Ekiti lawmakers and ‘no’ politics

By Kunle Fakunle

YOU can sum up the strategy adopted by members of the Action Congress (AC) in the Ekiti State House of Assembly in three words: “Just say No”. The AC members have disagreed with their PDP counterparts on everything.  Name it; modalities for choosing commissioners, supplementary budget, micro credit loan scheme, composition of Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC) and lately the appointment into boards, commissions and parastatals in the state.

Often when they say no, they are less sure about what should replace them.  No alternatives, no negotiation. Just say no!

The irony is hard to escape.  Blanket negativity seems to have provided cover for otherwise fissiparous views. For those who are not well grounded in the politics of Ekiti State , there is a tendency to always put the blame at the doorstep of the Engr. Segun Oni-led government.  They would most probably accuse him of high handedness or insensitivity to the plight of the people.  But this is not the case.  While we can hold tenaciously to our opinion, even when it lacks the basic ingredients of common sense, we should not also gloss over the fact that posterity will judge all the dramatis personae that have been saddled with the responsibility of improving on the welfare of the people.

Nobody said reforming a state like Ekiti will be easy but to delay will now make it a lot harder. The first is the hard-line posture of the AC members of the House of Assembly and the ignorance on the part of the populace.  I will discuss the latter very quickly before moving on to the former.

Politics in the state regressed in the past six years.  Before the advent of the new government of Engr. Segun Oni, various coalitions had come and gone.  A solid movement at the centre failed to establish itself, especially since the man who looked best place to build one derailed at the twilight of his administration.

The impunity in governance was such that the state gained notoriety for all the negative reasons.  Level of insecurity was prevalent.  In a spate of three years, several illustrious sons of the state were cut down in their prime.  The system was threadbare and arguably wasteful.

Crucially too, the different bits of the system fit together.  A picture of how gory the tale was played out sometimes ago when the governor’s convoy approached a T-junction in Ikere-Ekiti after flagging off the surgical festival.  Street Urchins chased the governor’s convoy and demanded he parted with some money.

One of them screamed: “It is the usual thing done here, whenever the former governor comes here, he throws a bale of N50, 000 in the air and we all scramble for it.”

That in itself could be a gesture of generosity.  After all, what is wrong in spreading the largesse of democracy but again why did the former governor not deemed it fit to engage the urchins in a vocation that would make them employable or at best, an employer themselves.  They would most probably have remained grateful to him for giving them “food for life.”

Another tale was told of how a man who found favour in the eyes of the former governor was told to execute a contract without the due process of getting the contract papers approved; ‘The governor simply told the man to go and do the job and come and collect his money later.”

After the impeachment of the governor, the contractor went to the sole administrator, Brigadier-General Adetunji Olurin and complained that his money had not been paid.  While reviewing his case, it was discovered that he was only told verbally by the former governor to do the project.  There was no contract paper.  The Commissioner for Works was not aware.  Nothing to officially show that, he indeed, got the contract.  The people could not effectively divorce themselves from this queer kind of governance.  Abnormality had become a norm and this was already etched in their minds.

With years of surprising rectitude still lodged in the public mind, Engr. Oni’s assumption of office made a change inevitable but the pervasive ignorance of how governance works was a major brick wall Oni met.

The people would rather prefer Oni line them up and give them tins of milk and bowl of rice to sustain them. They would prefer he gave them phony contracts without following due process. They would even want him to enrich a tiny clique at the detriment of the larger public.  That, in itself, is the challenge Oni is facing in the state today. But beyond that also, some people are hell bent on holding down the state. 

Our moral sheriffs in the AC have succeeded in supplanting all genuine intentions of the government.  Using the House of Assembly as their canon fodder, they have consistently ensured that every sitting is a harrowing experience.  From the first day, they picked holes in the composition of cabinet members.  They went a notch higher when they disapprove of the supplementary budget.

They also punctured the micro-credit scheme bill, which to all intent and purpose, is meant to alleviate the sufferings of the people.  The governor had always told anyone who cared to listen that he is not interested in giving people fish but teaching them how to catch fish; but the AC lawmakers will hear none of it.

Now the brawl is over the nominees of boards, commissions, agencies and parastatals sent to the House of Assembly by Governor Oni for screening and confirmation. They are crying to the  highest heavens that Governor Oni sent only PDP members as nominees for appointment into boards, commissions and parastatal agencies in the state. To them, names of members of the AC ought to have been included in the list. And for this, they are going to “say no” to the confirmation of the list. Not only that, they are also threatening to stall the passage of the 2008 budget.  Bbehind this hypocritical reason is the fiat their leaders have handed out to them, “Just say no.”

The AC lawmakers should by now know that if the governor fails, they have collectively failed.  This is because the brunt of the failure will be bore by Ekiti people that they were elected to make life more meaningful for. They will be naïve to think that they would be singled out.  A big lesson to ponder over is, where are the “Fayose’s legislators” today.

- Fakunle, a public commentator lives in Igbara-Odo.