23 Apr 2009 |
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Before the showdown in Ekiti By Reuben Abati "So, are you planning to travel to Ekiti tomorrow?" "To go and do what?" "To observe the election of course. INEC is encouraging observers to visit Ekiti and monitor the elections. They even published a long list of accredited observers and organizations that are welcome in Ekiti." "I don't belong to any of those organizations. I'd rather stay at home and monitor the elections from a distance." "You are a coward." "Yes. I am. Are you not aware that two persons were killed this week in Ifaki-Ekiti because of this same election? Who knows how many more the Ekitis will kill, before they can have a properly elected Governor?" "Point of correction, please." "What?" "You make it sound as if the people of Ekiti are a group of killers. Correction. It is not Ekitis that are killing. It is the politicians and their thugs. Ekiti is the home of very enlightened and educated Nigerians and we boast of the largest number of Professors per sq. km. in Nigeria." "I know. The Fountain of Knowledge. And is that why you people cannot have proper elections. Or run a stable government?" "No. Ekitis run proper elections. And everything in Ekiti is stable. When Niyi Adebayo was Governor of the state, there was no problem, was there? Where were you then? Trouble started the moment the Peoples Democratic Party came to power in that state, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo pulling the strings and imposing his will on the people. The people of Ekiti should be allowed to vote and make their choice. That is the key challenge as we go to the polls tomorrow." "Looks like it is going to be a do-or-die election. Just ten local councils are involved in the election, but the heat that has been generated can be felt hundreds of kilometers away in Edo, Osun, Lagos, Ondo and Abuja. Practically everybody that is somebody in the Action Congress is in Ekiti. When I read the report in the papers and I saw the photographs of all the broom-wielding gladiators that have relocated to Ekiti, I thought the Ekiti Parapo War was about to be declared again." "This one is called The Broom Revolution. And it is a good sign, a lot of market women made good money these past few weeks selling brooms in Ekiti." "You are campaigning." "Do you have anything against that?" "The Action Congress ended its campaign for the Fayemi election in Ekiti by 6 p.m yesterday. There were adverts in the papers to that effect and sympathizers like you were warned not to weep more than the bereaved, so you don't provide a technical excuse for the electoral commission to either cancel the elections or disqualify either of the candidates." "Na lie. Nobody can disqualify anybody. Did you not read Fayose's statement?" "Fayose. When is he going to defect officially to the Action Congress? And if the PDP wins, I hope he knows that Segun Oni will run him out of town. And President Yar'Adua will run him out of Nigeria." "Leave matter. This is their last outing in Ekiti." "You are so partisan. Where do you stand in this matter?" "I thought you said they have warned us not to campaign again? But since you are neutral, what is your own forecast? Speaking objectively now. Seriously. " "No. I have no forecast. This is not a pools' bet. It is the lives and the future of the Ekiti people that we are talking about. That should be more important to INEC, to the PDP and to the Action Congress. I see and hear too many people issuing threats and insisting that there can only be a certain result. That is not proper, and INEC must do a thorough job." "Yes. I know the people who have been issuing those threats. The PDP Chairman says his party will do everything to win Ekiti." "Action Congress leaders have also issued statements and threats to the effect that the mayhem in Ondo State in 1983 will be a joke if they do not win." "But President Yar'Adua says they'd bring soldiers to Ekiti to monitor the polls." "No. He never said so." "So who did?" "INEC requested for soldiers." "And the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole led that song about the PDP bringing soldiers to Ekiti." "Try and be objective. You are supposed to be an educated person. What is wrong with you, Ekiti people, by the way?" "I beg your pardon." "Okay, sorry. Sorry." "I suspect you are a PDP man. You were saying the Action Congress brought people from thousands of kilometres to Ekiti. Where were you when President Yar'Adua abandoned Abuja and urgent matters of state and came to Ekiti to campaign and he brought Federal might to Ekiti, including all the PDP Governors in the South West. He even wanted to visit Ekiti 48 hours before the election. This is the same President who after two years in office has not deemed it necessary to embark on a nationwide state visit. He was prepared to visit Ekiti twice, only to tell Ekiti traditional rulers that Ekiti should not go out of the mainstream. That was pure blackmail." "Look at the calculations. The PDP needs to win Ekiti. They have lost Ondo State. Osun is still a bit shaky. If they lose Ekiti, it would mean that the party has lost its grip in the South-West. What Obasanjo gained, Yar'Adua would have lost, the South-West is of course politically strategic." "Look, the PDP likes to win everything and anything. But the broom revolution is here to sweep them away. By the way, is that why Yar'Adua had to intimidate the traditional rulers?" "No. He is a Prince of Katsina. He knows that the Obas would understand his message. The message of power." "But you know the man who may gain most from this, politically." "Who is that?" "Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If the Action Congress wins in Ekiti, he'd become effectively, the Godfather of Yoruba politics. The Adekunle Fajuyi family is already thanking him for helping them to rebuild their family house. He is everywhere - Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, Edo, Ondo, Oyo and even Ogun." "Let us not talk about Godfathers. We should be more interested in God, the Father, the omniscient." "Yes. We are praying." "Tomorrow will be hot, I can see." "It is the days after I am concerned about." "Well, as long as we all realize that the South Africans have just held their General elections, and there is no blood flowing on the streets of Johannesburg. Whatever happens in Ekiti tomorrow will be a major test for INEC, and a prelude to what could happen in the South-West in the 2011 elections." "There'd be no Gubernatorial election in Ekiti in 2011. Whoever wins the 10 local council elections tomorrow will have a fresh four-year mandate." "I'd keep my fingers crossed." "I am keeping mine open." "Oh. I understand. So that if anything drops, it can drop into it. I didn't know you are now a campaign agent." "You are not serious at all." "Whatever happens, both the PDP and the AC must lean to be good losers or good winners in the Ekiti elections." "You should talk to INEC. And of course, there will be an Election Petition Tribunal, which would have to take petitions again." "Another tribunal?" "Election petition is part of the process. There is nothing anybody can do about it." "God, the Father, please remember thy children in Ekiti in their hour of trial." "You should go and say that same prayer in other states of Nigeria. It is the entire country that is on trial, not Ekiti. We are very enlightened people." "I know. That is why you need to say it all the time. But tomorrow, prove it." "Can we talk about something else?" "I read a story about Nigerian ambassadors demanding salary review." "Non-career diplomats, 18 of them. They visited the Chairman of the PDP, Vincent Ogbulafor under the auspices of the Nigerian Ambassadors Forum (NAF)." "And is that a registered trade union?" "It beats me. In fact, I find it most strange that instead of staying at their duty posts, 18 ambassadors would travel from different parts of the world to come home to plead with the PDP Chairman that they want a salary raise - what they call a consolidation of ambassadors' salaries. Why the PDP Chairman? Does he now fix the salaries of public officials?" "I think the ambassadors need to be told that they are representing Nigeria abroad, not the PDP." "Are they planning to visit the Chairmen of all the other political parties?" "So much has gone wrong with our diplomatic service. The least that government can do is to organise orientation workshops for the people who are sent to foreign missions. The career diplomats in those embassies should also advise their non-career bosses, instead of allowing the world to laugh at us." "In fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should ask those ambassadors to return to their duty posts immediately. They should be told to consider their appointments a great honour and not an opportunity to agitate for more money. Are they not aware that there is economic recession, and that President Yar'Adua is cutting salaries?" "These are PDP members. They want their own share of the loot. You think they don't know what they are doing? In fact, I hear that some of them will be in Ekiti tomorrow to take part in the elections." "Are you going for the South-South Summit in Calabar?" "No. It is ending today. The six South-South Governors who are sponsoring the Summit should prove their commitment by providing quality governance. That is the issue not more talks." "Come to Ekiti, then." "No. I am staying back in Lagos to watch the Eyo masquerade festival. The Oba of Lagos is hosting a dinner tonight and tomorrow is the Eyo festival day." "Be careful. Don't let those Area Boys in Eyo regalia clobber you with their clubs. I hear they can be ruthless, particularly if you once took their girlfriend, or offended them in any way." "No. Eyo is not for Area Boys. Most of those people in Eyo Regalia are judges, senior civil servants, professionals, aristocrats." "Are they not all from Lagos Island?" "The Eyo does not cross water. It cannot go beyond Tafawa Balewa Square. That is the boundary. It is a Lagos Island affair." "So, while they are chasing ballot boxes in Ekiti, the people of Lagos Island will be dancing and wining." "That's life, my brother."
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