I’d Have Performed Better In Ekiti - Fayemi
Fayemi
Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Action Congress (AC) governorship candidate in the last April election in Ekiti State, in this interview with BAYO ALADE, speaks on the political situation in Ekiti State and the nation as well as his optimism on the election petition tribunal’s final verdict. Excerpts:
In recent times, a section of the political class has
called for the removal of the immunity clause from
our constitution. Do you subscribe to this?
I really don’t have any problem with whether immunity clause remains or whether it is expunged. But rather than being indifferent, I’m more inclined though that the immunity clause – at least on criminal matters – should be expunged from the constitution. I would also urge a proper reflection on the matter, particularly on civil issues, because we don’t want a situation where you elect somebody into office and he spends a great deal of his time countering all sorts of charges that have no substance but only distract the person from doing his job.
I think the critical issue to remove is impunity. The impunity with which the people in political office conduct themselves as if they are not accountable to people who put them there. And the reason why this is so, especially over the last few years of our fledgling democracy, is because Nigerians have never really put these people in office.
They have found themselves in office through all sorts of subterfuge, illegal means, and if you’ve not been put in office by the people, you don’t really see yourself as accountable to them. It would be, ‘After all, I got there without your vote.’ You develop wings, you are not accountable. Your feet could not be held to fire. So, the first challenge is the one we are facing now; to make their votes count, so that their voices could be heard; so that they could hold people in political offices accountable.
The minute you do that, you will discover that the people who go into politics are people who are not easily susceptible to corrupt practices. As things stand now, I am more inclined to removing the immunity clause – particularly the criminal part of it. Nobody should be immune to criminal charges, irrespective of whether you are in office or out of office, and the minute you decide in your mind that you want to hold public office, your life is no longer private.
If you want your life to be private, you must remain a private citizen; don’t aspire to be a public office holder. That is why I object to this private declaration of assets by public officials. Declaration by my own definition is public. The minute you are a public official elected into office, your assets must be known by everybody – not just by the Code of Conduct Bureau, but by everybody.
That’s why I commend Alhaji Umar Yar’Adua. He didn’t just start it when he became president; when he became governor in 1999, he declared his assets – the only governor to do that, and he has repeated it. I think that is a model for us to emulate.
You shouldn’t really be asked who you are when you are in public office; you should let people know who you are, your assets and liabilities.
Nigerians believe that politicians seldom declare all their assets, and that we’ll hardly get the true picture of things. Isn’t this true?
Well, you won’t even know if it’s not made public; that’s the point I’m making. Now that Yar’Adua has declared that he has so and so, the onus is on those who believe that he has been economical with the truth to challenge that and look for information that shows that he has more than that.
But in a situation where you don’t even have access to what he has told the Code of Conduct Bureau, then it becomes even more difficult. Yes, there may be people that have not declared their full assets, but let us first agree that declaration of assets should be public, not private. The nonsense that ‘if I declare my assets publicly, I’m open to attacks’ is not really convincing to most of us. That’s what Goodluck Jonathan said, that ‘Oh, some of my assets are in some places where militants are.’ I don’t buy that. The minute you become a public officer, you are at risk. You have to make up your mind.
How much should one be worth to aspire to a political office – like being chief executive of a state?
I don’t know whether there is a standard for people who want to aspire to be governor; but it’s not how much you are really worth in terms of liquid cash. I’m quite comfortable to sustain my own livelihood. I can send my children to school, take care of my family. I am not actually a rich person in material terms. I am a high networth person. I know quite a lot of people who are quite willing and who believe in my ability to make a difference, and they all played critical roles in my efforts to become the governor. So, I don’t think money is actually the benchmark.
How much is Barack Obama worth? I know him as a university professor who became a senator; a federal senator now aspiring to be president. I sit here in Nigeria and contribute to Barack Obama campaign. There are many people who do the same all over the world, because they believe in him. There were many people who contributed to my campaign on the strength of knowing who I am, and what I had done in the past. They believe I am a person of integrity, character, competence who would be able to deliver on the promises I am making to the people. They believe I am somebody who is worth supporting in the quest to become the governor.
In my own case, I don’t think my effort is necessarily compatible with what I’m worth. From day one, I said I was involved in a collective rescue mission. I never told anyone I had all the answers to Ekiti problem or all the means to run for governorship. I was always emphasising the collective, and the collective plays a critical role in my campaigns.
What are your chances at the Ekiti Election Tribunal.
I would like to say that my chances are very bright given what is before the tribunal and the pattern that it is taking across the country. Many of the cases that have been decided at the governorship level are more technical cases of exclusion. Illegal removal of candidates’ names and so on. Outside of Enugu, I think five of the governorship cases decided were cases of exclusion. Enugu is the first case that brought out issues of rigging. What I’m alleging in Ekiti is that the elections were rigged, with multiple thumb-printing, violence, ballot stuffing and that even with all of that, if the lawful votes were counted, I would still be the winner. That’s what I’m alleging. That’s what my lawyers are putting before the tribunal and I have every confidence that they’ll be able to prove this beyond any reasonable doubt.
There are various ways through which this is being done, but I don’t want to preempt the judgment of the tribunal. I believe the tribunal is well within its right and composed of competent and capable people to reach its own decision. I just believe I won an election. That’s why I’m at the tribunal. If I thought I was beaten free and fair, you would not find me at the tribunal.
How soon do you think the tribunal will get things done, given the fact that it ’s almost a year now since it was put in place?
Well, I think there is a legitimate concern around that and Nigerians have expressed this concern all around the country, not just in Ekiti. I think as part of the effort of the constitution reform panel and the Electoral Reform Panel, I think one of the things they need to look into is the process of adjudication after election. Nobody who is being challenged should take office until and unless all cases against such a person have been cleared. It is rewarding brigandage and criminality because many of those who found themselves in office who didn’t win election were using state resources to further entrench themselves. That’s what we have seen all over the place.
If you are not a person of resolve, a person of steely determination, it’s very difficult to sustain a legal battle against an incumbent, because they have all the resources at their disposal. You are pooling together resources that are not there. You have spent a lot of money on campaign, fighting for election, you are now going to be spending money on lawyers, forensic analyses, keeping the momentum going and your supporters in a reasonable level of expectation and anticipation. It is unfair. Though we have had some delay, I would rather have a proper adjudication than a rushed job.
Why do you think elections in Nigeria have always been controversial in spite of promises by electoral commission’s bosses that the elections would be credible?
I think it has got to do with the process of selecting the electoral commission’s leaders. It has always been presidentially driven. You cannot ask a man who is still interested in staying in office to choose somebody who would organise an election in an objective manner. The selection has never been done in an objective manner since the first republic. That’s why some of us have insisted that the process of selecting the head of an electoral body be transferred to the National Assembly. You don’t leave it at the National Assembly alone; you throw it open. There are many countries in the world where what you do is even to advertise. Come and prove your credentials. You even hire reputable companies to check their credentials – Accenture, ...KPMG etc. – to sit down and examine the records of those who have been put in these positions. And for such positions, certain things matter that we don’t normally take to be the truth.
If you want to be the boss of a body like INEC and there is something in your record that points in the direction of a distortion, even a little distortion, then you build a pattern of untruth and that person is likely to perform in a less-than-honest manner in office. So, you need to do a background check right to the lowest level. That is what I understand people do where they are really interested in appointing someone of credibility into that position.
Another thing that people do is that those parties that have a standing should be represented in the body; then whoever would head the body would be agreed to by all the parties. It could be a Chief Imam, an Archbishop. In Fiji, they chose a retired General whom all the parties had confidence in.
The other level is fund. You will recall the drama of Iwu running cap in hand to Aso Rock. ‘Oh, they have not released our money’ and all that. If you read the INEC report of the election, every step of the way, Iwu was praising Obasanjo for coming to their aid at the last minute. That is already a compromise process, because you are beholding to that person who is helping you.
Apart from several allegations of an unholy alliance between Obasanjo, Andy Uba and Iwu, every objective assessment of that relationship is untidy. That’s why we really need to look into the case of people we put in these positions.
What is the relationship between you and ex-governor Fayose? Some people even believe that should you win at the tribunal, you would step down for him to come back.
You know people would say a lot of things to prop up their own fragile position; and I can tell you that this line of thinking is being done by the illegitimate residents of Ekiti State Government House. Let us stick to facts. Fact number one. Nobody in Ekiti can challenge the fact that I was a critical element in the fight against Ayo Fayose towards removing him from office. So, I was not friendly with Ayo Fayose in his years as governor. I challenged him on what I considered his various misdeeds.
Yes, it is true that Fayose said Kayode Fayemi won the election, but I don’t think that is rocket science. I was already in court seven months before that statement was uttered by Fayose. Fact number three. Fayose and many people not only supported but sponsored Yinka Akerele of the ANPP in the Ekiti gubernatorial race. Fact number four. It is puerile for anybody to say that Fayose sponsored or contributed money to the Fayemi campaign. It’s a whole load of nonsense, because not even one kobo from Fayose crept into my campaign fund directly or indirectly. I was quite strict and careful about who gave money or whom we received money from. So, if people are saying Fayose came to Ado and waved a broom, if you are to enlist those who waved the broom in the whole of Nigeria as members of the Action Congress as supporters of Kayode Fayemi, all well and good.
You might as well be claiming that the entire 140 million Nigerians are members of the AC, because I don’t know of any home in Nigeria where a broom is not waved one way or the other. Let’s be more substantive: I chose my battle, yes. I fought Fayose. I joined other Ekitis who felt he wasn’t doing the right things in office, and that’s done. I have moved on. If he has other issues to deal with, that’s a matter between him and the various agencies of government handling that. I am not going to be stampeded into reaching a conclusion about Fayose’s time in office, in terms of his criminalities or otherwise, when there are agencies of state that are already looking into that. I’m not EFCC. I am not a security agent. I don’t work for government. Right now, what I consider to be more important is the criminal way the mandate of Ekiti people was stolen. Those who want to focus on getting the ex-governor into jail for crime allegedly committed, I wish them luck. I am not opposed to anyone who is found guilty facing the music, but I am far more interested in my own legal issues to retrieve my mandate than to be acting as agent for the Ekiti State government.
The truth is that these guys are not interested in either prosecuting the ex-governor or bringing him to book; they want to enlist his support because they believe that without him, they don’t have any way of entrenching themselves within the PDP. And I make this prediction, you just watch what is going to happen at the various congresses in Ekiti.
You have seen governor Oni in action for close to a year now. If you had been declared winner, could you have done better?
Oh yes, clearly. I would have done better because I was prepared. I had an agenda; it’s an agenda that is well known in Ekiti. I went to every single town and village to sell my agenda. It is for free education, healthcare, infrastructure development, to ensure that government is accountable to the people; gender quality at all levels in the state, and above all, improving the status of our agriculture. These are the critical areas of my agenda.
In a state where malaria is the greatest threat to the people, you are talking about eye glasses. I would have thought the focus is on preventive healthcare. Instead, we have accidental healthcare in Ekiti. You talk about surgery festival in a state where we have 67 medical doctors to a population of 2.3 million people. Ekiti people will see the difference when we get there, by God’s grace. Within the first 30 days, they will see a fundamental change in how state finances could be used to change the lives of ordinary people. Eight months in office, they have inaugurated roundabout put in place by a local bank and claimed credit for what they had not contributed anything to. A government without credibility is bound to fail.
What can you say about the intervention of elders in Ekiti politics?
You know I am a properly brought up son of Ekiti. I have a father who is still alive, a retired civil servant. Even if I disagree with him, there is no way I can look him straight in the eyes. I have to find a diplomatic way to make my disagreement known. That’s the way I was brought up. The elders are a critical component of Ekiti developmental agenda. They are far more experienced. They may not be as educated but they know that integrity matters. They know that hardwork, competence are critical components of whoever they are going to endorse to play a critical role in the politics of Ekiti.
I have a great deal of respect for them and I have always said that their role is above politics, and I maintain that position. I have had opportunities to say to some of them that I don’t necessarily require their support; what I require is their non-partisan commitment to Ekiti people; and that if they do that, they create the opportunity at the top to intervene as an arbiter when there is crisis among those of us jostling for political offices.
Unfortunately, some of our elders did not take to such an advice. They plunged themselves into the murky waters of Ekiti politics. I think that is quite unfortunate. However, the lesson is when we grow, we are learning; and the younger people will continue to need their wise counsel. Some of them recently got in touch with members of our party in the House of Assembly, and they expressed their concern about the delay in passing the budget, and we took pains to explain to them our own view of what a budget is and I think they are better informed now.
Do you foresee peace in Ekiti House of Assembly, given the polarisation between AC and PDP?
I can tell you that our members are committed irrevocably to the peace and progress of Ekiti State. Whatever they do is informed by this commitment to Ekiti, to benefit from government. I want to believe that some on the other side are genuinely committed to Ekiti State concerning accountability. Recently, when there was an investigation of the Speaker, the Integrity Group was bi-partisan of AC and PDP members. Personally, I want to say that I don’t hate Segun Oni; he was probably the closest to me while we were campaigning on the field. You don’t have to hate somebody in order to pursue the truth. Let it fall wherever it might; the important thing is that Ekiti people should benefit more. I don’t see any gridlock in Ekiti now. Yes, there is a crisis in governance – slow pace of activity; but by the time the tribunal gives its judgment, Ekiti will know peace founded on justice. I suspect the tribunal may drag on till April, but as we have been assured by the Supreme Court in the case of Peter Obi, whenever a decision is given and it is favourable, that’s the time we’ll start the business of governance in Ekiti State. So, by April, by the grace of God, we are expecting to be in power.
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