This piece is in response to Olu Akeredolu's article on Saharareporters.com titled “Kayode Fayemi Can Never Be Awolowo of Our Time”, which makes for an interesting read. It’s an interesting piece not because of his capacity to task the intellectual acumen of his readers but the pedestrian disposition with which he tried to marshal his criticisms of John Kayode Fayemi, the governor of Ekiti State. The author was all over the place with criticisms that are devoid of facts and empirical evidence.
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If anything, Mr. Akeredolu has succeeded in exposing---to discerning readers---the hollowness of his mental faculty as an educated elite and a lawyer to boot. It became clear from the first few sentences that what the author has was not any genuine concern for what he may have perceived to be the direction in which Ekiti State is headed.
What he has, from all indications, is a storage tank of venom which must be unleashed against Governor Fayemi, his intended target. The piece was the vacuous logic of an unintelligent mind, as it will be pointed out later in this piece. But Mr. Akeredolu can most certainly be excused. After all, in an election period in Ekiti State, just as anywhere in the world, many characters must of necessity come out of the woodwork to throw all kinds of missiles at politicians seeking elective offices. If there’s anyone among the contestants believed to be the one to beat, the amount of missiles hauled in the direction of that front-runner becomes even greater. Dr. Kayode Fayemi cannot be an exception to this universal rule of competition, most especially in light of his unprecedented accomplishments in the history of Ekiti State. From the mundane to the ridiculous, some people would look for ways to cast aspersions on the character and integrity of the one to beat, hoping that that would negate his chances of winning. Olu Akererolu vacillated between these two polarities in his piece.
It’s probably safe to say, if one is to glean from this article that Mr. Akeredolu may have been waiting for a long time to swing at Governor Fayemi with the hope of wrecking his own havoc going into the election. Since he has been waiting for so long for some smoking gun to expose either some defects in the governor’s personal character or his quality of governance to the people of Ekiti State to no avail, and time is running out as the election day is fast approaching, he has to attack with something---anything---just to go on record. But he ended up exposing himself as a simpleton who is incapable of differentiating between a metaphorical statement and actuality. He shows a pedestrian thought process.
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Olu Akeredolu premised the entire article on his disagreement that Governor Kayode Fayemi can never be Awolowo of our time, which incidentally was also the title of his article. He’s either pathetically ignorant of the metaphorical import of a statement credited to the paramount ruler of Ado-Ekiti or he was being deliberately mischievous and disingenuous. Either way, he has succeeded in making nonsense of his analytical ability.
In a visit to the palace of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe by Governor Fayemi as part of his campaign stomps around the city in his bid for re-election, Oba Adejugbe had described the first four years of Governor Kayode Fayemi as “remarkable, unprecedented and unforgettable in the history of the city and the entire state.” Oba Adejugbe said “Fayemi is the Awolowo of our time.” The traditional ruler was reported to have likened Governor Fayemi’s strides in Ekiti to those witnessed during the premiership of the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the old Western Region. Unable to hide his excitement that the stars had conspired together to thrust Kayode Fayemi into the political space of Ekiti State and made him---through the legitimate votes of the people---the paramount ruler reportedly said that “Fayemi’s administration’s urban renewal which has changed the face of Ado-Ekiti and turned it into a worthy state capital” can only mean that “Awolowo has resurrected in Ekiti.” These are some of what the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti said about Governor Fayemi and his administration.
Olu Akeredolu’s vehement disagreement that this could not be so, is tantamount to someone hitting his head against the wall, even in the face of strong evidence on the ground that even the blind could see. The author may soon seriously and permanently injure himself if he continues on this self-destructive path. Yes, there can never be another Awolowo, just as there can never be another Olu Akeredolu. Neither can there ever be another John Kayode Fayemi. But there can be another Olu Akeredolu in a Boluwaji Adelegan decades or a century from now, assuming Mr. Akeredolu exhibited such uncommon deeds and greatness in his lifetime, in which the people has some collective nostalgic feeling, are now being brought into physical manifestation by one young Boluwaji Adelegan from nowhere. This is the context within which Oba Rufus Adejugbe and the teeming population of Ekiti indigenes sees John Kayode Fayemi. Like Awolowo, Fayemi is an intellectual with the seriousness of purpose. Like Awolowo, Fayemi has a futuristic approach to governance. These are some of the attributes that defines greatness. These are also the attributes, now manifesting in physical form in his deeds with Dr. Kayode Fayemi as a public figure that Oba Adejugbe was making allusion to. The author did not do justice to Ewi’s statement. Rather, he willfully and deliberately bastardized the statement made by the traditional ruler, his vacuous “Iku Baba Yeye….” panegyric repetition in deference to Oba Adejugbe notwithstanding.
The facts on ground as to the accomplishments of Governor Fayemi for the people of Ekiti state are enough to speak for the governor and the Ewi himself knows this. Oba Adejugbe is not one to suffer fools gladly. He belongs in the class of those revered but rapidly shrinking breed of traditional rulers who will not hesitate to speak truth to power. He would not have likened Kayode Fayemi to Chief Obafemi Awolowo if he was not convinced of the governor’s unprecedented accomplishments. Olu Akeredolu will recall that it’s this inherent trait of speaking truth to power in the Ewi that invited the ire of then Governor Ayo Fayose when the former expressed his concern about the drifting ship of state during the latter’s administration. Fayose is the same man that the author would like to see in the saddle of governance in Ekiti State, once again since he’s now a major contestant for the governorship seat.
Oba Adejugbe’s admission that “Fayemi’s administration’s urban renewal which has changed the face of Ado-Ekiti and turned it into a worthy state capital” just as Awolowo turned Ibadan into a worthy regional capital of the West in his days is hardly anything remarkable to the author. Mr. Akeredolu did not see anything worthy of note in the Governor Fayemi’s agricultural policy that now turns young graduates in various academic disciplines, even in medicine, to farming as their occupation of choice. The governor’s ingenious leadership quality that transformed Ikogosi Warm Spring, which was comatose for 21 years into a veritable international tourist resort, job creating edifice and a revenue earner means nothing to Olu Akeredolu. Fayemi’s inherent intellectual endowment in visualizing a future Ekiti state by running a ring around the capital city with Fibre Optic cable, a necessary infrastructure that can almost single handedly determine which state or nation can seriously participate in the global economy is of no value to the likes of Olu Akeredolu. One can go on ad infinitum with the governor’s accomplishments.
The author’s other gripe with Governor Fayemi is that while “Chief Awolowo only used 14 ministers who were at the same time members of western region’s house of assembly to rule his region during his time…Fayemi is ruling Ekiti State presently with 19 Commissioners and 11 Special Advisers.” He also said in the article that “his commissioners and special advisers were even 40 in number before the 2013 cabinet reshuffle.” I feel sorry for anyone who will employ the services of Mr. Akeredolu, who claims to be a lawyer. That person is surely bound to lose his deposit and badly represented. Time sits still and never changes in the author’s worldview. He might as well have told us that the N20 that purchased a bag of Garri in 1980 should still be able to buy the same bag of Garri in 2014. More importantly, Olu Akeredolu have the mindset of someone who, when informed that a company has in its payroll about 1,000 employees, thinks that’s a lot of people under one company without any consideration whatsoever the effectiveness and optimal performance of each and every employees to the set goals and objectives of the company. Such is the pedestrian nature of the author’s argument.
The author’s direct and indirect insinuation that the government of Ekiti state may be interfering in election-related incidents of murder and other high crimes is just another attempt to throw something, again, anything, at Dr. Kayode Fayemi. Just as his other attempts to cast aspersions on the Fayemi administration with arguments so devoid of any rigorous thinking, this is nothing but another of his conjecture. As a lawyer that he claims to be, he ought to know that he who alleges must be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. He has failed to do that in this instance and his piece is therefore a complete failure. Until he can argue based on points and verifiable evidence to support his personal hatred for the man that the people of Ekiti state has described the “Baba Kekere” of their time, Olu Akeredolu should just shut up and concentrate on his day job, whatever that is.
Femi Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at [email protected].
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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