Between Fayemi’s civil conduct and Fayose’s strict credibility

At last, that year of the sphinx, 2014, has rolled away, leaving all its survivours with bated breath! Not a few Nigerians wished that such a year should not have come up at all, though they could not foresee a better alternative in the succeeding year 2015, when the general election would hold -a year for which more gloom than boom has been widely predicted, but which cannot be skipped all the same. Those who wished 2014 away therefore should look beyond 2015 for succour, be it for political or economic bail out.
While at the national level, the year 2014 gave Nigerians more than they had bargained for, narrowing it down to Ekiti State was even more unpredictable and mysterious, particularly on the political front. It was a year of political flip-flop when a performing incumbent lost his seat for another political maestro with an alleged negative past, thus reportedly returning the people to a dark era of much promise, less execution.

Neither an optimist nor a pessimist saw it coming that a Dr. John Kayode Fayemi, the incumbent and a man of worth, would lose out and a Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose, a smart alec and political gadfly, would win the June 21 election in a state that prides itself as the land of Honour and Pride.

Dr. Fayemi lost the election to Mr. Fayose in all the 16 Local Government areas of the state in a baffling circumstance, the mystery of which has yet to be unravelled. Predictably, the result transformed the state from a lawful to a lawless one. The state suddenly became news worthy for negative happenings and a relatively peaceful state became a one-week-one-trouble one. In his characteristic manner, Dr. Fayemi accepted the outcome as the wish of the people and moved on.

Teasers: While in the saddle, Fayemi was a stickler to all that was civil. He would ensure that due process was followed in appointments, promotions, transfers, procurements, award of contracts, and so on. The rule of law prevails with the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government operating independently, while security matters were taken seriously and budgets were preceded by consultation with the people.

But no sooner had Mr. Fayose emerged a winner than all these began to thin away for dictatorial tendencies. Fayose promised the people of the land of pride and honour stomach infrastructure in the place of physical and developmental projects. He promised to line their belly with rice and chicken, even at the expense of giving them a befitting edifice. Day in day out, he rakes off whatever relevance Dr. Fayemi had laid in the lives of the people.

The year 2014 thus ended in nostalgia of a quality life for the people of Ekiti, asking one another questions more than they, or anyone else, could provide an answer. But in the words of Pastor Eunuch Adejare of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, who visited the state for a crusade at the end of the year, better days are ahead again for the state. The state nose-dived in 2014; it will bottom up in 2015. Hopefully