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| Fayemi |
I am not a prophet of doom. I didn’t write this to proclaim what God
has not told me, it's a reflection of what any close observer knows would happen
in Ekiti state 2014 governorship election.
Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections are political battles to watch out for in 2014, those
elections will prepare us for the 2015 general elections and to some extent, serve as another litmus test for
the Prof Jega-manned INEC. As observers have predicted, the outcome of the 2014
elections would mark the end and the beginning of a new
political era, not only in Nigeria.
In Ekiti state, although the incumbent
governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has not officially declared to run for second term,
but it is expected of him to try his luck. Unlike in Ondo state where the
incumbent, Dr Olusegun Mimiko triumphed after a tough political battle, recent developments
from Ekiti have also revealed that the Ekiti
governorship election would be a strict contest among the
three major political
parties in the state, the ACN, Labour Party and the PDP, as it was in Ondo; but
Fayemi will not win.
It’s so unfortunate that barely three years of Fayemi in
office, the tides have changed. It’s now so clear to all that he could not live
up to the hype he received when he was sworn-in as governor of the state
some years ago, judging by what is happening in the state now. Looking back at
October 2010, when he was sworn-in, it’s quite evident that he has fallen short
on the people’s expectations.
Fayemi has betrayed the trust reposed in him by Ekiti state people, and the people are so eager to show him the
way out of the government house come 2014. Good for him, he knows how to use
the media for propaganda, he can’t afford to fail in that area, with his
background in media practice, especially during the Abacha days. Alas, gone are
those days when propaganda wins election. If elections were won with propaganda and media onslaught, then
the ACN shouldn't be a regional champion, it ought to be controlling all the
states in Nigeria; if it is by propaganda, then Mimiko shouldn’t have been
re-elected as the Governor of Ondo state, with the media onslaught unleashed on
him by the ACN, before, during and after the Ondo governorship election.
We are now in the age where people don’t just consume what
they hear or see on the pages of newspapers and Television, we now verify information
before consuming them. No amount of propaganda can deter the people from making
their choice.
Fayemi has failed the teachers, the entire state workforce,
the students and even the artisans, so who else is left in the state to give
him the votes he needs for his second term ambition. Is it the local government
and primary health workers who recently embarked on a-two-month strike because
the governor failed to implement the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage? While
a neighbouring state like Ondo is already paying N22,000. Or the teachers he
forced to take a competency test for reasons best known to him alone? To
mention but few.
The governor was swift to commission projects during his
second anniversary, but majority of these projects were projects which have been
completed some months before he became governor, some of the road projects
featured in the newspapers and other media were already being used months before
he came into office.
Lately, Governor Fayemi has been exhibiting some traits of a failed and sinking government; political intolerance, which is inimical to his second term ambition. If he truly believes in his performance as he has claimed, then why the frequent political war with members of opposition parties and even within his own ACN.
Now that the die has been cast, there is no better time for
the LP to win Ekiti state election,
than in 2014, the song on the lips of the majority of Ekiti
residents is; 'go to Ondo and see the wonders their governor is doing,' Mimiko has laid the foundation, it is now left to the
leadership of the party both at the state and national levels to build on this
solid foundation already laid by Mimiko.
Kudos to President Goodluck Jonathan for restoring hope in
our electoral process, now the richest party with a wrong
candidate can lose woefully in an election. It’s now
about the will and choice of the people. If elections were to be won with money, I
mean huge amount of money in billions of naira, then Governor Mimiko wouldn’t
have won the last election, considering the billions of
naira allotted to the ‘capture Ondo State’ mission of the ACN in the October
2012 governorship election in Ondo State, which ended as
a total fiasco.
The LP might not be as financially strong as the ACN, but it
has all what it takes to wrest power from the failed ACN government in Ekiti state, if the Mimiko’s already laid foundation is
properly utilised.
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