The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ekiti

  • Tension in Ekiti over kidnapped civil servant

    There is anxiety within the Ekiti State Civil Service following the kidnap of a Director, Olaniyi Ibidunmoye, by unknown gunmen in Ibillo, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State on Wednesday. The whereabouts of Ibidunmoye is presently unknown but his captors have contacted the family demanding a ransom of N20 million.

    Ibidunmoye is a Director in the Office of Ekiti State Surveyor General and he is also a pastor with the Agape Christian Ministries. He was said to be on his way back from a pastoral meeting in Abuja when he was waylaid by kidnappers and taken to an unknown destination. He was said to be traveling in his gold colored Lexus RX Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).

    The gunmen initially spirited Ibidunmoye away in his car which was later abandoned before he was taken away in another vehicle. A source close to the family disclosed that his abandoned vehicle is now with Ibillo Divisional Police Headquarters in Edo State. The source said the matter had been officially reported to the Ekiti State Head of Service, Gbenga Faseluka.

    Police spokesman, Alberto Adeyemi, was not available for reaction as his phone was switched off. He was yet to react to text message sent to him.

  • Stomach infrastructure has failed in Ekiti, says APC chieftain

    Stomach infrastructure has failed in Ekiti, says APC chieftain

    In All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ekiti State, Olajide Akinyemi, has promised to use agriculture as a catalyst to develop the Fountain of Knowledge and banish hunger, if he becomes the governor.

    Akinyemi in an interview with The Nation in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, said Ekiti has no business being poor if its rich agricultural potentials are well developed and harnessed for the good of its people.

    He chided the Ayo Fayose-led administration for abandoning agriculture and deceiving the people with stomach infrastructure which, according to him, has further unleashed hunger on the state.

    Akinyemi said Fayose’s stomach infrastructure has failed the people with civil servants being owed arrears of five months, adding that local businesses have been killed with ‘outrageous’ taxes and harsh economic policies.

    He said: “It is apparent that Fayose’s stomach infrastructure has failed our people. It was a gimmick used to deceive the electorate. But, we can give our people through investment in agriculture.

    “This will ensure food security, provide more employment opportunities by taking our youths off the streets and also generate revenue into the coffers of our state. “

    The aspirant, a farmer and investor said the sector can employ not less than 50 per cent of the population in the state.

    He promised to establish a youth commercial agriculture scheme in all the 16 local government areas to produce cocoa, plantain, cassava, timber, in large quantity for local consumption and foreign exchange.

    Apart from agriculture, Akinyemi promised to make micro-credit loans available to small scale traders, young school leavers, women groups and artisans to own and grow their businesses.

    He described the APC as the only party that has the interest of Ekiti at heart, expressing the confidence to win its ticket and the governorship at the 2018 polls.

  • Why is Ekiti so unlucky? 

    The successful collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi states which resulted in the production of Lake Rice is not just an indictment of the innovation-starved Fayose administration, but of every Ekiti son who has had the opportunity of being called Ekiti State governor. I understand perfectly if military administrators and the Olurin emergency misnomer didn’t achieve any lasting thing. What I cannot fathom is why sons of the soil pay/paid lip service to so-called regenerative projects, which, of course, turned out to be avenues to enrich themselves. Some of these characters need to look in the mirror and honestly ask themselves what their bank account(s) looked like before they became governor and what it looks like now. No, we don’t need their answers in public, for that will push them to lie again.

    While I’d agree that Ekiti is just developing, which means that certain infrastructures need to be put in place to make life easier for the people and attract investors, the truth is that no state can thrive without a sustainable source of income besides the Abuja monthly handouts. One should also ask if any of these ex-governors and the present one were/is sincerely thinking about infrastructures when they committed huge Ekiti funds to their so-called projects. It is no strange fact that Nigerian politicians embark on huge no-benefit-to-the-people projects to ‘enhance’ their pockets and steal enough for the next election, as it is always two things for most of them: to become rich  overnight, and to prepare and politick for the next election in actions and thoughts at the expense of governance and the poor masses.

    Ekiti is no doubt blessed with intelligent men. What is, however, lacking is that while the Ekiti man may boast that he says it as it is, he is pathologically incapable of the truth. Present-day Ekiti is one place the truth offends both the old and the young when such truth does not align with their interest(s), alliance(s) and loyalties. They’d blow hot and cold with big-for-nothing grammar, which are to further confuse the unsuspecting, but when critically probed, means nothing other than what it actually is – confusion.

    Growing up in Ekiti and being close to some of these politicians taught me to easily spot insincerity in them, including those who will shout on rooftops to convince people that they’re not politicians. This lack of truth and the fear of being tagged ‘betrayer’ have kept the state down for years and will continue to keep it down. What loyalty abuses someone behind his back and genuflects in his presence? What loyalty expresses reservations at the back and commendations in public?

    This attitude is why many of the former governors failed to secure re-election. While there are many followers, there were and always are few believers. Some of these so-called leaders ‘can’t’ hear the truth. Every truth is an act of betrayal, so is every dissension. Many of their so-called followers have zombied up.

    Of all who have been governor in Ekiti, Segun Oni accommodates the truth the most. Fayose is the worst, a prophet of doom in his own class, imprisoned by his own truth and driven solely by the spirit of Beelzebub.

    Niyi Adebayo may readily be discountenanced by some as a party-loving governor during his time, but in the areas of regenerative projects, he remains the best till today. Those properties he acquired for Ekiti in Lagos and Abuja continue to rake in money. He may not have built a N1.6 billion pavilion which roof is blown off, while many of its rooms remain unpainted; he may not have completed an Oba Adejugbe General Hospital that remains till date uncompleted, but was however commissioned. Adebayo, however, has a record of creating sustainable sources of income for Ekiti.

    Kayode Fayemi is the most urbane of them all, but he also has nothing that generates money for Ekiti to his name. Some may mention Ikogosi and the Pavilion. Well, I ask them to visit both. And then: at what cost? Fayemi took a N25 billion bond and it saddens me that no one, at least publicly, and out of pathological insincerity as mentioned above, is asking what the money was used for. Oh! I have heard those explanations and I need not be burdened with them anymore. Is the pavilion in Ekiti worth N1.6 billion, in spite of its un-completion? Was N1.6 billion actually spent to refurbish Ikogosi Warm Spring? How could N25 billion have been injected into the economy of Ekiti State and not only did it not reflect in the economy by trickling down to the people, there’s hardly anything on ground to point to as the regenerative dividends therefrom?

    What is the level of work on the uncompleted and abandoned civic centre at Fajuyi? How much of the 25 billion Naira was injected into it? Why was Oba Adejugbe General Hospital hurriedly commissioned when it remains uncompleted till date? What is happening at the over-hyped Ire Bricks Factory? Has it started churning out burnt bricks? If it has, Ekiti people are yet to start seeing those ‘bricks’. Sincerely done, the factory would have been a money-spinner.

    Many have argued that four years are not enough. Well, Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode, in less than two years, realised his dream of Lake Rice. So, is it that Ekiti is cursed with grammar-spitting pseudo-intelligent insincere characters? Is it that we are unlucky?

    Whenever we criticise Fayose, and rightly so, for all his childish inanities, let us remember that others were governor here too. What regenerative projects did they embark on with our commonwealth? We must not absolve them of this blame. It is a collective failure of all of them who have been governor in Ekiti State: Niyi Adebayo, Ayo Fayose, Segun Oni and Kayode Fayemi.

    It is a collective shame that none of these poeple ever thought of turning our Igbemo rice into something like the Lake Rice. Igbemo rice has a good quality that I’m yet to savour in any other locally produced rice. Why must our people continue to battle pebbles in it? Why must we continue to deal with the husks in our plate? Although Nigeria has so much on its plate right now, had our Igbemo rice been sincerely and properly attended to, Ekiti’s plate would not have been piled this high.

    2018 beckons! Many are already gearing up to contest the governorship seat. Some of them once had a bite. Ekiti State is still battling with the tetanus from some of those bites. What Ekiti wants at this time is not the typical civil service-minded Ekiti person or those who only became rich via politics, but someone who is business-minded and can turn N10 into N20.  In other words, Ekiti needs a leader that will not mouth development, but will institute sincere and people-centred development, which successive administrations can build on.

     

    • Ojo wrote in from Ado-Ekiti
  • ‘Ekiti deserves good governance’

    ‘Ekiti deserves good governance’

    Ekiti State is said to be one of the poorest in the country. But, an All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant, Mr. Adekunle Esan, says, with the right leadership, the state has no business owing workers’ salaries. LUCAS AJANAKU met him in Lagos.

    Are you satisfied with the way Ekiti is being governed?
    No, I am not. If I was, I would not be running for governorship position of the state. The top government functionaries of Ekiti State are not doing the right thing. There is rampant manifestation of gross mismanagement, greed, corruption, ineptitude, lack of direction, misappropriation and zero evidence of tangible people-oriented development in the state. The current administrations keep embarking on white elephant projects such as the proposed Ekiti State airport; the uncoordinated claim of dualisation of some roads that has no direct impact on the welfare of the common people and others. These are nothing but avenues to syphon the commonwealth of the state. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government  is a good example of government by deceit. The judiciary has been rendered ineffective. The law enforcement agencies have not been allowed to perform their statutory functions effectively due to the overbearing attitudes of the chief executive who carry himself around like an emperor. He is a serial manipulator. He is the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary.
    How could the state have been better governed?
    Ekiti State is known as Fountain of Knowledge, not only by academic standards but by moral standards by the good people of Ekiti. What we lack presently is leadership with a vision to harness the human and material resources within the state towards meaning development. We lack industries yet we are blessed with natural resources such as clay at Oye, laterite and columbite at Ijero, aluminum and bauxite in Ido/Osi. The government has failed to attract foreign investors to the state because it has not created an investment-friendly environment. The government has not strengthened the judiciary and made law enforcement and security a top priority of the administration. Justice should be delivered, and be seen to be delivered, fairly and quickly without fear or favour. There is no zero tolerance for corruption. All these will change when my administration takes over. We will priotise industrialisation and incentivize investors to set up factories in the state. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the engine room of modern economies. Cottage industries will be encouraged to create jobs and grow the economy. These companies will be expected to give back generously to the community in programmes and projects that will enhance the living standards of our people.
    We will priotise and solve the immediate challenges facing our people which include food security, regular and uninterrupted payment of salaries, assistance to the aged in reducing the burden of educating their wards from primary through secondary school  levels by removing the current burden of fees imposed by the present regime.
    Is Ekiti State the poorest in the country?
    On the face value and considering current economic indices, the answer is yes! However when we consider that Ekiti has one of the highest rates of literacy in the country and it is blessed with resources; we have to say Ekiti is not the poorest state in Nigeria. Our problem is lack of appropriate development blue prints and the lack of a result-oriented leadership with the political will to execute them.
    How can the state improve its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)?
    The IGR is determined by total generated revenue from taxes and dividends from state investments. The state has to be run like a big business organisation to avoid over dependency on the Federal Government. We shall seriously source for investors at home and abroad and secure partnerships with viable private sector organisations to generate market based-income for the state. There also has to be more people and businesses working in the private and public sectors of Ekiti. For income tax revenue to increase, there has to be sufficient incentives for workers, common initiative groups, and companies to locate or relocate in the state. One of such incentives will come from my proposed Ekiti Clean Energy generation programme that will be a signature program of my administration. We should be able to solve the problem of electricity supply in Ekiti once and for all within my first tenure in office. The IGR will also increase when more people are put to paid jobs. This will be the resurgence of the middle class which is the engine of every dynamic economy. Better wages means increased income for the state. The middle class has disappeared over the years through successive failures of present and past administration to build the middle class.
    There appears to be cracks in the All Progressives Congress (APC). How is the party going to rally ahead of the next election?
    I don’t agree with you because every dynamic organisation like our great party APC must have disagreement and challenges from time to time. What we need today is capable and forward looking leadership to transform such problems into stepping stones. I think I will be a peace maker and based on my neutrality. I hope to be a credible unifying force within our party in Ekiti State.
    Did you see what happened in Ondo being replicated in Ekiti?
    I don’t want to speculate on problems. Ekiti State is a unique state with different political realities. Lets get to the bridge before we cross it.
    What are your political aspirations for 2018?
    I want to ask the people of Ekit to give me a chance to serve them as their next governor. Please note, I did not draw myself into the ring for personal political gains, but for the difference i hope to bring to the table. I will honestly be vying for the position of governor in Ekiti through the force of positive ideas and not the argument of force.

  • ‘I’m in Ekiti to fight crime’

    ‘I’m in Ekiti to fight crime’

    Ekiti State Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Chafe has said he was not in the state to destabilise the Ayo Fayose administration.
    Addressing his maiden briefing at the command headquarters in Ado Ekiti yesterday, Chafe, who was transferred from Kogi State, said he was in his new duty post to fight crime and make the state safe.
    He said: “I am not under any instruction to come here to fight anybody. Even when I was transferred, I did not even know that Ekiti election is coming soon.
    “I value my profession and personality above any other thing. Even if you check all the elections conducted recently, President Muhammadu Buhari did not interfere. So, I am here to perform my statutory duties.
    “I am a Nigerian and wherever I go to, I see myself as part of that community and I can’t come here to cause trouble. I have worked in all the six geopolitical zones and I have good records.”

  • Afuye unveils four-point agenda for Ekiti

    Afuye unveils four-point agenda for Ekiti

    An Ekiti State governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Funminiyi Afuye, has unveiled a four-point agenda to restore good governance and put the state on the path of development.
    Speaking in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Afuye promised to anchor his administration on a four-point agenda of rural development, education, infrastructure and youth for enterprise development, in line with the welfarist manifesto of his party, if he is given a chance to rule the Fountain of Knowledge in 2018.
    The APC chieftain said he was motivated to join the governorship race because “Ekiti is in the doldrums and needs urgent rescue to restore it on the path of good governance and quality leadership”.
    The politician was a core member of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, before he sought without success to represent Ikere Constituency 1 in the Ekiti State House of Assembly in the 2003 general elections on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He however won the assembly seat in the 2007, when he contested on the platform of the Action Congress (AC).
    Afuye has garnered a considerable experience as a politician. He had the privilege of serving as the AC Leader and later as the Majority Leader of the House. He also had the privilege of serving as the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary during which he used his experience as a lawyer to initiate policies that gave the people of Ekiti access to justice.
    The Ikere-Ekiti born politician, who also served as Commissioner for Information and later Commissioner for Integration and Intergovernmental Affairs, said his experience in both the legislative and executive arms had prepared him for the task of governing the state.
    According to him, he had always been in the progressive bloc and that he has the requisite experience to handle the top job; having served in the public sector as a teacher and in the private sector as a banker and later as a legal practitioner.
    Afuye said he would empower the people to create wealth, if given a chance, adding that his policy focus would have a multiplier effect on the economy of the state and help reduce poverty.
    His words: “The party has resources to create wealth for our people; all we need to do is the political will to harness all these resources for the good of our people and to depend less on the allocations from the Federation Account.
    “A good example is agriculture. Ekiti has a vast arable land, but unfortunately our farm settlements are underutilised. We hope to collaborate with the private sector to bring the farm settlements back to live, by giving credit facilities to farmers and encourage the youths to participate in agriculture.
    “The youths will also be the focal point in our empowerment programme, as they will be assisted with credit facilities and technical support to own their businesses and breathe life into local economy.
    “We also hope to carry out a comprehensive rural development programme through the provision of potable water, electricity and by construction of roads to farmsteads, to assist farmers get their produce to the urban centres.
    “Education is the major industry in Ekiti. We hope to invest in teachers, instructional materials and infrastructure to make learning more conducive and attract more pupils to public schools.”
    He called on the leadership of the APC to conduct a credible, transparent, free and fair primary, to provide a level-playing field for all aspirants jostling for the party’s governorship ticket.
    The aspirant was confident that the acrimony that dogged the APC primary in Ondo State would not repeat itself in Ekiti, because the party has laid down internal conflict resolution mechanisms to resolve differences that might arise from such an exercise.
    Afuye described the clamour for the zoning of the governorship ticket to Ekiti South Senatorial District as a “genuine and legitimate agitation”, but noted that whoever emerges as winner would rule the entire state and not one section.
    He said the people of Ekiti South had supported other zones to produce governor in the past and that there is nothing wrong if the gesture is reciprocated in favour of the zone this time around.
    He said the increasing number of governorship aspirants on the APC platform would not divide the party, “provided Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) conducts the primary in a free, fair and square manner and employ existing the mechanism to resolve any crisis that might arise.
    Noting that the people of Ekiti South rallied support for the North in 2007, Afuye said the time had come for the two other zones to support the South.
    He said: “Though I agree that whoever emerges will be governor of all Ekiti people, but that agitation then led to the emergence of Dr. Kayode Fayemi from the then Action Congress of Nigeria and Segun Oni in the PDP. The two of them were from the North; so what the South is requesting for is not out of place.”

  • Rainstoarms wreak havoc in Ekiti

    Many towns in Ekiti are in darkness, with scores of houses damaged by rainstorm at the weekend, following a downpour in various parts of the state.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that many roofs were blown off while electric poles, trees as well as billboards were swept away.

    NAN reports that the affected towns and villages, included Ado-Ekiti, Ifaki, Ido, Osi, Ora and Orin as well as several parts of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area.

    In Ado-Ekiti, over 25 houses had their roofs blown off at Ile-Ileri quarters, on Afao-Ekiti Road.

    Some of the victims appealed to the emergency management agencies to come to their aid.

     

  • Police kill suspected armed robber in Ekiti

    Police kill suspected armed robber in Ekiti

    The men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Ekiti State Police Command have killed a suspected armed robber during a gun duel along Ikere-Ise RoadThe Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Alberto Adeyemi, in a statement on Saturday explained that SARS operatives intercepted the seven-man gang at about 10.00 pm and engaged them in a gun battle.
    Adeyemi said one of the robbers named Barnabas was killed in the crossfire while another gang member whose name was given as Jelili Wale sustained bullet wounds.Wale is presently receiving treatment while the SARS team recovered two (2) cut-to-size guns, cartridges and motorcycles from the suspects.
    The police spokesperson disclosed that the police is on the trail of other suspects that escaped with bullet wounds urging members of the public to always volunteer information that could lead to the arrests of criminals among them.

    Meanwhile, members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria in the Southwest have declared war on cross-border terrorism and other crimes in the geopolitical zone.

    Rising from a meeting in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, yesterday, the security outfit said proactive measures would be adopted to make the zone free of armed robbery, kidnapping, ritual killing and other violent crimes.
    Ondo State Commandant of VGN, Gideon Akinwumi, expressed dismay at the increasing wave of armed robbery and other crimes in the region expressing the group’s readiness to curb the menace.
    VGN Commandant in Osun State, Fatai Akinola, said VGN in all the six states in the Southwest will form a synergy to combat crime and make the zone a no-go area for criminals and terrorists.
    His Ekiti State counterpart, Bola Aliu, called for cooperation of all state governments in the zone to assist the security agency with patrol vehicles, arms, ammunition and other logistics to tackle crime in the grassroots.

  • Man gets life for rape in Ekiti

    Man gets life for rape in Ekiti

    An Ekiti State High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has sentenced a 35-year-old man, Tope Odeyemi, to life imprisonment for rape.
    Odeyemi, who is married with two children, raped a 27-year-old woman (name withheld) which led to bodily harm on the victim.
    The assault landed the victim in the hospital.
    The prosecution led by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Owoseni Ajayi, told the court that the offence was committed in Iyin-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area on September 4, 2014.
    He urged the court to convict the accused on the strength of the evidence tendered.
    The prosecution called five witnesses and the defence counsel, Taiwo Adeloye, called two witnesses.
    Odeyemi claimed the victim was his girlfriend. He alleged she lied against him because he refused to buy her a Blackberry.
    Adeloye urged the court to discountenance the prosecution’s evidence, describing them as “feeble and porous.”
    Justice Lekan Ogunmoye said: “I have carefully considered the evidence of the witnesses and found the evidence of the prosecution credible and reliable.”
    Justice Ogunmoye hereby sentenced the accused person to life imprisonment.
    Odeyemi betrayed emotion after his conviction and waved emotionally to his wife and kids who were present in court as he was led to the prison vehicle.

  • On Ekiti South governorship agenda

    The Ekiti governorship election comes up in 2018. There is a lot of agitation from the South Senatorial District that it is now their turn to produce the next governor. This reminds me of similar agitation in 2014. While crossing from PDP to APC then, following Fayose’s bullish emergence as PDP candidate for the 2014 election, I wrote as follows:

    There was the clamour for a Southern Senatorial candidacy which I fully endorsed. To recall, following Fayose’s impeachment in 2006, there was a Pan-Ekiti conference in D’Rovans Hotel in Ibadan. The conference was co-chaired by the late Professor Aluko and the Chief Afe Babalola SAN. Professor Akin Oyebode and I were the Rapporteurs at the conference.

    One of the decisions reached at the conference was that the governorship candidate of all political parties should come from the North Senatorial District while the Deputy Governorship slot should come specifically from Ado Local Government Area. For balance, it was agreed that the Speaker of the House of Assembly would then come from the South. After the North might have exhausted its tenure, the governorship was to move to the South Senatorial District after which zoning as an idea would be jettisoned. It was for this reason that the PDP and the AC candidates both came from the North Senatorial District (Engr. Segun Oni and Dr. Kayode Fayemi) while the two Deputy Governorship candidates came from Ado-Ekiti, Dr. Sikiru Tae Lawal and Late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka.

    The agitation has now been renewed more virulently. I share some understanding with the Ekiti South Senatorial District on their agitation for the governorship slot. I supported the campaign in 2014 as indicated above based on the D’Rovans 2006 agreement. However, the feeling and sentiment is not the same today as it was then in 2014 for reasons I shall now proceed to state as clearly as I can.

    In the context of the two dominant parties in Ekiti, only PDP had the moral burden of a shift to the South in 2014. APC was on first term and could legitimately claim and indeed claimed the right to second term. Most progressives within the PDP enthusiastically endorsed South Senatorial candidacy. However, given the Jonathan-Fayose abracadabra then and the hurried endorsement of that rigged Fayose outcome by the erstwhile candidates from the South, the South lost that claim and the moral argument. Many of us proclaimed then that we have seen the end of zoning of the top post in Ekiti. Indeed, considering that a South Senatorial person took up the deputy slot and many South Senatorial people actively collaborated and supported the stabilization and subsequent emergence of the Fayose governorship, there is no longer any fundamental basis for continuing with this claim. I sincerely believe that privilege is forfeited. But PDP is free to decide its preferences.

    As for APC, zoning is not recognized in the party constitution. The general position even at the national level is to throw the No.1 positions – President and Governors – open to all, while positions below them are then zoned to ensure balance in representation and governance. Competence is not held subordinate to any parochial or primordial considerations.

    Interestingly, in all parties, aspirants for the top offices have always emerged from all areas without much consideration for zoning. In effect, what is emerging and becoming very clear is that zoning is more of a strategic tool for making a choice within and by the respective parties and not an imposition on all that requires uncritical acquiescence. In truth, the more advanced we become on the human evolution order, the less we will place emphasis on narrow parochial consideration. More emphasis will be on the broad interest and competence as is the case with the USA if we discount the Trumpian error that has just occurred.

    The case for Ekiti is even more unique. We are a homogeneous people. Homogeneity is a very important virtue that binds Ekiti people together. It is our unique characteristics and heritage. It should help us move in the direction of broad common interest away from the narrower sectional interest. Even within the South-west, we do not have the kind of ethnic cleavages prevalent in some states. Ekiti does not have the Ondo/Owo/Akoko type cleavage; nothing like Ibadan/Oyo/Ogbomosho relational nuances; no Egba/Ijebu dichotomy, and so on. This unique attribute of ours must always be allowed to supersede senatorial interest and not be watered down. Ekiti does not need any form of fragmentation into narrow interest that can undermine or erode the benefits of our homogeneity.

    As alluded to earlier, there have always been governorship aspirants from the South Senatorial District, from all parties, in all elections. This should continue to be so being in the greater interest of Ekiti as a homogeneous entity that places a lot of premium on competence and intellect.

    There is a small observation to be made though. No former governor has had the privilege of second term in Ekiti State. May be that jinx is designed by God to be broken by a governor from Ekiti South Senatorial District when one eventually emerges! Several black folks ran for President of the United States in the past but Barack Obama was the one destined by God to be the first and he successfully served eight years! That jinx breaker from the South Senatorial District will eventually emerge. But we should note that it is God that elevates (wo)men to positions. No matter the opposition, if God says yes, so shall it be. In the same vein, no matter the support, if God says no, so shall it be also!

    For me personally, there is another very important reason I am supporting the return of Engr. Segun Oni as Ekiti State governor apart from his very outstanding performance and personal integrity in governance first time around. The reason would likely appear to many as sentimental, but it contains some cold reality. We could wait till judgment day when the truth can finally be revealed. But as human beings, we have been sufficiently endowed to be capable of rational decisions.

    There was an unfortunate self-inflicted crisis and a consequent split within the ranks of the elites in Ekiti State. The period of April 2007 to February 2014 was very agonizing and heartbreaking for the elites and progressives in Ekiti State. When Oni switched camp and declared for APC in 2014 following the emergence of Fayose as the PDP flag bearer, a major burden was lifted off the head of the progressives and the elites. Much of the elites were visibly relieved. Oni’s total and very active support for Fayemi’s re-election bid wiped out the doubt in some quarters that Oni might be insincere. Ever since, Oni and Fayemi with the active embracement of the Omoluabi par excellence of Ekiti, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, have been collaborating with each other to collectively stabilize the party in Ekiti and rescue the state from the impetuous, highly value corrosive governance of Fayose. Indeed, Ekiti people deserve good governance.

    Now in the eyes of the law, as a direct consequence of the self-inflicted injury of the elites, Oni’s claim to governorship is technically invalid before the law. Of course he served as a governor and his achievements during his tenure are tangible and there for all to see. However, no thanks to Salami, that tenure within the legal circle is said to be ultra vires. If that remains the status quo, there may never be real closure to that dark period in Ekiti history. Yet we need to bring closure, one that finally puts to rest the fratricidal feud among the progressives and elites in the state; one that also rekindle the trust the progressives and the elites have in each other. Segun Oni deserves to have his legitimacy restored in the interest of all. This is one more reason why the South Senatorial District needs to show understanding and just present their candidates without the pressure of group advocacy for a south senatorial governorship.

    All told and irrespective of how things play out, we all need to eschew violence, threats and coercion as we position ourselves for the 2018 race. Ekiti politics and politicians can set the pace in constructive, rational, intellectual political engagement devoid of violence and intimidation. Above all, we must give our people a chance to make their rational, free decision as to who can and should govern them. The ascendancy of Fayose to the governorship in Ekiti was fraught with so much deceit, brigandage and a host of anti-democratic conducts. This should not be allowed to continue in Ekiti. We really need a reset.

     

    • Otunba Oguntuase writes from Lagos.