Like most politically savvy Nigerians,
the gubernatorial election of the 21st
of June in Ekiti is the least, shocking
even among political pundits and
dramatis personae alike.
Just like any other political and electioneering events in my country, I
had always taken keen interest but the
Ekiti election was beyond that. My
interest in the highly monetized
election was not because of the
shenanigans, schism, mudslinging and the political drama cum comedy abate
a relief anyway, that usually precedes
the always eventful electioneering
process in Nigeria but the fact that I
am a full blooded Ekiti man, this even
makes it more interesting. My treatise is not about the outcome
of the election as it has even been
gleefully accepted by governor Fayemi
himself, but about the preponderances
of the obviously invisible hand of
influence through state coercions. If the outcome of an election is not the
main yardstick for judging how free
and fair it was but, the process that
eventually culminated in the outcome.
If this is a valid axiom, then the Ekiti
election was far from being free and fair.
The elections have come and gone but
the tragedy of the electioneering
travesties are here with us.
The actions and inactions of the
dramatis personae from the Presidency to the incumbent governor, governor-
elect, the average Ekiti Man and
Nigerians alike, the following under
listed infractions are incontrovertible.
1. The full deployment of all
instrumentality of state coercion of over 30,000 military and Para-military
officers to a predominantly agrarian
and civil service state of less than
500,000 registered voters.
2. The adoption and arrest of key
political figures in all the 16 LGAs all across the state at the wee hours of
the Election Day.
3. The arrest of leading members of
the incumbent government and their
subsequent trial for the most ridiculous
yet frivolous reasons of terrorism four days before the election.
With all of these, the question is, is
Ekiti at war? This is nothing but a
storm in a tea cup abate deliberately
anyway for which we are all witnesses
to the outcome. This is for those who are using the Ekiti
election as a veritable barometer to
adjudge the credibility of our
electioneering process, to really have a
rethink. This is without prejudice to
the effort of INEC In all of these, what strike me most, is
the fast fading value system of an
average Ekiti man which this election
has exposed. The re-definition of the
Ekiti slogan from Fountain of
Knowledge to Fountain of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get).
Pronounced as �We See Wig�.
We saw on a live national TV how the
electorates were induced with bags of
rice and cash for votes which is in
sharp contrast of the hitherto cherished and valued principle of the
Ekiti people. How have times changed
indeed. This is also in a state that is
utterly regarded for its exposure of
producing a professor per family. It is
the least shameful. But again, Ekiti is not an island. This is
part of the fast eroding value system
of the larger Nigerian state couple
with the fact that, the larger majority
of over 160 million of our people live
below one dollar a day. It is to say the least, the triumph of
politics of the belly also called Amala
politics in local parlance, over the
politics of selfless service.
It still behooves my reasoning, how a
renowned intelligesia noted to have served his people diligently, with
unsolicited accolades within and
outside the state would have lost an
election with such margin where he
could not even win his ward, it is that
bad. Not even a serial non performer like Alao Akala did. This tells us
something for which the governor has
also said will be left for scholars to find
out.
Forget the rabble rousers and their
fellow political demagogues who are catching on the outcome of the
election to tag the governor as elitist. I
have come to ask, is building of roads,
computer per child, social security
system of N5000 to the aged per
month, free Medicare for children and the aged, elitist?
I agree, like a friend told me, this is
indeed a new dimension in Ekiti
politics and by extension, Nigeria. And
like the outgoing governor whose
response to his loss has been widely commended all across the world as
largely Un-Nigerian has said, �Indeed
a new sociology of the Ekiti people
have evolved. However, the task of
understanding how the outcome of
this election has defined us as a people will be that of scholars�
Beyond Ekiti, my fear is that, we may
just be playing into the hands of those
who don�t wish this country well.
The recent events whereby the
political leadership appears to gradually gravitate the military into
partisan political roles are most
worrisome. When the military
becomes the preferred agency for
clamping down on the media; for the
grounding of perceived opposition members� aircraft and subsequent
closure of the airport to deny them of
its usage; and forcibly restricting the
freedoms of citizens; including elected
officials through arrest, detention and
false imprisonment, then there is need for men and women of goodwill to
rise and speak irrespective of their
political linens before it is too late to
salvage our very hard earned
democracy.
In the words of Professor Wole Soyinka, �a man dies when he keeps
silent in the face of tyranny�
We are beginning to see and hear
political rough necks and jobbers, who
are themselves fugitive at law, judging
by several corruption cases hovering around them, bragging and ditching
out cacophony of threats that the Ekiti
elections was the best and the echoes
of which will reverberate across the
country. You ask; why wouldn�t
they? They now have their compatriot back in Ekiti and a GEJ who is always
willing to grant them state pardon
provided it will enhance his 2015 re-
election bid. The latest is Mohammed
Abacha. These are ominous signs that
call for concerns of many freedom fighters that were logged in the
trenches to enthrone this democracy
to stop wallowing and luxuriating in
docility and� we are done�
syndrome. Enough is enough.
As for Amala politics, the good people of Oyo state had long rejected it, and
the magic wand used is still very much
around.