Fayose, who prides himself as the first Nigerian Governor to
defeat two incumbents at two different attempts, is the first Ekiti son to be governor
twice. “Despite all the obstacles,
despite all you might talk about, God has made a way for me, God has given me
favour. I am the first Nigerian to leave office and come back after eight
years, same day, same time. I left on the 16th of October 2006 in
those circumstances that we all know are similar to the ones going on now, and
I came back on October 16, 2014, exactly eight years. That cannot be ordinary
but divine”, he said.
When he was asked how it feels being in the opposition,
Fayose said “now we know those who are the problems of Nigeria. Now we know men
who wear skirts and those who tie wrappers who have refused to wear trousers. I
was there when PDP ruled at the centre and now I can tell you that it is not so
much about the car but the person driving it. Having been there by the grace of
God and seeing what the country is passing through now, we should know that it
is only God that can help us”.
On what opposition actually means to him, the Governor said
“life is not about being a governor or being in leadership but what you make
out of the leadership position. Opposition simply is to give value to the
electorate. Those in government should be responsible enough to make themselves
accountable to the people. When you are in opposition, you are to let the
average man on the street know that they can get better value for their votes, and
the stress they went through on election day. That is why you call it a civic
duty that you have to discharge at all cost. Opposition is supposed to keep the
government of the day on its toes and that is what I personally emphasize.”
Still speaking on opposition, Fayose said “the average
Nigerian is complacent, they don’t want problems, they don’t want to say
anything but if you don’t stand up for something, something stand up against
you”.
When one of the anchors of the programme asked about his
prediction that President Buhari would die in office, Governor Fayose’s swift
response was ‘I never said that. I take exception and there is a difference
between truth and propaganda. A lot of Nigerians must equally begin to read
between the lines. Media, sincerity of purpose, what do they stand to
represent? Are they telling Nigerians the truth or they are playing a mind game
where they deceive Nigerians? I never wished President Buhari dead, what I
said, I said it expressly, Nigerians must tread carefully, must reflect in
terms of the past and put an able bodied person as the President of Nigeria”.
The governor did not leave without explaining the meaning of
his nickname, “Oshokomale”. Taking his time to explain, the Governor said “in
Yorubaland, we had Efunsetan, we had Aare Ona Kakanfo, these people were so
called because of their bravery. They did not fear for their lives. If you read
the Bible well, you’ll read that whosoever would save his life must lose it and
those whoever loses his life will save it. But our people care only about
themselves, their children and their household, they don’t care if someone else
is in the rain. As long as they are comfortable or they get government
patronage, they don’t care about anyone else. So, what Oshokomale means is
Governor Emeritus; the Governor that is capable of leading others.”
On his bluntness too, the governor had this to say “if we
say the truth, we will die, if we don’t, we will end up dying”. Speaking
further, he said ‘those controlling Nigeria today are not up to 10% of the
population of the country; they are using and exploiting the masses. For
example, I watched the Finance Minister yesterday when she said Nigeria is
technically in recession. That is an erroneous statement. What is the meaning f
technical? If I am hungry, I know I am hungry, if one is suffering, there is no
other way to describe it than that the person is suffering. If there is no money,
say there is no money, which one is technical? What has technical got to do
with eba or garri? It is a system of deceiving the masses. Even the PDP
government that people criticized was not this bad. Let’s not deceive
ourselves, if things were like this during the PDP’s time, the party would have
been voted out long before now”.
Governor Fayose also gave an inkling that his feud with
former President Obasanjo was not over yet. When he was asked why he parted
ways with OBJ, who was his political godfather, Fayose said “lsome issues are described
as dead issues, let us leave that matter. If not, we will arrogate importance
to who we should not. Let us move forward”.
And when it was mentioned that a former member of the Ekiti
State House of Assembly was quoted as saying the Governor was impeached in 2006
to save Ekiti State from anarchy, Fayose’s response was blunt as ever. “It is
even a crime for you to say that as the moderator here today. The Supreme Court
of Nigeria, after 9 years said Fayose was wrongly impeached and tongue lashed
all that were behind it. The same conspiracy of that time is what they are on
doing again today”, he said. And when he was asked why he was impeached, he
simply replied “I was not impeached. I said again, the Supreme Court said I was
not impeached ab initio. Do you know the meaning of Supreme Court? ”. Trying to
further school the moderator, the Governor stressed that “when the Supreme
Court adjudicates on a matter, the matter dies there. Nobody uses such
language, otherwise you will face contempt of court”. On his return to office
having been impeached wrongfully, he said ‘automatically, with the court
judgment, there was no impeachment. Even if the Supreme Court gives a judgment
ten years after that time, it takes immediate action and it takes away all the
wrong. No media house will ever say impeached Governor of Ekiti State again”.
Expectedly, questions were asked as regards the financing of
his electioneering campaign and Fayose had this to say, “when one starts
responding to a mad man, people won’t know who is mad. Firstly, no violence was
recorded in the election, nobody died, and there was no record of ballot
snatching and right after the election, the person I defeated congratulated me,
he said he respected the wishes of the Ekiti people. The APC in Ekiti are
elites, that is the problem they have, they cannot eat with the ordinary
people, they are too distant from them. There was a man in Ibadan called “Penkelemeesi”,
we read about him, he associated with everybody including people selling amala
and ogi, akara and all sorts. Whenever it was time for election, he would defeat the elites; those who would think
of wearing gloves before shaking hands with people. Look, I don’t drive bullet
proof cars. If elections are held in Ekiti fifteen times, I will continue to
win.”
Speaking on his closeness to the masses, Fayose disclosed
that as a student at the Polytechnic, he drove a danfo bus to make ends meet. “I
was not born with a silver spoon but I keep defeating those who grew up abroad
at the polls. And back to the issue of the funding of the election you spoke
about, remember the woman who was caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said he
that has no sin should cast the first stone. They left one after the other.
They couldn’t wait because they were like armed robbers trying to harass a
pickpocket. They said someone stole money to fund election, where did they get
the money to fund their own elections? Did manna fall from heaven or they dug
the money from the ground? They said they found money in my account. Do they
think I am poor? When you contest an election, it is normal for people to
donate money, does that mean I should go and throw the money away? When people
give you money for your wedding, or naming, after the party, do you throw the
remaining money away? The money they found in my account, the N 100 million is
my money. Didn’t you hear the court’s ruling yesterday on my friend’s matter? The
court even awarded N 5 million against them. ”
Fayose did not spare his predecessor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi. “When
I was leaving as Governor in 2006, I left N 10.4 billion in the state’s
coffers. Weman Bank was owned by Oodua States, with each state having 20%
equity. When Wema was to recapitalize, I gave N 1.4 billion, by the time I came
back, I found out that the state was indebted to the tune of N 31 billion in commercial
loan and N 25 billion in bonds. That is why we are finding it difficult to pay
salaries. The commercial loan cannot be fully repaid until year 2036 while the
bond will be sorted in 2021. The documents are there, you can ask them. When
you stand for the truth, God will back you up. That is why they are after me,
because I am the only one left criticizing them. They went after Fani-Kayode,
they are dealing with Metuh. Their style now is to strangulate the PDP so that
they can win future elections. Did President Buhari and his party members not
use airplanes during their campaigns? Didn’t they take flights? Those they gave
money to during elections, did those monies come from the bush? Let’s stop
deceiving Nigerians.”
He concluded that “the masses really need to pray because we
have entered a one chance vehicle”.
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