Fayose versus Fayemi: Who blinks first?

In this report, Deputy Editor, SAM NWAOKO, takes a look at the ding-dong between the former governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and his successor in office, Mr Ayodele Fayose.

NOT a few Nigerians would have been wondering what has gone wrong between Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State and his predecessor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, since their epic electoral battle of June 21, 2014. The two political juggernauts ran what many in Ekiti State, nay Nigeria saw as the race of their lives in that famous election in which Fayose emerged as the overwhelming choice of the people of the state.

For Dr Fayemi, who went into the contest as the incumbent governor of the state, that election was a test of his political strength and popularity, and a sieve of the will of the people in his bid to continue in his vastly acclaimed performance in the administration of the state. For Fayose too, it was also a test of his strength and acclaimed popularity among the masses, and also a test of his performance as the governor of the state between 2003 and 2006.

Interestingly, both men were seeking a second term of office. They were, however, coming from different platforms and from vastly different political backgrounds. Fayemi was running on the ticket of the then novel coalition of opposition political parties in Nigeria, called the All Progressives Congress (APC) which had subsumed his former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN); while Fayose was flying the flag of the behemoth Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Expectedly, the campaign period witnessed a very active Ekiti and a largely busy and, sometimes, rancorous verbal engagements among the various stakeholders in the build-up to the contest, especially in the various mass media. Against all expectations, there was not a time the campaigns of the duo of Fayose and Fayemi engaged in any form of physical attack against each other. The commentators traced this “mutual political respect” to what they claimed was the acknowledged prowess of Fayose in grassroots political mobilisation. “Fayose was a major factor in the rerun which brought Fayemi to power as a governor of Ekiti State in late 2010,” one of them contended.

Thus, it could be inferred from the contention of some of the politicians in the state, that beginning of the mutual respect between Fayemi and Fayose was in the days of the struggle for Fayemi to become the governor of the state.

After the June 21, 2014 election, in which Fayose had been declared winner in all the 16 local government areas of the state, there was a huge relief in the state. There was relief also because there was no report of any kind of dispute anywhere in the state following the election; and there was no record of violence. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was happy at the successful outing while the Commissioner of Police in charge of the election, Mr Ikechukwu Aduba, who had been sent to the state by the Inspector-General, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, was also relieved. Aduba had retired in the high of a successful outing in Ekiti.

To the numerous observers, who had swarmed the state, Ekiti had recorded an epoch. And their various reports had said so. American observers had even advised INEC in their report to use the Ekiti election as a template for their subsequent outings. What seemed to be an icing on the cake of the election was witnessed on Monday, June 23, 2014, two days after the election.

Newsmen in the state had literally been summoned to the Governor’s Office to witness an unprecedented event. Governor Fayemi was receiving his would-be successor, Mr. Fayose, in his office. It was an uncommon event in Nigeria. A Nigerian, who had just lost an election, called his opponent to congratulate him. Fayemi even went beyond that, he had invited Fayose to his office where he pledged to set up a hand over committee to facilitate a smooth transition and sundry activities. The reception earned Dr Fayemi widespread commendations and had settled all doubts that were initially haboured shortly after the elections. The meeting had seen analysts of the election highlighting Dr Fayemi’s maturity and enlightened mind.

After that peak however, things that relate to Fayose/Fayemi in the state have continually been on the descent. Not a few people in Ekiti State have taken it that the relationship the duo shares has degenerated on both political and other fronts. “Their now frosty relationship didn’t start as a sudden occurrence or as a result of one single incident. The most notable period of this descent could be said to be after the elections when, after what many had seen as acceptance of defeat in an election, Fayemi made a volte face. That will not oil a relationship, it will cause friction.” That was the submission of a top politican in the state, who chose not to be named.

One APC chieftain contended that “it is not that we expect the duo to carry on as if they were friends in the first instance. They were not really friends but politics brought them to what I can refer to as a marriage of convenience.” This, among other thoughts on the current frosty relationship between the incumbent governor and his predecessor, has created what many have come to see as the current tensed relationship between the duo, and by extension their political parties and supporters.

On the day General Adeyinka Adebayo was buried, in his Iyin-Ekiti community in Irepodun /Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, some obeservers had claimed that Fayose was humiliated by Fayemi and other APC bigwigs at the church service. “He did what he liked with the lying-in-state and commendation ceremony at Ado-Ekiti and we have decided to do what we like here at Iyin,” a chieftain of the party from Ekiti West Local Government Area said while they made jokes about some of the events that add up to make the day.

According to some of them, when Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was received at the All Saints Anglican Church where the service took place, it was alleged that Governor Rotimi Akeredou of Ondo State was made to receive and usher the acting president into the church instead of the host Governor Fayose, “a clear breach of protocol and a way of telling that all is not well between Fayemi, Babafemi Ojudu and others at the church entrance.” According to the rumour, “it was in reaction to the embarrassment that Governor Fayose refused to address the congregation when he was invited to do so,” they claimed.

Before it got to this level, series of events had taken place in the state to show in all clarity that there is no love lost between Fayose and Fayemi. When Fayemi’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Fapohunda, buried his father, rumours had it that Fayose in his characteristic manner arrived in the Okemesi community venue with all flamboyance to steal the show and left on a high to also prove his popularity. This, the people claimed, was after Dr Fayemi had quietly come and had left with little or no notice of his arrival and departure. The people counted this as one of the pointers to the frosty relationship between them.

When the Alawe, Oba Adebanji Alabi held his coronation anniversary at his Ilawe community, headquarters of Ekiti South West Local Government Area, not a few people were infuriated when Fayemi and Fayose snubbed each other despite the conviviality that the ceremony portrayed. According to the people, Dr Fayemi, who was greeting other dignitaries had stopped before he got to Governor Fayose and that he had taken his leave almost immediately. This too amounted to something to the watchers.

The penultimate public event where the duo had met was the coronation of the Onisan of Isan-Ekiti, Fayemi’s community in Oye Local Government Area of the state. The rumours and preponderance of social media social media posts about the event was how “Fayose who had come to Isan was shown how not to behave in public”, and sundry talks. The claims was that the he had been booed and jeered while the counter claims was that it was Fayemi that saw the other side of the people.

These minor but meaningful scenarios had been as a result of series of events in the governance of the state. Right from the time he won the election, Fayose, even as governor-elect, had not kept quiet on what he claimed to be “the reckless manner the out-going Fayemi’s government was spending Ekiti money.” At some point, he warned bank’s not to grant the state government credit facilities, saying they that did so would be risking government business when he eventually assumes office. This didn’t go down well with the Fayemi government, which was at its denouement.

Also before he was sworn-in as governor, Fayose had cried out that some people in the state, under the aegis of a non-government, but socia-political ogranisation we’re planning to prevent him from getting sworn-in through numerous court cases. He blamed it on Dr Fayemi, whom he accused of plotting to get a mandate the people didn’t give him through the back door.

After he became the governor, he was faced with the battle of how he would not be impeached by the members of the APC-dominated House of Assembly. He fought, even with what some people described as “crude means,” to prevent this from happening. All through the battle which lasted from around November 2014, about one month after he assumed office till June 2015, the state was nearly grounded and one life was lost in the quagmire. The climax was when President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office and the APC members of the Assembly were rumoured to be coming with soldiers to carry out his impeachment. He also did not hesitate to heap the blame of his predecessor.

As things stand in Ekiti, Fayose has not been completely let off the hook of impeachment rumours as well as a pronouncement of the court that would send him out of office. Twice Fayose had addressed press conferences to tell the world that Fayemi was planning to institute a matter at the Supreme Court for a review of the cases that have to do with his election. On the second occasion, he even pointedly claimed that some of the judges had been enlisted to revisit the matter. He had claimed that Fayemi said the 2014 election was an “unfinished business” and wondered what “unfinished business” there is in a matter that had been thrashed at the highest court of the land.

While Fayose is crying about the troubles Fayemi is allegedly putting him through, he has also relentlessly accused him of fraud in the handling of Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) funds the state is entitled to. Following this, the current state House of Assembly, peopled mainly by Fayose’s loyalists has been on the case of Fayemi. The Assembly has invited him thrice, to come and explain the UBEC funds” to no avail.

This has culminated in the setting up of a judicial panel of inquiry to probe the UBEC fund issue. And the panel has been inaugurated. This too has fuelled the discord between the two political heavyweights. And it has not helped the relationship between the APC and PDP in the state either.

Some have contended that the matter might have the unseen hands of some other political heavyweights outside the state. Some have even said the coming governorship election in the state has fuelled the discord. It is a belief of s school of thought that the courage exhibited by Fayose is buoyed by some unseen forces that are way beyond Ekiti State. The same goes for Fayemi, whom many claimed  had the backing of the presidency to secure the ticket of the party when the issues crystallise. While the entire state awaits the unfolding scenarios as 2018 approaches, the people are wondering who would blink first.