Seven years after, the killers of the Ekiti State politician, Dr Ayo Daramola, are still at large. EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the agony of the bereaved family and its fruitless search for justice.
When Ayo Daramola, Howard University trained nutritional economist, a former university don and World Bank consultant, unfolded his ambition to rule Ekiti State in 2005, little did he know that the assassins would put an end to his life abruptly. Eight years after, relations, friends and political associates of the slain politician are still in agony. To them, the hope of apprehending the killers is getting slimmer, owing to the diminishing commitment on the part of the government and police.
It is more agonising for his widow, Kehinde, an Ijebu-Ife princess, and his two sons, Folabi and Dimeji. On daily basis, she weeps. “I cannot forget it that Ayo could be killed like that; someone who could not hurt a fly. I have not overcome the trauma”, she said. The grief is still shared by every household in Ijan, a rustic Ekiti town, where the deceased was born, almost six decades ago.
Daramola was a star kid among his peers. That signs and wonders of leadership trailed him throughout his life time. At adulthood, he emerged as an Ekiti patriot. When he was privileged to serve the Fountain of Knowledge as the Coordinator of Ekiti Poverty Reduction Agency (EKPRA), he did it with diligence and utmost responsibility. On this account, he became a household name in the 120 towns and villages constituting the state. The developmental projects executed by the agency are now his legacies.
The scholar was comfortable in his lucrative career. Although he had overcome the pangs poverty and misery in life, he could not close his eyes to the plight of his people in Ekitiland. He thought that he could acquire power and use it to salvage the state from the marauders. Before his foray into politics, intimated his wife with his plans. But she objected it, saying that it was a dirty game. But Daramola could not be discouraged. When life was snuffed out of the gentleman and professional in politics, his wife’s worst fears about the slippery political field were confirmed.
During his preliminary consultations with the stakeholders in the far-flung state, he discovered that his political future was bright. His slogan, which he adapted from the late Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) was ‘abolition of poverty’. In those dark days, the people yearned for change and transformational government. The elite showed enthusiasm. Commoners were ready to also drive his campaign machinery, although they were still in the dark about the political platform. Ironically, when the new dawn arrived and the envisaged change occurred in Ekiti, Daramola’s seat was vacant. He was only accorded the residual honour due to a martyr.
Indisputably, the former World Bank consultant came to Ekiti with an intimidating credential. He had the apex degree, which is the academic hallmark of Ekiti scholars. He had wined with the cosmopolitan climes, yet, he was not oblivious of his roots. In fact, in his doctoral thesis at Howard University, Washington, United States, the homeboy focused on the perennial problems of the rural dwellers.
In that classic work, Daramola beamed a searchlight on the correlates of food nutrition and high mortality rates among pregnant women. He returned home to gather data. But he subsequent exposure as the EKPRA chief provided further insights into the developmental challenges of the rural poor. He vowed to reposition the state, if elected as the governor. “I was poor. Many Ekiti people live in poverty. We can mobilise our intellectual endowment and material resources to wipe out poverty and put smiles on the faces of people”, he told reporters in Lagos.
Daramola was not an armchair critic. Ahead of the campaigns, he had developed what he described as “solution files”, which encompassed the strategies for solving Ekiti problems sector by sector. He assured the people that hope was not lost, urging them to endure the pains that would herald liberation. He positioned himself as a tested and trusted performer. “We had done it before, we can do it again and we will do it again”, he said, referring to his feats as the EKPRA Chief Executive. “On May 29, 2007, I will be governor of Ekiti State. I know how to do it better, get results and make our people happy”, he added. To the people of the countryside, who had benefitted from his water projects, empowerment programmes an mobilisation for participatory joint projects, he was an idol.
He was confident that he would be eventually crowned. He was prepared for a game of ideas, and not bullets. He trusted in his brains and intellectual exercise was his pre-occupation. He spoke with bravery, predicting doom for those who had attempted to convert Ekiti into a fiefdom. He was versatile, gifted in delivery and full of candour. His calculation was that he would meet the criteria for governorship, contest the election with qualified rivals and triumph at the polls. The calculation paled into day dreaming that midnight of horror when he was hacked down by assassins
Had the killers demanded a ransom, it would have been paid in threefold. But Daramola’s life must be on the line. However, in death, his profile remained electrifying, illuminating and captivating. He is remembered as a special breed endowed with charisma. Those who knew him have always attested to his power of ideas, interest in intellectual debate, carriage in social circles, courage in the face of difficulty, and uncanny foresight.
More importantly, his message of self help for development is evergreen. Through EKPRA, he taught Ekiti the value of collective effort at forging development. Self-help, he said, was not a sin, advising the people to put their destiny in their hand. In communities where that salient idea was put into practice, water ran from the pipes. Health centres sprung up. Rural roads were reactivated. Some towns and villages chose priority projects, put money down and invited the World Bank to fill the other little vacuum.
The Ekiti obas and chiefs were grateful to him for showing the way and the light. They gave him chieftaincy titles for his good work. At his lying-in-state, long royal staff from palaces across the state competed for space around his coffin in their splendor, reminding those who killed him that, in life and death, Daramola has a towering stature.
Today, he is also being remembered for his feats in school as a promising youth leader, footballer at Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti, who featured in the memorable soccer fiestas of the seventies, which united the famed Ekiti Confederation. When he was alive, he confessed that, apart from living with teachers who were regularly on transfers, he became an encyclopedia of Ekiti knowledge, traditions, customs and cultures because of those soccer tours which exposed him to the nooks and crannies.
Among those who groomed him were Chief J.A. Fapounda, his old teacher, who later became the Chief Whip of Ondo State House of Assembly in the Second Republic and Chief S.B. Asebiomo, former Chairman of Ondo State Central School Board. While in Form Two, the school authority made him the Light Prefect, and later, Food Prefect. He had wanted to go to Molusi College, Ijebu-Igbo or Oyemekun Grammar School, Akure for his HSC, but Asebiomo, his school principal, prevailed on him to stay on in the school. To encourage him to stay, he offered him scholarship. The old teacher wanted him to continue to play football for the school.
Daramola consequently became the House Captain. This exposed him to micro governance. “House captainship was a position of pre-eminence and esteem. as a captain, I issued exacts to contemporary students. as a food prefect, I fought for improved food in the dining hall”, he recalled . He was also a member of the Students Representatives Council presided over by Asebiomo.
After his HSC programme, Daramola became a teacher at Ado Grammar School, Ado-Ekiti. It was a brief stint. Later, he moved to Ibadan to work with the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation as an Administrative Officer under Chief Ayo Ogunlade, who later served as Minister of Information. Already, he had been exposed to foreign scholarship opportunities by the secretary of Gbonyin Students Union, Dapo Awojolu. He was admitted into Howard University, united States. Before left abroad, he briefly taught in Lagos at a school established by the late Chief Esan of Ikoro-Ekiti. The principal was Pa Alake, father of Mr. Dele Alake, former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy.
The Ekiti boy shone in the university, proving that intelligence was evenly distributed among the tribes of the world and colour of skin was not a barrier. He also delved into campus politics, contesting and winning series of elections, although he missed being the President of Howard University Association because students objected to his ambition because two Nigerians had occupied the position in quick succession. However, he was consoled by the opportunity given to him to represent the Graduate Hall in the Students Parliament.
