LET me start by declassifying a bit of our recent past. In the build-up to the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State, the government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had commissioned a study to enable it to arrive at the best candidate that would ensure victory for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The discreet study took cognisance of all aspirants, notable and not well-known, x-raying their strengths and weaknesses. After the report was submitted, some friends who wanted further dispassionate inputs brought me in and I had to make some comments. Even though I viewed some of the activities of Mr. Peter Ayodele Fayose during his failed senatorial bid as loud and attention-seeking, my view supported the fact that he remained the best candidate for the 2014 election and he didn’t disappoint the party by going ahead to win handsomely.
A funny incident happened. While I still held the report, I was in company of a senator friend at the VIP wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport when Fayose sauntered in. He greeted everyone and called the senator aside. When they finished, the senator told me the governor was preaching to him to ring it to Abuja leaders of the party and the then Presidency that he was the candidate that would win them the votes in Ekiti. I told the senator I agreed with aspirant Fayose, without telling him a life document that could make the difference was in my hand as we talked. Even then, I wasn’t a fan of Fayose, though I observe his grassroots strategy and populist approach, which have continued to win him the hearts of the common people in his state.
After the election, I largely restricted my knowledge of Ekiti to television views and comments from friends from that state. I also didn’t move close to the Government House. It was only early this year that I had cause to enter Ekiti for a burial and I discovered that the noise and populism of Fayose are not for nothing.
As the saying goes, the empty barrel makes the loudest noise. With a benefit of certain insights now, I have to submit that there are exceptions to the rule. And that we have need to distinguish between qualitative noise and quantitative noise.
Notwithstanding whatever personality flaws those who know him closely may ascribe to him, the governor of Ekiti State, Peter Ayodele Fayose, is one man whose modest achievements won my heart some days ago.
I find it difficult to praise people in Government Houses. This is because, no matter what achievements you parade, I always feel that the failure of many of our governors to dig a solid economic base for their states and only rely on “meagre” federal allocations is a huge minus borne out of unhelpful developmental objectives.
But my recent visit to Ekiti last week changed my view of Fayose a great deal. I was able to see the new Government House he put in place. The cute design and finishing presented a masterful architectural product. The flawless tiling and colour combination from office to office tells a story of a man with taste, who is not selfish to hold the taste to himself. I have to single out this man for the legacy of a befitting Government House structure he is leaving behind and other infrastructural projects, including the flyover bridge, which some may call a bridge to nowhere.
The praise here is not just because of the structure he has put in place but the quality of the finishing of that building. The story would be complete if you go into statistics: Ekiti is one of the least financially endowed states in the country. If the governor could put in place a structure that competes with, (if not dwarfs) what is in place in Ikeja, Uyo, Port Harcourt, Kano and even Abuja, you ‘ve got to recognise his wisdom.
A friend once told the story of a man who is known for his near-perfect taste who became the governor of his state. Many of his close allies who backed him thought he would translate his personal good taste to the development of the state. Years after he got into the Government House, the personal quality remained deployed only for use of self.
Despite the fact that the said man likes to mouth ‘Awo’ on campaign podium, the said governor failed to realise that the Sage wanted the best for his people and he showcased such by putting in place legacy edifices that continue to herald his name years after his departure from here. You can see that evidence in the great design of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, a school that still prides itself as African’s most beautiful University and even the Cocoa House in Ibadan, the tallest building of its time. It got so bad in that state that once a new good-looking structure emerges in the landscape of the state capital, associates of the governor would simply conclude the structure belongs to him.
Some would ask what has Government House go to do with development. But then the Government House is the first port of call for serious-minded investors and as they say, first impression matters. For putting that cute structure in place and the other urban renewal projects I saw in Ekiti, Fayose has done something. His successors can only lift the bar higher to the admiration of Ekiti indigenes.
