Tunde Thomas
Former deputy governor of Ekiti, Prof. Modupe Adelabu has commended Governor Kayode Fayemi for his efforts at resolving the crisis in the state chapter of APC. She spoke on various issues in this interactive session.
As a former deputy governor of Ekiti state, what can you say has changed between that time and this present administration, compared with the immediate past administration under former Governor Ayodele Fayose?
Four years after we left government, I became a keen observer of events which to me was not very palatable. Thank God for Dr. Fayemi’s second coming, things have changed for better in Ekiti State. Under two years, Ekiti has moved from darkness into light, our values have been restored and poverty and squalor have been reduced dramatically. We can now say that indeed, Ekiti State is the land of honour.
It is to the credit of this government that it did not abandon the last government’s unfinished projects even though it has its own developmental projects which he is executing to the admiration of many citizens unlike what it used to be. Therefore, the present government did not give room for wastage of resources. Another thing to note is that Ekiti is back to the era of peace, tranquility and economic development. Salaries are now paid as at when due, public servants now go to work without fear of victimization.
Your party, APC is embarking on another round of reconciliation after the one your group did, why this new one?
A Yoruba adage says “As long as you have lice or fleas on your cloth, you will continue to have blood stains on your finger nails”. This is saying that, if crisis persists or new ones crop up, there will always be a need for reconciliation. In Ekiti, the intra party crisis started as far back as 2014 after the party lost the gubernatorial election. The party elders made several attempts to settle the crisis. Although, the crisis was minimized only for it to resurface during the primary election in Ekiti in 2018, in another guise till date. The APC National Peace and Reconciliation Committee of which I was a member was headed by H.E Kashim Shettima. The committee’s principal task was to reconcile members who have grievances arising from the October and November 2018 Governorship, Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly Primaries across the region.
By implication, the committee’s mandate included identifying and addressing potential concerns that could threaten the party’s chances for all elective positions ahead of the 2019 general elections. We did our best to touch every state and we invited aggrieved members. Some of them turned up to register their complaints. It should be noted that, in the case of Ekiti State, there were few notable party members that were aggrieved. However, there was strong evidence of aggressive reconciliatory efforts carried out by the state government and the party before our visitation. The governor himself had made personal efforts to reconcile with his co-gubernatorial aspirants. Based on our observation and party member’s agitation, a lot of recommendations were made, that could have minimized the crisis across boards. Some of such recommendations were that the party should continue to dialogue with the aggrieved party members and reach an agreement with them, and the party should encourage continued reconciliation and open communication where necessary. We also recommended at that time that urgent presidential intervention may be needed to broker peace in the states. For the new reconciliation committee set up by APC, I suggest that they should revisit the report and recommendations of our committee and build up on them, while at the same time make their own enquiries. It is my belief that if majority of our recommendations were accepted and considered, the crisis in APC now would have been easier to handle and minimize. We did our own part but we were not part of the follow up. I therefore recommend that the caretaker committee should take a second look at our report.
The party crisis particularly in Ekiti, what’s your thoughts on the matter, and recently, the National Leader of APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu advised Governor Fayemi to find lasting solution to the problem; what is your take on this?
APC in Ekiti like any other state in the federation including the federal level is passing through a stage of internal problems and bickering mainly among some of the political leaders. No state in the federation has absolute immunity from intra-political party crisis. The crisis in Ekiti State started after 2014 gubernatorial election. Several efforts were made to nip this in the bud but little success was achieved. Every intra- party crisis is about “who gets what, when and how”. The control of the party structure is the main reason(s) for this crisis. This is politics and it should be expected. The advice by the national leader, Bola Tinubu is quite laudable. Dr Fayemi is not only the governor but the political leader of the state. Consequently, he is not expected to abdicate his responsibility to any external influence or authority. I believe that Dr Fayemi is doing his best to look for solution to this crisis. If he deems it fit to invite an external adjudicator outside the state based on consultation with the party’s stakeholder’s and elders in the state, I am sure as a peace leader, he is making effort towards an early resolution to this crisis which is actually diversionary.
What is your candid assessment of Governor Fayemi’s administration?
As discussed above, this administration has done a lot within two years in the area of health, infrastructure, education and governance. Those in Ekiti State are aware of this, even if these achievements are under- reported in the media; the onus is on us, the indigene and non-indigene of Ekiti who have seen these to broadcast and tell others within and outside the state. This is what I refer to as “Political Evangelism”, which must be aggressively done by Ekiti people themselves; the projects are verifiable and are clothed in secrecy not white washed. The infrastructure were built to last without any panel beating.
What do you see as the marked difference between Governor Fayemi and his immediate predecessor in office, Fayose.
As you can see in the actions and activities of the present governor, Dr. Fayemi, he has not bothered himself about the past governors especially Mr. Fayose. He remained focused on his work and his achievements will speak for him. The only thing that is obvious is that Ekiti State is safer to live in, and people go about their businesses without any harassment. The state is attracting investors, and many Development Partners are collaborating with the state now unlike the previous government. This is why the “Never again…”, Declaration of Freedom brought relief and a new dawn of life to Ekiti people.