The June 21, 2014 Ekiti State governorship election has come and gone, but its tale remains fresh in the mouth of many in the country. First, it is a tale of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, being a formidable party with insurmountable structures everywhere.
Secondly, it is a tale of the same party being the only vehicle through which former governors can still realise their political ambitions. For example, when former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau dislodged Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwoso of Kano State, who is now biting the fingers that fed him, from the government house in 2003, the same umbrella gave him the opportunity to stage a comeback in 2011 after the eighth year rule of Shekarau. Hence, the same feat has once again been repeated in Ekiti State with the emergence of Dr. Peter Ayodele Fayose as governor-elect!
I decided to pen down my thoughts on Ekiti State because, the governor-elect, has displayed a steadfast, resilient and enduring spirit, which I enjoin politicians to emulate! This is a man, who some persons used the state of emergency to oust from office in 2006, just to satisfy selfish interests.
But, because of the resilient spirit in Fayose, he kept trying until God and the people of Ekiti State asked him to comeback with the generous votes they gave. Although, I had said it earlier this year in an article entitled, “The task before the New PDP chairman.” In that piece, I said, the PDP chairman should put every machinery in motion to dislodge the tenants in Ekiti and Osun States from power and return it to the landlord, and Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu has just done for the party in Ekiti State! Moreover, he is waiting to do it again in Osun State.
The victory of Fayose is one that amplifies an age-long adage that says, “In any confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream will overcome! The stream will overcome not because it has power to fight, but, because of persistence, the stream will choke the base of the rock and the rock will dissolve in to it! So, this is what Governor Fayose has just displayed.
He had no power of incumbency, he is not in control of the state media, which is nearer to the people, yet he was able to dislodge Governor Kayode Fayemi and his All Progressives Congress, APC, from Ekiti State. I wish Fayemi well in his future endeavor, but I advise him to reflect thoroughly, on his defeat.
However, the lesson the APC must learn is that, no one can build something on nothing. The national leaders of APC frittered away the goodwill it enjoyed among the Nigerian populace when it was registered on July 31, 2013.
Instead of using that rare opportunity to build formidable structures in the states they control, they were busy heaping insults on the President and the ruling PDP. A party that has kept the nation united for the past 15 years. They were busy calling for the impeachment of a democratically elected President, while at the same time urging their members in the National Assembly to block every executive bill in the parliament.
APC was busy chasing the shadows of President Goodluck Jonathan and inducing elected PDP governors, senators and House of Reps members to betray their party by defecting to the party. They recruited some media houses and its practitioners to discredit the President and his supporters. That is why some media houses no longer publish my articles.
PDP’s victory in Ekiti State is a clear message to the leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC that Nigerians have rejected them out rightly. It is also a pointer to the disaster that awaits them come February 14, 2015.
With Fayose’s votes of 203, 090 and Fayemi’s votes of 120, 433, APC leaders can now see that the difference is clear.
Hence, they do not need any prophet to foretell the doom that awaits them and that any presidential candidate they would bring to challenge our amiable and indefatigable President Jonathan is dead on arrival.
However, I have been saying it over the past months that APC is not a threat to PDP and that PDP should not freak over APC’s busybody, but hardened critics of the President and the PDP would not hear. Instead of facing the issues I raised in my analysis, their hirelings and internet bees would be insulting me for holding a good opinion about the President and the ruling party. Then, Fayose’s victory has actually vindicated my position.
Comrade Edwin Ekene Uhara, an Activist, and Commentator wrote from Abuja.