LESSONS FROM THE EKITI CONNUNDRUM

I remember clearly the statement from the advert jingle of Patito’s Gang, the television program hosted by Professor Pat Utomi, with one of the participants saying ‘no matter how you want to look at it, a people deserve the leaders they get…’ The first time I heard that statement in a jiffy, I contested the veracity of such a claim silently in my mind. I ruminated over it briefly and I discarded it as some rhetoric from another over-zealous Nigerian. It couldn’t be true, I reasoned. What if a leader forces himself on the people like we have had in Nigeria through successive coup-de-tats? What if elections are rigged? What if this? What if that? These questions played on my mind as I persuaded myself that the statement was unrealistic, and therefore untrue.

Over time, I discovered the statement I heard in passing never left my mind. I meditated over it day and night. In the office, bus, church, and even in bed. Upon intense reflection and careful thinking, it dawned on me that the statement was true after all. It was an indictment on us all. The state of our nation was a collective problem and all of us were to blame. How would a leader force himself on a people, if some of the same people did not assist him and the rest of the people allow him either through a self-delusive acceptance of fate or negligence towards public affairs.

How would a group of soldiers seize power without consultation and funding by some civilians? Was it not possible to create an environment where coup-de-tats would be impossible? In his track Teacher don’t teach me nonsense, the legendary Afro-beat icon Fela Anikulapo Kuti sang ‘…. oyibo dem no tell army sef, that for England army no fit take over’. How come in the U.S and England, coups never occurred? Then I concluded, truly, our government was actually a true reflection of us Nigerians. We had to stop blaming the government; no one was born government, every individual in power today emanated from this system. Until the people look inwards and correct the flaws inherent in them, bad leadership would remain a constant in our national life.

In the last eight years, we have witnessed the extent of our depravity as a people. We have seen a Speaker of the House of Assembly indicted for falsification of certificates; three senate presidents indicted for offences ranging from falsification of certificates, to election malpractices, and financial corruption; Federal Ministers indicted for misappropriation of public funds; An Inspector General of Police indicted for diversion of public funds. We have seen the president and his vice trade accusations of financial misconduct with one another. Governors have been caught and disgraced from office on account of financial crimes. The nation’s entire political class is replete with cases of corruption and dirt.

A most recent and equally most intriguing moral challenge is that of former Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State. The Ekiti conundrum poses several cogent questions to us all.

How did Fayose become governor via a democratic structure? How come nobody knew much of his character before he contested and won the elections? Who was he before he became governor? After he became governor, several allegations were raised against him questioning his certificates and business pedigree, were these allegations, raised by his own younger sister, properly and objectively investigated?

Ekiti state boasts of the highest number of professors, academicians and outstanding scholarly indigenes in several fields of endeavor in Nigeria. How come out of this land so rich in human capital, came such an aggressive man to be their governor? Why didn’t all these outstanding men contest against Fayose? Did they contest but lost? How is our political machinery built in this nation? Is it built to allow people with questionable characters win elections? These are the questions we must ask ourselves in the light of this embarrassing situation in Ekiti state.

When Ayo Fayose began his gubernatorial campaigns in Ekiti State, I was in my final year in Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti. I saw this man spend money with such abandon one could not help but wonder where and how he suddenly came to be. For at least a year before the elections, Fayose began his campaigns in a very costly manner. He distributed water to all villages and towns in Ekiti State. He would buy water from the state government and distribute to these places. He also distributed Kerosene to all villages. He operated mobile clinics that ran through the entire state providing health facilities. These are the much I can remember. He provided all these at his own cost. His name spread across Ekiti State like wildfire. Now and then he would make appearances in the Polytechnic and the University of Ado-Ekiti. The Ekitis, unhappy with Governor Adebayo’s lacklustre government, rejoiced at the coming of a savior.

While they rejoiced, they (unconsciously?) ignored several imposing questions. Who was this man? Where was he before now? Where and how did he acquire so much money that he could afford to spend this way? Could a person make money legally through hard work and still embark on a spending spree in this manner? What if he lost, what would become of him after all the money he had spent? Fine, he would bear his losses, after all nobody forced him to spend that much. But, what if he won and became governor, would he not recoup his money? He definitely would. Then how? How much would he earn as governor? Would his salary, and all allowances he would receive as governor cover the cost of his expensive campaigns? Definitely not. So how was he to break even, not to talk of saving some money for himself after his term was over? He would have to make money from some other means. What other means? As a governor, he was constitutionally unable to do business, so what other means was he to use to break even and save some more money to fall back upon when his tenure was over?

A thorough and sincere analysis of these posers will reveal that immediately the Ekiti people endorsed Fayose by voting him in as their governor, they had inadvertently signed in corruption as their way of governance. There was no other way to it. Other questions the Ekiti people failed to ask themselves include: Did Fayose do all he did during his campaigns because he had sincere love for his people or because of his ambition of becoming governor? If he did because he had a sincere love for his people, why did he wait until he was going to contest for governorship? Was it until then that Ekiti people started having the water, kerosene or health challenge? If indeed he intended solving their water problems, why didn’t he simply sink bore holes in the villages as a permanent solution to their problem rather than buying water in tankers and distributing on daily or weekly basis? I’m sure the borehole option would have been more cost effective and long lasting than the latter option. Instead of providing mobile clinics, why didn’t he simply construct new hospitals and equip them properly, or better still provide more and better equipment for the already existing ghost of hospitals in the villages if he had so much money to spend and love for his people?

Another angle to the Ekiti moral challenge is this: Femi Falana contested the same election that brought Fayose into power. While Fayose posted a sudden appearance on the political scene, parading himself like a colossus, with a relatively unknown and shady past, no known political history, ideology or role in the emergence of democracy, Femi Falana had become a household name in the nation owing to his persistent fight against human rights abuse and military rule in the nation. At the risk of his life, he had taken a forefront position in the fight that berthed the nation’s democracy. He was a successful lawyer of many years standing and all knew his academic and career history. Now, I am not from Ekiti state and I bear no allegiances to either Fayose or Falana, but if you ask me, I think an electorate with more respect for morals and character than impromptu financial gains, would elect a Falana ahead of a Fayose bearing in mind all the factors outlined above.

Asides Falana, where were all other brilliant and credible men from Ekiti State? Where were the Kayode Fayemis, the Dare Babarinsas who are just showing up in politics? Well, we thank God at least some are here now. Once beaten, twice shy they say, now it is up to the Ekiti people and indeed all other Nigerians to weigh their options and ask themselves sincere questions before casting their votes in the forthcoming elections.

As Nigerians, we cannot extricate ourselves from the kind of leadership we get in our states, and even at the Federal level. It is a collective responsibility and we will all share either the gains or the blames alike. It is imperative at this point, that people with integrity who have erstwhile abstained from politics should get involved. Together we can wrest the leadership of our nation from the hands of looters and plunderers into the hands of sincere individuals who are willing to serve in all honesty. I can never forget the words of Plato ‘The price wise men pay for their negligence towards public affairs is to allow fools rule over them.’ It is also written in the Bible, ‘When the righteous rule, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.’ I am sure the Quran has an equivalent version of this scripture.

Where are the Christians in this nation, the Bible says we are the light of the world, but where is our light? The entire nation is engulfed in pitch darkness, with corruption everywhere and assassinations being the order of the day. Where are the Moslems in this nation, fight for the rebirth of your country with the passion of jihad. Let righteous men emerge in the face of the nation’s politics. This is our country, we cannot have any other. There is no place we can run to, we own this country together and shoulder to shoulder we must fight to enthrone justice, honesty and good leadership. Until we begin to see an infestation of righteous men in our politics, Nigeria will never know good leadership and our destiny as a nation will never be fulfilled.