Like a bad dream, supporters of All Progressives Congress (APC) are still trying to understand the tsunami that hit them in the Ekiti governorship election. Governor Kayode Fayemi had been widely acknowledged as having performed very well. His re-election was, therefore, supposed to be taken for granted. But in the June 21 poll, he lost woefully to Ayo Fayose, former governor of the state. Why did this happen? We list five possible reasons.
1. The Adaramodu damage
When Governor Kayode Fayemi came in, one man deserved major part of the credit: a certain Yemi Adaramodu who was the director of communications of the Kayode Fayemi Campaign Organisation. He was later appointed the chief of staff to the governor. However, upon his appointment, Adaramodu became so powerful that many within and outside government circles believed he was the de facto governor. Many other aides of the governor were forced to gravitate towards him. A source said there was a time local government caretaker chairmen were to be appointed and Adaramodu alone picked 12 out of the 16 nominees and they were all approved by the governor.
He succeeded in alienating the governor from so many political interests which would have been useful for him in his quest for a second term in office. He was able to create an alternate power centre within the government which he used to dispense favour in furtherance of his own rumoured governorship ambition in 2018. His house and office were always a Mecca for those looking for one favour or the other from government. There were allegations that a hit squad was being run without Fayemi's knowledge. The squad was accused of being behind the attack on Labour Party members in Emure-Ekiti where one Foluso Ogundare was killed. At this point, Fayemi began to cut him to size. He had been penciled down to head the re-election campaign committee but this was not to be as he was stripped of most of his powers but the damage had already been done.
2. The vice-presidential rumour
One of the issues troubling the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the choice of a presidential candidate and his running mate. The party has often been accused of pushing a Muslim-Muslim ticket, with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the running mate to whoever emerges in the north. It was permutations towards avoiding this scenario that have thrown up the possibility of a southern Christian being running mate. One of the names that regularly features is Fayemi. This was not welcome in the corridors of APC powers, neither did it help Fayemi's re-election bid.
The massive support he would have received from Lagos for his re-election bid diminished and vanished, although he was also said to have failed to "lubricate" the relationship in the last four years. "He failed to understand that somebody spent money, time and energy to make him governor in the first place," an APC stalwart told TheCable two weeks before the election.
3. The anger of teachers/civil servants
Anyone who knows the politics of Ekiti will know that no politician can be in the bad books of teachers and civil servants and expect to win any election in the state. Fayemi got into trouble with them very early in his administration. First was the issue of promotion and payment of the new teachers' salary scale, TSS. Fayemi was said to have told teachers that he would not be able to pay the money owing to paucity of funds in government coffers. That was in 2011. But a month to the election, he announced that he would implement it. In the same vein, the service reclassification exercise, though good on paper, was a political suicide. The exercise saw to demotion of some principals to vice-principals and vice-principals to classroom teachers. In fact, some of those affected could not accept the "humiliation" and as a result put in retirement notice. Primary school teachers refused to take the reclassification examination but they were also aware that should the governor come back, they would be in trouble as they would either be forced to take the test or face the sack. They mobilised massively against the governor on the eve of the election.
4. Lack of political structure
As much as Fayemi recorded laundable achievements as Ekiti State governor, sympathisers of the governor had always worried that his lack of strong and virile political structure was a big minus for him as he sought a second term in office. Apart from party cells across the state, many believed that the governor needed to have a core of political loyalists, "enforcers" and foot soldiers who would always ensure that he is in touch with the ordinary people. These are people who are expected to pop up at people's social events and meetings and liaise with them and "deliver" a message from the governor.
Fayemi did not have this set of people. Many attributed this to his refusal to conduct local government election throughout his tenure ─ a situation that brought about using caretaker chairmen the longest among whom spent only one year in office before being removed. During the election, beyond party structure, there were no strong political figures who could swing things in favour of the governor when the die was cast. Most importantly, Fayemi was undermined by the exit of his friend and political associate, Opeyemi Bamidele, who decided to run against him. This exposed the vulnerability of his government and weakened the structure that Fayemi could have mobilised for re-election.
5. Fayose's popularity
He might have a murder rap still hanging over his head and one or two issues to sort out with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), but the candidate of the PDP and winner of the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, is immensely popular. He is a strong grassroots mobiliser who understands the language of the common people. His position and words resonate with them so much that they see him as part of them. Across the three senatorial zones, Fayose remains a very popular politician whom the electorate was ready to forgive for his past "sins" and give him their mandate. During his campaigns, he was pulling massive crowds anywhere he went. In fact, during the mega rally in Ado-Ekiti when President Goodluck Jonathan came to present the PDP flag to him, his vests were being sold to party members when ordinarily, they should have been distributed free of charge. In contrast, Fayemi, despite being governor for almost four years, still did not have that touch with the common man. They saw him as a "foreigner" and "intellectual" who they knew little about.
Source: Thecable
