Ekiti Elections: Why Fayose won and Fayemi lost

With everything that happens in politics, there are usually several reasons that can be adduced – so it is said with the heavy defeat suffered by the incumbent Ekiti governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the APC to former Governor Ayo Fayose. We can talk about the internal wrangling within the APC in Ekiti state, we can trace it all the way to Fayemi’s imposition on the ACN in 2007, the defection of Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele and Tinubu’s nonchalance towards the election amongst others but everything always boils down to one thing – one major mistake. I knew Ayo Fayose would win but seeing the sun is not a sign of open eyes – the facts were obvious: Fayemi lost because he’d lost the people since the day he came into Ekiti politics. Fayose won because he’d won the people over since the first day he came into Ekiti politics.

Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy posits that it is the government of the people, by the people and for the people – Fayemi lost because he was neither of the people, nor by the people and surely not for the people. Fayose won because he was of the people, by the people and unapologetically for the people. To attain victory, one must first put himself beyond the possibility of defeat – Sun Tzu said that; to lose, one must push victory out of his own reach. Many pundits are explaining why Fayemi lost and Fayose won but none of them could really see it even a day to the election.

Fayemi was not of the people, Fayose was of the people.

In October 2010 when Gov. Segun Oni was ousted from office by court judgment and Kayode Fayemi announced as governor, it was more a celebration of the people for Fayose not just for Fayemi alone. In fact, the people related to Fayose more as the winner than the new governor who himself made matters worse. Fayose walked from Fajuyi to Adebayo (a distance of 3 to 4 kilometres) with thousands of ordinary Ekiti people walking with him – Fayemi drove from wherever to the swearing-in ground in company with the political elite of the South-West. See the difference?

Fayose’s choice of artiste to play the celebration music was home-boy Yinka Ayefele (from Ipoti-Ekiti). Fayemi brought in K1 de Ultimate (my favorite Fuji artiste) and 9ice from Lagos. The same accusations of preferring Lagos contractors to local ones dogged Fayemi’s government from day one. Fayose on the other hand never failed to use any opportunity to identify with the people. He is a man who prefers the company of the common man to those of the elite. When Fayose’s father died, some of his siblings wanted to bury the man in Ibadan where he had spent most of his life but Fayose would have none of it – he insisted the man be buried in Afao-Ekiti and he used the burial ceremony to further cement his political standing with the people. The burial was like a carnival for the masses.

When Fayemi’s mother was to be buried, it was more of a who is who event, for the glitterati and the elite. Policemen cordoned off the tent and made it exclusively for the VVIP while even the VIP were shut out. Fayose was a man of the people, Fayemi was not.

Fayemi was not by the people, Fayose was by the people.

As the rash of court judgment and tribunal victories spread across Nigeria and the southwest, I warned vigorouslyl that this wasn’t democracy. We could argue the point when you look at a man like Olusegun Mimiko who became governor by court judgment and won reelection but remember that Mimiko was a man of the people and for the people even if he was not brought in by direct votes of the people.

Fayemi was not brought in by direct popular voting. He won against Segun Oni after several recounts, reruns, court processes and so on. A section of Ekiti people believe Segun Oni lost his seat because an electoral officer used blue biro to sign off on the electoral results sheets instead of red biro as this was one of the points used by the then ACN to discredit the electoral process.

Furthermore, Fayemi was imposed on the ACN in 2007 despite the popularity of people like Dayo Adeyeye, Ayo Arise and nine others who consequently defected to PDP where Arise picked up a senate seat.  Fayose’s entry into Ekiti politics was not by imposition – he had no godfather. He campaigned from ward to ward, village to village, supplying water in a land where water is usually scarce in the harmattan period, giving out grinding machines, motorcycles, giving scholarships etc. He made himself so strong at the grassroots.

Fayemi was not for the people, Fayose was for the people.

The Late Awolowo once said that man is sole dynamic in that all things emanate from man and so must a leader be. Any development agenda that does not have the people (man) as its target will fail; that’s the difference between elitist development and rural development. The former executes projects that reverberate in the media but have little impact on the people, the latter executes projects that have direct impact on the people even if the media does not celebrate it.

Social media is rife with stories of how Fayemi has developed Ekiti state but do they even remember Fayose is called the Architect of Modern Ekiti? The refrain under Niyi Adebayo was that ‘Ekiti is poor’ but Fayose changed that. He came in and declared that Ekiti state was not a poor state – he began paying civil servants on the 26th of each month, he built a 132KVA substation in Omisanjana, Ado-Ekiti, constructed many new roads, refurbished old ones and had many empowerment schemes for the youths and the women. Fayose renovated Ikogosi Warm Spring but saw that while a massive overhaul will play well in the Lagos media, it would have no direct benefit to the Ekiti indigenes except those living in Ikogosi-Ekiti.

It was Ikogosi-Ekiti that Fayemi started with and that achievement was trumpeted to the bloggers who visited Ekiti. A new government house (Fayose had refurbished the old one but Fayemi wanted a brand new one), a new governor’s office, a civic pavilion and other fancy projects formed the bulk of what Fayemi used a 25 billion naira loan to do. Meanwhile, he refused to continue the payment of a 27.5% Teachers’ Salary Structure which had been approved by Ag. Gov. Tunji Odeyemi and continued by Gov. Segun Oni. Fayemi shrewdly negotiated it to 16% after several strikes. Fayemi sacked 5,000 LG workers (promised to reabsorb some while campaigning), failed to pay bursary to Ekiti students since 2012 until as recently as last Friday June 20th, one day to the elections. The exorbitant sums spent on planting flowers that never grew (some 2 billion naira) could have been put to projects that would benefit the people. The focal point of any development for a progressive leader must be ‘how will the people benefit? And how soon will they benefit?’ Projects that are too futuristic are too difficult for the human mind to comprehend if not balanced with direct development programs. Fayemi may have meant well with his futuristic projects but where was the bridge between the present and the future? What was he doing to intervene in the now?

One other area Fayose proved he was for the people was in terms of education. Fayose was committed to preserving this Ekiti heritage especially at the secondary and primary school levels where he elevated teachers to a place of pride. Teacher’s Day was a carnival in Ado-Ekiti every year, outstanding teachers were given car gifts each year, the position of Tutor-General was created – one per senatorial district while teacher promotions were done fairly. Fayemi spurned these same teachers by hounding them with a Teachers’ Development Needs Assessment exam as the basis for their continued stay in the state’s employ. Fayose was clearly the man of the people.

Saturday June 21st in Ekiti was clearly a victory for democracy as defined by Abe Lincoln and exemplified by Ayo Fayose. I can adduce several other reasons for the loss but those reasons are incidental to the main reason which is that Fayose was a governor of the people, a governor by the people and a governor for the people while Fayemi was not: simple. When you lose an election as the incumbent governor with a margin of 83,000 votes, it is a sign of absolute rejection. When you lose in the entire 16 Local Government Areas, it’s not a loss, it’s total defeat – a signal that the people do not want you back.

Fayemi focused on defeating Fayose but Fayose focused on winning the people over…see the difference?