Mistrust sets in between Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, and Governor-elect, Ayo Fayose, after initial show of understanding, writes Head, News Desk, VICTOR EBIMOMI.
Prior to Ekiti State governorship election of Saturday, June 21, 2014, the political difference between Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Ayo Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was put at boiling point. But that changed on June 22, when Fayemi, in a rare show of the spirit of sportsmanship, went on air to congratulate Fayose, few minutes after the PDP candidate was announced the winner of the election.
Love at first sight?
Kayode Fayemiye
He also invited Fayose to meet him at the Government House to fine-tune the transition process, which Fayose did three days later. They reportedly had a lively chat, the picture of which was splashed on the pages of national dailies.
The action of the duo, particularly that of Fayemi, was hailed by many Nigerians and political watchers, who said it sign-posted the advent of political maturity and the end of political rascality in Nigeria’s landscape. This thinking was given verve because it is quite a rarity in this country to see an incumbent governor hobnobbing with a governor-elect that defeated him at the poll.
Trouble brews
Curiously, the early conviviality between Fayemi and Fayose seems to have fizzled out for renewed hostility, as they have been trading words lately. The crux of their altercations, however, is mostly on the finances of the state.
Weeks ago, Fayemi’s administration alleged that the incoming government was already going round its bankers to investigate the financial status of the state. It therefore warned that it would sanction any bank found culpable because it was unethical for them to indulge in such act.
In a statement issued by the PDP Publicity Secretary in Ekiti, Kola Oluwawole, on Thursday, July 3, the party warned that it would deal with any civil servant found to have assisted the current government in looting the state’s treasury.
The party also alleged that N184,863,211.19; N406,293,791.08 and another N604 million were collected within a day for the purchase of furniture that would be used at the New Government House, which is yet to be completed.
“We’ve gathered that the government is planning to plunge Ekiti State into another round of bond-chasing because of the intention of the outgoing governor and his men to milk Ekiti dry before leaving the government in October.
“It is unfortunate that what Fayemi was determined to do in his second time in office, which the people of Ekiti State have denied him, he wants to capture in the remaining three months that he will still be in office,” the statement read in part.
Even as the Fayemi administration has denied the allegations against it, the war of words appears not to have abated.
On Wednesday August 20, while inaugurating a nine-man inauguration committee by Fayose to join the out-going Fayemi administration to prepare for a smooth hand-over, he also raised the issue of the state’s finance, in a manner suggestive that all was not well.
His words: “The current government has plunged Ekiti into huge debt and our money is being deducted from source. Available records showed that Fayemi has taken N25 billion loan, and only N8 billion has been paid back. This is very disturbing and worrisome.”
He maintained that he left N10.4 billion in the state’s coffers when he left government in 0ctober 15, 2006, but complained that now it will be inheriting debt in his second coming.
“We are inheriting debt; I have to let the people know because of the expectations in town on my administration. With the situation on the ground, the Ekiti situation is not promising at all because there is no magic to perform when there is no money,” he said.
Fayemi’s defence
But the Commissioner for Information, Tayo Ekundayo, faulted the allegation, saying that N13 billion had been redeemed out of a total of N25 billion taken in bond by the government.
He also clarified that the government had not taken other loans aside the N25 billion, and therefore cautioned the incoming administration to stop smearing the government’s image.
“Does Fayose have the account of the state? We have never hidden anything from the people. He is a governor-elect and he must not jump the gun. He cannot be commenting on issues he has no record about. It is like the man is eager and he must stop making comments until he takes over,” he said.
Experts comment
Legal experts have expressed different views about the altercations between the governor and the governor-elect, with some saying that in as much as a governor-elect may be concerned about the government he would be coming to preside over, there are clear limitations to the level they can go, while others say it smacks of distraction and illegality of some sorts.
For instance, a Kaduna-based lawyer, Abdulaziz Ibrahim, told TheNiche that in a decent society, the two ought to establish a transition committee that will open up lively line of communication and interaction for smooth transition.
He however maintained that the Ekiti scenario has a political undertone by the action of the governor-elect.
“Ordinarily, they were supposed to have a transition committee wherein the governor’s actions will be transmitted to the in-coming one. Through the committee, he will be able to explain what is being done and why he had to take such action. In a decent society, that is how it is done. But in Ekiti State, what Fayose is doing is playing politics. He is expressing his fear to get public sympathy when he assumes power,” he said.
And for Barrister Wale Ogunade, the president of Lagos-based Voters’ Awareness Initiative (VA), a non-governmental organisation at the vanguard electoral education and advocacy, Fayose’s action was a distraction to the incumbent and also unconstitutional.
“We run a constitutional government. The governor takes office from the day he is sworn in and leaves after four years. Under this period, he is not accountable to anybody except the electorate. No governor-elect can monitor a sitting governor. With what Fayose is doing, he is not only causing distraction; he is committing illegality. If there is anything he wants to do, he should wait till he takes over; he can even probe if he likes, but must wait till he takes over,” he said.
