Koleoso Adelowo
The Ekiti State Governorship election held last Saturday might have come and gone, but it leaves the stage for political analysts to x-ray the situation; who ought to have done what but did not, which now gave victory to the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate. It is important to sound it clear that, Fayose’s purported electoral success is not the acceptance of PDP in the state but perhaps, the candidate the party featured if at all the candidate is also popular as the party is jubilating to say, it has started an incursion into the South-west.
The so-called defeat of Dr. KayodeFayemi by PDP candidate was not based on the performance of APC’s candidate. In fact, Fayemi has performed beyond the expectations of the people as far as infrastructural development is concern in Ekiti State. According to the Yoruba saying, ‘nobody will see the road and follow the bush’. It is important to state categorical from the on-set to PDP before they take their victory too far and to mean acceptance by the people of Ekiti State or South West. Many people knew and believed Fayemi has performed as evidences are on ground to bear him witness. We shall also live to see what will herald the coming of their celebration.
If PDP feels the Ekiti State gubernatorial election is a litmus test for its acceptance in the region again, then we shall wait to see. Nigerians from the on-set knew that the endorsement of Fayose was to pavee way for 2015 presidential election success in the region. We shall all live to see what will be result of that election. As the saying goes, ‘you can only deceive people once’. The fact that Ekiti people ‘voted’ Fayose at it were does not mean they will vote for the President. PDP may be jubilating today, they will bite their fingers when they take stock of their abysmal performance at the presidential election in the state and the South-west in 2015.
It is undisputable that, Ekiti State parades the highest number of learned persons in entire Nigeria but there are still pockets of illiterates in the state who clamour for ‘stomach infrastructure’. The result of that election was the manifestation of poverty and the jettison of merit for mediocrity. What the result showed was simply, the reversal of knowledge where people prefer servicing their stomachs instead of infrastructural development. We also saw how a party that has been defrauding the people used the proceeds of the fraud to hit back at the people. Gullibly, people rushed at the crumbles and the peanuts given to them at the expense of their future. The result of that election goes beyond candidate or party acceptance.
As Ekiti election was made to be considered as free, fair and peaceful, if it is not peaceful what will the federal government say? When it has failed in bringing back the Chibok girls after 70 days of unwilling incarceration in the den of rag-tag fundamentalists and the militarization of a state election? The message federal government wanted to pass across is that, yes it has failed in restoring peace in the North-east with all its federal might but it can also display its might in a peaceful environment like Ekiti State when conducting election in just 16 local government area councils out of 774 councils in the country.
I stand to be corrected if what we saw as peaceful was actually peaceful when we consider how people have been defrauded electorally through brazen theft of their mandate with bribery and corruption that permeated the conduct of that election. For the fools who don’t see beyond their noses and whose senses of reasoning have been beclouded with crumbs from the table of PDP, the Ekiti State governorship election was free and fair. Yes, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, might have tried this time to plug some loopholes but the role of money exchanging hands under the cover of the night was very glaring. So, was that election really free and fair? No.
The disconnect some people expressed against the administration of Fayemi was his failure to throw money around to build stomach infrastructure instead of building roads and other amenities as if we are living in the Stone Age like drop-outs. The outcome of the election also exhibited the failure of the elite at educating their people that, everything is not money as some politicians want people to believe. If you collect money from politicians to vote him in, he will tell you later that you have been paid and the money you collected will be deducted from the State revenue allocation, therefore, the government will not be able to perform, therefore, you will continue to wallop in abject poverty and pervasive penury. We shall live to see the outcome of PDP jubilation in Ekiti State. Light can never triumph over darkness. They may win today, but the end will justify the means.
Adelowo wrote from No 15, Isolo, Oshodi Express way, Lagos
