The Ekiti governorship election may have come and gone, but its outcome will remain a case in point for tacticians in the boardroom of politics in our country for many years. This is not because a governor lost the election in spite of being armed with all the powers of incumbency but because the pattern of voting defied every expectation.
This time, the will of the people prevailed against the wishes of most power brokers whom many had expected would bring to bear their stiff control of their political stronghold. I see the outcome of that election as a watershed which has underscored the fact that we are gradually arriving at a destination where election will no longer be business as usual.
The election bears with it numerous lessons for those of us whom fate has located in the arena of politics. It teaches most fundamentally that the time has come when the wishes of the people can no longer take a back seat in the selection of leaders. At every point in the Ayo Fayose story is the mark of democracy, the towering of popular yearnings and aspirations above surrounding political sentiments by politicians.
Many would recall that Fayose had stuck to his guns when the issue of the selection of PDP’s flag bearer for the general election arose. While many party stalwarts favoured the emergence of a candidate for the party by consensus, Fayose thought otherwise.
He prayed the party at the national to discard the option and allow internal democracy and the voice of party men in the state decide the course of the party. Fayose’s prayers fell on the listening ears of the game changer, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu. The voice of common men and women of the PDP prevailed in the end. Thanks to the PDP Chairman under whose leadership the PDP has taken a better new turn.
On the other hand, the permutations in the leading APC in the state were made clear not to favour an open contest. The alleged serial frustration and intimidations which followed eventually forced a chieftain of the party, Opeyemi Bamidele out of APC and into Labour Party.
No thanks to his perceived ambition to wrest the party ticket from incumbent Governor John Kayode Fayemi. While the APC was left torn and with disgruntled members who saw the incumbent governor and flag bearer as an imposition, the opposition waxed stronger with candidates who were products of popular will. At this point, many had seen the handwriting on the wall and had made their fears known, albeit ignored.
So when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Fayose as Governor-elect, not many people who know the story behind the emergence of the various candidates were taken by surprise. The will of the people will always prevail and this was clearly seen in the pattern of voting, in which the sitting governor lost across all the sixteen local government areas of the state.
Besides the role which internal democracy in the PDP played in upping PDP’s chances in the Ekiti polls, Nigerians can attest to how
perfectly the personality of Fayose had positioned him on the right path of fate. This is another lesson we politicians must learn as we approach the business of selecting candidates for 2015. As I would learn much later, Fayose is a man who is very much at home with his people. I recall meeting him and having an interaction with him a few weeks after he won the PDP ticket.
I asked how he thought the race was going to see him back to Ekiti Government House given the odds in a South-western state like Ekiti. His answer was simple and frank – he was on the ground with the people, he told me. He expressed this uncommon confidence in his grassroots affinity. There indeed is something about a man who left power 8 years ago and could still command the kind of huge crowd of supporters we saw during his election rallies.
Fayose is a man who can enter a keke with a man on the street and not be seen as being odd. While the grandeur of office was his opponents’ albatross, Fayose could enter the worst of shanties; sit down with the lowly to seek supports. His high level of
unpretentiousness is as common knowledge as his heart for the common man. I dare to say if PDP had missed the opportunity to field this man, the party might as well have let go the thought of winning back Ekiti state.
Also worth learning from is the gentleman manner of acceptance of defeat by Governor Fayemi and the no winner-takes-it-all attitude of Fayose. While Fayemi immediately accepted the outcome of the polls, Fayose was quick to pay him a courtesy call and assured the governor of his brotherhood. This is unprecedented in our political history.
Fayemi’s refinement is uncommon in this part of the globe. And for this to have happened at the wake of a toughly contested election shows just how much the two men put Ekiti state far ahead of their personal or party interests. I consider Fayose’s promise to work with Governor Fayemi for the development of the state as a rare show of humility. It is also noteworthy that the governor-elect would have none of his supporters derogate Fayemi following the election.
The humility in victory and the civility in concession are honourable acts which have etched a place for the names of these two Ekiti democrats in the history of Nigerian politics. It is however pathetic that the personality of Fayemi is in absolute contrast with what is the norms in his party.
While his party is yet to at least acknowledge that INEC gave Ekiti people a good outing on Saturday, Fayemi has already sent a
congratulatory message to his compatriot Fayose, calling him “brother.” Judging from Fayemi’s conduct, one cannot but struggle to understand how he manages to get along in a political fold like his APC.
The outcome of the Ekiti poll has once again underscored the fact that elections in Nigeria are never won on the internet as Fayose noted on Sunday. If INEC had relied on the proliferous blackmails against Fayose on the internet, it probably would have announced Fayemi winner of that polls without having to count the ballots. While the social media will always remain a potent tool for mobilising and educating a section of our people who have internet access, the candidates must do more than internet campaigns.
The Fayose campaign was a vigorous door-to-door, community-to-community wooing of votes. For one moment there, Nigerians were reminded of the 1993 outing where we gladly returned MKO Abiola as President which was owed mainly to the sinking
down of his message into the hearts of the people. There were no internets then, and statistics have shown that there are yet a little
less than significant number of Nigerians with internet access.
As we reflect on the Ekiti scenario, politicians at all levels must make the lessons count in the coming months when political activities would have peaked. The place of internal democracy and the will of party men and women should never be undermined. As a faithful party man, I desire to see the emergence of candidates for my party through popular will of fellow party faithful. Like Fayose, popular candidates do not fear party primaries.
They call for it and are ready to accept the outcome gladly. This is what keeps any ambitious political partyabove the limiting bar of average. Again, no matter the acrimony which may result from personal interests, it is important that the bond of brotherhood which aspirants share be not broken.
There is no political prize attractive enough to justify the annihilation of the things which make us one people. This is the consciousness that will redirect the focus from attacks on personality, cause less lies, reduce pernicious propaganda, and concentrate discourse on issues of development of the lot of the citizenry.
Those looking for the governorship seat in Akwa Ibom state should look to wooing supports and votes through issue-based debates and not sentiments, blackmails, and calumnious media stories. Closeness to the people and the need to feel their pulse cannot be overemphasised. Those seeking to lead people must be able to understand the plights of those they seek to lead. Close watchers of the Ekiti fallout have attributed Fayemi’s detachment from his people as the albatross that hanged around his neck.
On the other hand, Fayose does not cut the picture of a Big Man at whose beck and call the executive powers of Ekiti state government once were. How much of our people do the people who want to become Akwa Ibom state governor know? For instance, how many of us politicians know the cost of a drop in keke from Ibom plaza to Itam junction? How many can tell the determiners of the cost of commodities in Akpan Andem Market and how this is giving families sleepless nights? How many of those who covet the governor’s seat can tell why there is a growing number of youths at the motor-parks?
We should not make the mistake of thinking that our level of detachment from the circumstances of life of the common man will in the end not count at the polling booth. Campaigns are now beyond where a person comes from. The Ekiti experience has now shown us that the petty mudslinging over a person’s place of origin is inane where the will of the people is at work. We must do all within our powers to see that candidates with the correct credentials and emotional attachment to the people bear our flag at the poll.
There are questions which Ekiti people asked to which only Fayose could provide the acceptable answers. One can therefore dare to say that a social contract had been entered into between Fayose and the people of the state long before the election. The event of last Saturday was only in keeping with the terms of that contract by the people of the state. Our next set of leaders in the state must begin now to show their sincerity and commitment by entering into similar contract with the people.
They must start by subjecting themselves to scrutiny by the people and gain their confidence. When this happens, those with authority will employ less of intimidation and cohesion and more of consultation and negotiation. The Ekiti election has shown the determination of President Goodluck Jonathan to make the will of the people triumph and every single vote count.
People seeking to occupy offices should therefore seek the direct mandate of the people through wider consultation and with the
air of humility. Powers gotten through the backdoors are often catastrophic. Arrogance and impunity could not have paid off for
Fayose. The people mattered above all and this was evident in the way Fayose’s victory sat pretty.
INEC did a good job to cushion the challenges of that election. While we urge Prof Attahiru Jega to correct the pockets of lapses which were reported during the election, I call on Nigerians to continue to accord him that benefit of the doubts that he will deliver in the 2015 election. Men of the Nigeria police and others in the security system also did a commendable job to ensure a smooth poll. We can only pray that we see same level of commitment in 2015.
I must express my strong admiration for our party helmsman, Alhaji Mu’azu in whose watch the PDP is taking back its glory. The past one year had been turbulent for the party, with key members decamping. But today we have peace and confidence. We have one more governor and have successfully penetrated a bloc considered as opposition. All thanks to Mu’azu, who assured us of internal democracy in the party and went on to midwife the emergence of a popular candidate in Ekiti state. His barely 7-months of reign has helped us take back our pride of place.
In the coming election year, those who wish the PDP well cannot but pray that Alhaji Mu’azu continues on the path of righteousness he is currently walking on. Above all, let me congratulate President Jonathan for the electoral reform which has further straightened our path to democracy and given the electoral powers to the people and not to a select few.
The sincerity in the reform is seen in the emergence of a true multiparty Nigeria. It cuts across every party in the country. We saw the emergence of Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party in Ondo state in 2013, the Governor Adams Oshiomole of ACN (now APC) in Edo state, Governor Willie Obiano of APGA in Anambra state, and now, the emergence of Fayose as governor-elect of Ekiti state under the PDP umbrella.
For this and many other achievements, I join the rest of Nigerians to say BRAVO, Mr President!
[+] Written By: Hon. (Barr.) Onofiok Luke – A member of the Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly