Citizen Fayose : The Comical One

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/citizen-fayose-comical-one/

By Ugoji Egbujo

 

Governor Fayose is truly unrestrained. And once touched the child that bubbles beneath erupts. Our society has degenerated. But defecating in the open has managed to remain repugnant. Statesmanship requires measurable moral continence. But a governor with an inflated id, fixated at the oral stage, will do anything for self gratification. Tantrums should be beneath governors. But not any given to thrill seeking acts of irresponsibility. Impulsivity means consequences are never thought through. Without discretion, a leader of the opposition becomes a mere perpetually howling tout. Such a leader trivializes the role of the opposition, reduces it to noisy rabble rousing. Fayose If Fayose, the crusader , had information of a criminal activity involving the first lady, a strong well publicized petition to the police would have been appropriate. But since a governor cannot be a beer- parlour rumour peddler, a little attempt at an investigation ought to precede such a petition. But with Fayose , nothing has been politically sacrilegious. What he thinks is spontaneity and forthrightness is what many have described as utter whimsicality, gross tempestuousness. An exuberance that pretends to youthfulness to feed an adolescent egocentrism. That is why a casual shirt worn at a budget presentation by a governor may be narcissism and exhibitionism rather than simplicity. Because the air of haughtiness and vanity floating around that affected boyishness leaves no room for sobriety. That is why that pretense at wooing foreign investors at a railway station in china, two months ago, is more sinister than buffoonery. Because Fayose once strenuously, in the company of fellow researchers- cameramen, sought to prove that Buhari was in Transcorp Hilton Abuja rather than the advertised London. So he understands the gravity of such folly. When he, in a fit of exasperation, lapsed into the confession that everyone is a criminal, he seemed virtuous. He manages to contrive an unsophisticatedness that lends his tales apparent credibility. And this time he even seemed righteous. He quoted Jesus. John 8 vs 6-7. Suddenly no one is a criminal because everyone is a criminal. That was the point. But he forgot to take his boldness to the prison gates. To free all the prisoners in Ekiti, whom he must declare victims of warped and selective justice. For a man who frequents roadside bukkas with convoys of cameramen, to serve himself amala , in a pretentious solidarity with the poor, the prison should have been his next logical stop. The exemplary honesty which he sought to exhibit was hopelessly self serving. An honesty that was aimed at exonerating Fayose . He has reached for Zenith bank. The problem never lies with the desperation he is capable of exhibiting but the thoughtlessness of his actions. If Zenith sponsored his election and he feels the bank must be exposed, there are dignified ways of whistleblowing. And that bank should not be spared. But since he has a proclivity for appeal to the baser instincts, he summoned cameramen to capture the moment a poor zenith official was on his knees pleading with a god that doesn’t answer prayers. Fayose had imagined he had zenith bank kneeling before him and the nation captured by his delusions and the pornography of that video recording. He has threatened to let out more filth if provoked. Mafia style. But he hasn’t bothered to answer the pertinent question of the illegality of his acceptance of campaign funds from a publicly quoted company. But he didn’t stop there , Fayose never knows when to stop. He, Fayose thinks candour lies in airing every suspicion. And strength lies in weaponizing rumours. There were pre-election malicious rumours that the APC candidate was afflicted. But it was Fayose , a governor, who took out front pages of major newspapers to prophesy death. To talk about diapers, to defile old age. Filth was thrown around but Fayose it was who took political rhetoric to new lows. He rained the most obscene curses on his opponent . He exhibited remorselessly a reckless disregard for the bounds of civility. That is why he can ask the wife of the president to travel to the US just to prove she isn’t the indicted Aisha Buhari. So until she travels , she remains what Fayose wants her to be . And when she does, Fayose will simply latch onto new absurdities. He might even say –everyone lies once in a while. He was once comfortable with seven members passing bills in 26 member state legislature. Governors, generally, promote illegality when it suits them. But they do not hire thugs to beat up judges. Championship of the rule of law cannot be such a cynical enterprise. Okay, he has denied ever hiring thugs and he must be believed. But just imagine that Buhari the ‘tyrant’ were half as rascally as Fayose the ‘democrat’, the governor would have been impeached by the APC dominated house last year. The thugs that blocked all the major highways leading into Ado not withstanding. But my worry is that Gov Fayose and his ilk have become standard bearers for a political culture in tatters. When Fayose preached the gospel of ‘stomach infrastructure’ many derided him. Ekiti was trusted not to fall for amala politics. When Ekiti succumbed, it was conveniently attributed to rigging. That isn’t to suggest thuggery didn’t affect the outcome. Stunned Lagos panicked and lapsed into demagoguery. Ethical highways were abandoned. Okada riders were recalled. They came back to litter the roads and resume their nuisance. And they came back without headlamps, without number plates, without sense. All the wonderful reasons Fashola had given for destroying thousands of commercial motorbikes were swept away with brooms of cynical self preservation. Edo quickly cancelled plans to continuously assess teachers and sanitize an educational system overrun by weeds. Aregbesola was pictured throwing mobile calling cards off a moving truck to entice voters. The Omoluabi wanted to win his re election very badly. Fayose was the new standard. And in this age of Trumpism , he is a troubling local phenomenon. He touts a popularity founded on the disingenuousness of holding the naive spellbound with theatrical displays of false simplicity and duplicitous empathy. He presents himself as simple, shooting –from- the hips, everyday guy, who fears no foe and worships only God. But he is addicted to vanity. Everywhere for him is a theatre. Since Jonathan surrendered, no one has rendered as much vocal oppositional activity as the governor of Ekiti. And the nation needs a robust and committed opposition. But while an effective opposition leader may not be free from hypocrisy he cannot be given to clownish hyperbolisms. He cannot be seen as a mere jester. He must understand sacredness. He need not be a philosopher but he must be capable of sober reflections. He cannot incite hate because a governor’s restraint must be stronger than that of a barber. When a state governor writes a foreign country to deny his struggling country loans, he will leave many baffled. But opposition sometimes entails compulsive – “we- no-go- gree” and “gra-gra” -obstreperousness . But hearing that governor gnashing his teeth, a month later, was bizarre. For when he told striking workers he could not pay them with his blood, his tales had lost comicality. Fayose is such a bundle of incoherence. Hollow populism. That is the scourge that threatens to overtake our politics.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/07/citizen-fayose-comical-one/

Fayose the Baba-Sala of our time

ok

Stupidity is when you 'stand with Buhari' and expect me not to 'stand with Fayose'.

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Epistle of Judas