write ups launched against the immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Dr John Kayode Fayemi, should give any right thinking person concern.
Why so much unprovoked attacks on a gentleman who, like other well brought up citizens of Ekiti State, struggled through schools at home and abroad to get necessary education that would make him useful, not only for himself but also for the society.
He thereafter engaged in different endeavours before joining politics. Before doing that, he participated actively in wresting power from Nigeria military juntas.
After the first executive Governor of Ekiti state, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, lost to the then relatively unknown Ayodele Fayose in the 2003 governorship election, the fold of the progressives was shattered in Ekiti state, as not so many people anticipated the defeat, which was almost unthinkable before the election.
Devastated and dazed by the outcome of the election, the then Alliance for Democracy (AD), which was the precursor of the present All Progressives Congress (APC), went into disarray with some members either lured or intimidated to join the then ruling People’s Democratic Party of Ayodele Fayose, the then Governor.
To worsen the situation, the cantankerous administration of Fayose ended unceremoniously in a drama that foisted on Ekiti state an interregnum in democratic rule, when retired Major-General Adetunji Olurin became the sole administrator of Ekiti state.
But emergency rule cannot continue forever in Ekiti state as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) called for election of a new Governor in Ekiti state. By then the Alliance for Democracy (AD) has metamorphosed into Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
ACN, led by its leader, the incumbent Nigerian President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had to look for a candidate, who would contest the gubernatorial election on the platform of the party and the lot fell on Dr John Kayode Fayemi, who was though popular on the national scene as a democrat who joined forces with other patriots to fight for restoration of democracy in Nigeria but was hitherto relatively unknown in Ekiti politics.
Fayemi had to fix up the broken pieces of the group and lead them in an election against the all-powerful PDP, the ruling party then, that prided itself the largest party in Africa.
The election came up on April 14, 2007. It was won by the PDP candidate, Segun Oni. Fayemi and his party, the AC, protested the result and headed for the election petition tribunal.
After a protracted legal battle that spanned 41 months, the court of appeal that sat in Ilorin, Kwara state finally decided that Dr Kayode Fayemi was the winner of the elections of the April14, 2007 and the rerun election of April 25, 2009.
From this account, one would know that the battle to the governorship seat was a hard long battle for Fayemi and theACN. Fayemi did not get the governorship seat and the leadership of Ekiti APC on a platter of gold.
No one came up then to say that Fayemi would not be a minister if he finally succeeded in leading Ekiti back to the progressives fold in Nigeria.
The election petition that started from the election petition in Ado-Ekiti in 2007 went to the court of appeal in Ilorin,which ordered a rerun election, with never-say-die Kayode Fayemi again heading for the election petition tribunal to challenge the result of the rerun election, in which incumbent Governor Segun Oni was again declared winner.
At the tribunal, Governor Oni was again declared winner. But Fayemi, who refused to give up easily returned to the court of appeal in Ilorin, where he called for a reversal of the judgment of the tribunal and for the tribunal to declare him the winner of the gubernatorial election.
The court of appeal ruled in favour of Dr Fayemi and ordered that the certificate of return earlier given to Segun Oni by the Independent National Electoral Commission be withdrawn and another issued to Fayemi.
But Segun Oni who would not want anything like that judgment headed for the Supreme Court to challenge the victory of Fayemi at the court of appeal.
The historic supreme court judgment that followed was the final authority that confirmed Fayemi as Governor of Ekiti state. That was after Segun Oni had spent 41 months in office.
Asked by a journalist what kept him going through such a fierce, tortuous legal battle to unseat the then incumbent Governor Segun Oni, Fayemi said if he could dare the military for those years he was with his fellow democrats in the trenches, it could not be too tedious for him to defeat a civilian impostor.
As a Governor, Fayemi restored a progressives government that was cut short by the loss of Otunba Niyi Adebayo to Ayodele Fayose in the 2003 governorship election in Ekiti.
The numerous achievements of the Fayemi administration, which are legendary are too numerous to be listed out here. Towards the end of that government, Fayemi had to contest election with Fayose, who was heavily backed by the Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government. Fayose’s election was allegedly largely financed with the Dasukigate fund.
There was strong suspicion too that the military ‘helped’ out in installing Fayose. However, Dr Fayemi refused to challenge the result of the election at the tribunal.
But as fate would have it, Fayemi was shortly after the loss appointed the Minister of Solid Mineral Development. The Midas touch of the former Governor brought about positive transformations in that ministry.
But again, fate called on Fayemi, for the second time, to bring Ekiti back to reckoning in the mainstream of the progressives as it was another time for governorship election in Ekiti state. But before that time, the former Governor of Ekiti state has become a force to reckon with at the national level of the government and the ruling party.
One would wonder why Fayemi, now a national leader, would go back to contest governorship election in Ekiti state, as he could continue as minister under the Buhari administration. His high sense of altruism got the better of him as he thought he would soon lose his respect at the national level if he would not bring Ekiti back to the progressives.
He knew it would be too risky for him to delegate the assignment to another person. This is moreso when one considered the brutish nature of the then sitting Governor in Ekiti.
Fayemi also saw the opportunity of the election to re-enrgize the APC and restore hope in the supporters he left back in Ekiti state. He had to bend over backwards to contest the governorship election again in 2018.
More than enough have been written on the outstanding achievements of the former Governor during his second term in office. The internet is awash with them.
It was a matter of course that the former Ekiti state Governor, who was also a former minister, became the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).
The period that Fayemi held sway as the Chairman of the NGF must be one of the most busy time in his life so far because he had to combine his duty as Governor with the administration of NGF and still attend to national issues of the ruling APC.
It would be on record that during this period, Governor Fayemi led his fellow Governors in winning most of the governorship election of the period for the APC. Why would anyone say Fayemi must not be made a minister now?
That Fayemi came back to restage the Ekiti Collective Resque Mission (as he code named his struggle for the governorship seat) was borne out of patriotism and altruistic consideration for others.
Who then is more qualified than Dr John Kayode Fayemi to be named as the minister representing Ekiti State in the new government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu?
Why should Dr Kayode Fayemi, who went through all these ordeals for Ekiti state to be among the progressives states in Nigeria be ridiculed and be exposed to scorn now?
Should Fayemi be commended or condemned? The sponsors of the current campaign of calumny against Fayemi in the media must be people who lack the fear of God.
Signed
Engineer Bimbo Ajayi
President
Chief Sola Ajisegiri
Secretary
The Ekiti Progressives Coalition.