FEATURE ARTICLE

Clive AkinsolaFriday, February 12, 2016
[email protected]


ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE
TO YOUR FRIENDS

FAYOSE - A FLIMSY GOVERNOR WITH AN ILLEGITIMATE MANDATE

advertisement

s I continue to digest the revelation of how the election was rigged in Ekiti, I am harrowingly peeved by the unsavory development. Little wonder that Ayo Fayose seeks relevance at all cost. In the recesses of his mind, he knew he did not get to the position legitimately, his soul is ever troubled by the fact that the will of the Ekiti people was hijacked through a ludicrous form of subterfuge to steal the mandate, hence he has to disguise his deviant behavior with unguarded and unintelligent diatribes.

According to Fela, Fayose is a man of very low mentality and one without a burnished upbringing; he can only get by through intimidation, roguery and thuggery. This writer was not at all disappointed when Dr. Tope Aluko laid it out like a wreath the despicable act of stealing, rigging and corruption by courtiers of small minds. With all this Ekitigate revelations, a conscientious mind would reflect and resign in order to hold on to a good name but when there is nothing to protect, anything goes.

Sadly, it is now becoming clear to everyone that our nation's highest court is taking on a semblance of nothing less than "Awada KeriKeri" Judgements. The usual respect and reverence accorded the Supreme Court is fast eroding by the day. Just like John Ruskin (English Writer 1819-1900) said, "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort". It is obvious that we are being confronted in this nation with men who have no business being in the hallowed chamber. This portends great danger to our system of government because of lack of quality and sound reasoning. Many citizens are wrestling with a difficult question, either to get behind the Justices or simply see them as bunch of jesters. Justices like the late Olajide Olatawura, a very decent Ekiti man, will be turning in his grave that he could no longer offer his sound mind to the once revered Supreme Court which makes our people proud.

It is startling and offensive that those who should at this time raise their voices, pull out the heavy artillery and stand for the truths are conspicuously shying away. Where is the eminent Jurist Afe Babalola? Who should at this point in time lend his considerable intellectual heft to the affairs of the Ekiti State? No one should sit back at this time and let Ekiti name rubbished by this hollow charlatan called Ayo Fayose. The fact that Fayose could arrogate to himself the toga of self-importance by asserting that he is now more relevant than the former President Olusegun Obasanjo, this faulty assertions, shows that he's gone off his rockers and needs urgent help. Not to mention how he subjected the current president to unrelenting vicious trolling and attacks that are very much profane to say the least. His neurotic fixation on President Buhari is kind of bizarre.

Having said that, the current crop of Ekiti state house of assembly members are not in any way better than the person who handpicked them. They are a part of the charade, and of course, they really have no reasons to challenge him to robust debate since Fayose could not offer any.

We all know that Fayose has no capability to manage the affairs of Ekiti, otherwise, he would have concerned himself with how the little allocation coming to Ekiti could be extended to provide infrastructure capabilities, and in the process improve the economic landscape of Ekiti. He would have focused on how to ease the lifestyle of the people. Additionally, if he really has what it takes to transform a poor state like Ekiti, he would have stepped out with the strongest infrastructure portfolio that reflects ideas and strategic designs that will continuously provide new innovations for running core business. If ever it happened, this ultimately will deliver the best and fastest results that would make the state competitive.

Instead all we could perceive is the smell of corruption wafting through the government house as numerous cronies are lying in wait to be awarded contracts that are astronomically inflated. One of the so called and rather unnecessary projects is the proposed Ekiti Airport. Considering the current economic climate, a prudent manager of the economy would not put this project as a priority. Anyone familiar with the geography of Ekiti State and the neighboring Ondo State will know that Akure is just about 35-40 minutes drive to Ado Ekiti.

The airport in Akure is not even fully functional; anyone desiring a flight to any part of the country could easily take a trip to Akure Airport. It does not make any sense at this present time to have another airport in Ekiti State.

We all know that the Airport project is not all about how Ekiti will extend its lead with the best-performing and most reliable Airport for the region but for Fayose and his crooks to line their pockets with inflated contracts through different surrogates and fronts. If anyone disagrees, they should ask for the business case for this airport at this time so that rational citizens could help in vetting it. For instance, where are the business surveys that even justify this proposal? How many people in Ekiti earn fifty thousand Naira per month? Whatever formula or permutation that the airlines that will fly to the airport deploy, it cannot be less than twenty thousand Naira; for a one way flight ticket to Lagos. Let the Ekiti government publish the statistics and demographics information of the Ekiti residents. I sincerely doubt if any such information exist.

Again, how much has the state invested in Research and Development that could deliver much higher performing systems than what is currently obtained in Ekiti State, a system that are more efficient and work better at a lower cost, and the derived benefits being passed on to its citizens. The very people that should keep watch on the state have taken their share of the democratic dividend through stomach infrastructure so they are permanently mute.

As Fayose continues to pitch himself as the PDP's anti-Buhari with his deceptive, virulent propaganda, the pragmatics in the nation are just laughing him to scorn, making him the butt of everyone jokes. The sad thing is that he just could not see it because he is so blinded and deafened by his rhetorics. If former president Jonathan had a long term view of how our nation will progress he would have had nothing to do with likes of Fayose who is totally bereft of world class ideas.

Jonathan by extension Fayose, have handed this generation a rather less-optimistic worldview coupled with lack of opportunities. This twin evil has continued to hedge them towards embracing extremists and radical ideology which are alien to our clime and culture.

Ekiti urgently needs interventionists that will save it from people who are so deft in stealing our common patrimony but lack the basic understanding of governance.

advertisement
IMAGES IN THE NEWS