It was glaring enough to discerning minds that the shot was highly provocative. And it came from President Muhammadu Buhari himself. His target was never in doubt. That statement was partisan and quite unpresidential.
The crux of the matter is the Ekiti State July 14, 2018, gubernatorial election. Virtually everybody is interested. It is rightly a pointer to subsequent elections.
For this reason, Buhari summoned his foot soldiers from the South West to Aso Rock. The only meaningful agenda on the table was the Ekiti poll. All other matters were inconsequential.
The foot soldiers responded in large numbers. It was to be a dinner with the President at his Villa. His onerous task was to appease aggrieved aspirants who lost to Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate. He is still Minister of Solid Minerals and the last APC governor of the state.
Impressed by the quality and calibre of the attendees, Buhari let out his salvo: “This (election) is crucial because I remember the hanky-panky that attended the last gubernatorial election in Ekiti State in 2014. I recall the ‘firsthand’ account I received from some of the dramatis personae in that unfortunate saga.
“We must do everything to ensure that we do not allow any subversion of the will of the people this time around.”
Of course, Buhari was referring to Governor Ayodele Fayose’s victory in 2014. It was the election that gave him a second chance.
Trust him, the governor picked it from there. He could correctly read the ugly writing on the equally cracked wall. He came down heavily on the president. He not only defended his 2014 victory, he strongly advocated a free and fair election in July.
This is how he saw it: “We are beginning to receive signals to the effect that clandestine moves are being made to subvert the will of Ekiti people. With the failure of their ‘Ondo Option,’ other evil means are now being devised.”
Fayose is cocksure APC is up to some pranks and mischief. He lay bare his facts: “Despite that we have over 9,000 youth corps members in Ekiti State and it has been the general practice to engage the NYSC members in elections across the country, the APC, in collusion with INEC, has asked students of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), to be recruited as INEC ad hoc staff for the election, instead of youth corps members.”
The allegation is frightening. Can it be real? He swore: “We are in possession of an internal memorandum seeking the registration of students of the university as INEC presiding officers and returning officers for the election.”
He insisted it was a grand plan to rig: “The idea behind this plot is to recruit APC members from neighbouring states; arm them with FUOYE student identity cards and use them as INEC presiding and returning officers to perfect the planned rigging of the election. This will fail.
“As I speak, over 2,000 supposed FUOYE students have been registered with a curious condition that they should provide bank account details of their close relations, apparently to avoid tracing any payment into their own accounts.”
He tasked INEC to come clean on this: “The electoral umpire must tell the public the rationale behind the plot to jettison youth corps members for the supposed FUOYE students.”
Fayose then beamed his searchlight on Buhari’s “hanky-panky” comment. He was as daring as ever: “I am not surprised at all because he is no longer in touch with reality. The President is not even in charge of his own government.”
He was peeved that the 2014 election highly commended by international observers was being roundly condemned by Buhari: “The President runs to the USA at all times and believes in the US government more than himself. This same US government said clearly that the election was free, fair and transparent.”
Fayose’s parting words: “Let me tell the President and his men that they will be disgraced here in Ekiti. The power of the people is greater than the power of those in power.” With that he closed his case.
Expectedly, FUOYE strenuously denied the allegation, describing it as “a blatant lie. In a post-colonial setting like Nigeria, especially Ekiti State, elections are like war and in any war, truth is usually the first casualty.”
However, APC spokesman, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said his party was not surprised by that “spurious allegation.” INEC unwisely chose to keep mum. They all left the substance substantially unattended to.
But Fayose interpreted all the grandstanding as official excuses to militarise the July 14 election. He read their lips and minds very well. He knew that these are unclever ways of preparing for an invasion.
They are odd tactics of capturing and not winning through the ballot box. They are the strategies you employ to ambush and subdue your enemies. They are different from the conventional ways of defeating your opponents at the poll.
Buhari’s thinking is that Ekiti must be captured: He put it succinctly: “As we approach the 2019 elections, the return of Ekiti into the fold of progressive is important. On my part, let me reassure you that you can count on my support.”
All eyes are on Ekiti before, during and after the election. Mr. Osman Tat, political/economic chief, US Consulate, Lagos, confirmed as much. He was in the state last week:
“We are here for the monitoring of events leading to the conduct of the governorship election. We are to monitor purposely to ensure a free, fair and transparent election. Ekiti is controlled by the opposition party and that is why the US is interested in the election.”
American Ambassador, William Stuart Symington, was equally in the state two months earlier. He expressed the same sentiments.
What is needed in Ekiti is simple: A free, fair and transparent election; nothing more. Certainly, not even a militarised poll or ambush as being allegedly contemplated. We insist, no hanky-panky, no subversion, or pervasion as the case may be.
Then, who is afraid of Fayose? The game must be played according to the rules.