On Wednesday May 21st, 2019, something epochal happened in the history of Ekiti State and the Southwest that had further buoyed the political relevance of the region. The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi was unanimously elected the chairman of the Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum.
Apart from being a record breaking political event in our dear state, so was this applied to the southwest, fondly regarded as the hotbed of Nigeria’s politics going by the political turbulence that dogged the West during the pre and post independence Nigeria.
Governor Fayemi assuming this lofty position was not by happenstance of primordial ethnic consideration or narrow prism of religious sentiment, but by his qualities of leadership and personality since his foray into the political turf in 2006.
Before now, there were conscious but surreptitious efforts by concerned leaders that Ekiti/Ondo axis of the Southwest should coalesce efforts and regain their lost political glory, in the Southwest. It could be recalled that personalities from those two states were the pivots upon which Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s leadership in the region was built. Even after the collapse of the First Republic due to military usurpation, the old Ondo axis, comprising new Ondo and Ekiti still held the ace with the appointments of the late Lt. Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi and Major Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo as military governors of the region in quick succession. Little wonder, Governor Fayemi’s elevation was applauded and celebrated across religious and political divides, because it was akin to a prayer answered.
It is axiomatic that leadership comes with responsibilities, which must be discharged with utmost integrity, zeal and vigour for a leader to linger in the hearts of the people. Governor Fayemi was circumspect of this fact and he had promised to reenact the magic wand he deployed to raise the leadership in Ekiti to the national scene in governing the forum.
For Governor Fayemi to know that his new status has gone beyond him, the leadership of his party and even opposition figures in Ekiti and beyond had written to congratulate him and also set agenda on how best to bring radical change to the forum. Part of what these political icons harped on was the need for him to be patriotic, detribalised and be open and receptive to suggestions and diverse opinions for his leadership to be memorable and become a reference point.
It is an indisputable fact that Governor Fayemi’s leadership of the forum will be a tasking one, because he came at a time when the nation is being confronted by dwindling federal allocations to states and when innocent Nigerians were being mowed down by killers in the guise of suspected herders, terrorists and kidnappers.
The forum, being the most powerful political platform that can advance the course of the nation, Governor Fayemi must intensify constructive engagement for more resources to be deployed to states. To pay the N30, 000 minimum wage that many believed will serve as palliative against poverty and hard-biting inflation in the system. Conscious efforts should also be made by his leadership for proper restructuring of the nation in terms of financial and political balancing, to inject equity, justice and fairness into our body polity.
It was a period of double excitements for the Ekiti State chief executive, for his chairmanship coincided with his victory at the Supreme Court in the litigation filed by opponent against his victory in the July 14, 2018 Governorship election. With this victory, Governor Fayemi will be more focused to deliver democracy dividends to the populace in Ekiti and to also raise the bar of governance through effective peer review mechanism in the forum.
Most interesting was Governor Fayemi’s spread of olive branch to his main opponents on the need to put behind politics and join hands with him to build a formidable Ekiti. In the spirit of oneness, opposition had not only congratulated him, it has also expressed open desire to constructively engage the government in the interest of the populace. This sign portends that the second coming of the governor would bring multifaceted developments, by way of attracting more federal presence to the state using his connections as a top member of the All Progressive Congress and the first among equals in the comity of the 36 governors.
Going by the mood in town, especially from those who were familiar with Governor Fayemi’s quest for excellence in governance, Ekiti and Nigeria in general will soon start to savour the gains inherent in Fayemi’s new status and all hands must be on deck for him to be focused and remain resolute to achieve the set agenda of revamping the nation’s economy and launch Nigeria to the enviable position as really the giant of the African continent.
The view point was written by Dalimore Aluko, Assistant Principal, Ikere High School, Ikere Ekiti.
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