I Am Going Back To The Classroom – Governor Kayode Fayemi

Governor Kayode Fayemi did not give the impression of being the anchor of an administration on its way out when the team of visiting journalists met with him in the late hours of last Friday. As the team motored up the treacherous hill to the new Government House, Ayoba Villa, commissioned just yesterday, Fayemi was apparently still engaged in the duties of state.

The governor has been busy in the last few days with activities mainly focussed on commissioning what the administration has styled as legacy projects. Dressed in a dark grey buba and sokoto, with white embroidery, Governor Fayemi took out one hour to respond to questions on his exit strategy, the lessons of his four year stewardship among other issues.

There has been an influx of notable personalities to Ekiti State in the past few weeks to commission projects by your administration. Why did you keep it till the tail end?

First, let me say that it is just a co-incidence that you are seeing the galaxy of stars in Ekiti at this particular period.

If you recall, you would also confirm that consistently in the last four years, every October we commission a whole series of projects and people come here. We have had even international personalities visit us to do one commissioning or the other. And it is always taking place around or about this period.

It just so happened that for this particular fourth anniversary we also had to showcase what we have been able to do in a much more comprehensive manner in the last four years. Particularly, in the last two years because the projects we are commissioning now are the projects done in the last one year. Last year we commissioned Ikogosi Warm springs Resort, we also commissioned most of the road projects; we haven’t really commissioned roads this time around except the local government roads. And we have projects we refer to as legacy projects, one of which you are currently inside (The Ayoba Villa). They are mostly the projects that we have commissioned in this current phase.

But I think it basically seeks to demonstrate that for us it has been a legacy of service and sacrifice to our people and on that whichever way you want to look at it, this was not the Ekiti we met. The Ekiti we met was in many ways different from what we are today. We didn’t have the kind of facilities we have now. Not just on government’s side. What is often not mentioned is that there is a great measure of growth in the private sector activities that we didn’t have then.

I always cite the increase in the number of available hotel room space in decent hotels as a measure of the economic growth and investment in the state. We used to have just two decent hotels when I became governor here; Fountain Hotel and Pathfinder Hotel.

But now, less than four years after, we have had an upsurge of at least ten very decent hotels and an increase from 500 to 2500 rooms and they are still not enough. In fact, some of the hotels are doing extension of their facilities now. If you go to Prosperous or Midas, you will see the extension being built by the hoteliers, not to mention The Jewel, Queens and Delight.

With the olive branch you extended to your incoming successor, Nigerians were expecting a smooth relationship between you two but at what point did things get bad?

One thing I always say is that I’m not given to playing to the gallery. I’ll not denigrate this office. As an occupant of the office, I hold it in high esteem. That is why I sought the position and I also hold high anyone who has either held the office or is coming into the office. And I’m not going to get into personality issue. Suffice it to say though, that the record speaks for itself.

There is no place you will find me or my Chief Press Secretary cast aspersion in the last three months. Instead, what you will see are people who cast aspersions and then withdraw the aspersion.

For me, there is even nothing wrong in pushing the frontiers of debates but push it on the basis of facts. The steps I took which many saw as unusual, I didn’t see as unusual. I’ve given you the context. I knew the machination behind what transpired in Ekiti and I knew the next phase they were about to move to. I chose to rescue our people from that because I felt it would be double jeopardy. And there is no apology for doing that.

Institutional manner

This was why I then called the governor-elect; listen, I think it would help you to – since you said you have changed-   behave more maturely. To approach this in an institutional manner, put your team together, send me a list of people that you want in your transition committee. Let your team meet with my team and work through a process.

If there is anything that is confusing to you ask me questions. You have to be patient and also conduct yourself in that manner with a brother and a successor-in-waiting and you start reading statements contrary to what decorum dictates.

I’m not someone who will say don’t ask questions. As matter of fact, I do not expect you to come into any government and not review the activities of the past government. It’ll be irresponsible of you not to review what transpired, how did it transpire, are there gaps that you need to give us information on and if there isn’t we move on.

But if you choose not to do that, if you choose to play to the arena of public media because you are either soliciting sympathy in one form or another and creating the impression that what you are coming into is a failed state so to speak; then even if I don’t want to do it as a person, the institutions of government will not have a choice than to respond to say that you are just laying a foundation for the failure that you are going to be when you get into office.

So, take that away from it there is no breakdown. It’ll interest you to know that up to two days ago I was still signing up some papers for the government coming in.  And as you all now know, there is a regular signing for support that has gone to the governor-elect since he won the election. Now that it is public information because THISDAY reported it today and I can confirm it to you. Well, I don’t know where they got their information from but they did. These are documented facts. There is no big deal in that. It did not happen in other transitions but I cannot claim to be civilized and exposed as much as I’m and not also borrow a leaf from other places.

Structural support

If you have a person win an election in America today, automatically certain structural support base comes in to effect. It is unofficial here. It is not even something that can be defended because I’ve no budget line for it. So if I choose to do that out of the contingency funds of the government, it is not because I’m afraid of anybody and it is not because I owe anybody that but for me, I wanted the transition to be smooth, however, if someone coming into office prefers brickbat to reason, then clearly we will also have to respond to that.

Given the present tension in the state especially in the judiciary, do you expect the House of Assembly dominated by the APC to function after the transition?

Once brigandage and thuggery descend on any society, there is a problem. What we have seen in the courts in Ekiti is monumental travesty that really shouldn’t be supported by any right thinking person. But to think that this is actually being choreographed and coordinated by elements within the Federal Government portends serious danger for Nigeria’s democracy and for the independence of the Judiciary.

Security apparatus

I hope the Judiciary and all of us, all right-thinking Nigerians would stand up firm to challenge what is going on because the minute you start using the Military and other security apparatus to hound Judges, the Chief Judge of this state was locked out of his own office when he attempted to go into his own court yesterday.

This is not what was reported in the newspapers, you are hearing from me, that is what happened to the Chief Judge yesterday and his brother Judges. And you have the police commissioner and others who are in cahoots with those subverting the courts. I think there is no adjective to use for what is happening now, not even in the days of Military rule in this country was a court invaded and Judges beaten up.

They may disagree with you, they may invite you, they may use somebody to go and talk to you before they deliver judgment, but not even the Military in all of its brazenness adopted this jungle justice as a vehicle for getting their own way.

I think you are right if that is extended to the Assembly. Of course, that is the rumour that is common. We have seen that before, it is the Judiciary that is the new one. After all, the Assembly in Gbenga Daniel’s Ogun State was shut down for more than a year, many would recall what happened. So that is actually not new, it could happen.

So, what would you do?

Well, I am not going to reveal what we are going to do in a session like this, but we would cross the bridge when we get there.

There is a rumour doing the round now that you are being considered for the vice presidency of APC, my question is that if that happens, what kind of vice president should Nigerians expect from you, especially if you are going to be vice-president to somebody like Buhari who is a military man and you being a democrat, since all the presidential aspirants are coming to commission your projects (laughs).

Well, the last time I checked, I am not aware that General AbduIsalami Abubbakar is a presidential aspirant in any party. As far as I am aware, I thought he was just a statesman, a former head of state.

But to your question, let me start by saying that for me, I don’t even understand this notion of being considered. Do aspirants consider people for vice-presidency? I think the way it functions is that you become the candidate of a party and you look for somebody who could work with you and I think as far as the timetable of APC is concerned, we are far from that.

If your question is hypothetical, what are you going to do in the event that you are asked to be vice-presidential candidate to whoever emerges as the candidate of your party, basically, I would tell you, one, I am not in the race for presidency. Two, I am a party man through and through and if that were to happen, I certainly would give it a serious thought because if you look at the seat I am occupying, I really did not run for this seat. I am one of the luckiest Nigerians that you can refer to in that sense.

Quest towards consensus

I was literally head-hunted for this job and some of our leaders felt that I had what it took at the time to run for the position of governor in Ekiti State. And I wasn’t really one of the frontline people in the party then.

If you see the three of them, maybe it is in the quest towards the consensus that we are looking for in our party.

After your tenure, are you going back to the classroom?

Oh certainly, I am a permanent student. I have already received a couple of offers both locally and internationally. I have a lot of jobs to do now. If I am going to go out at all, it will just be for a short period to write and reflect on my experience in Ekiti, it would not be on a permanent basis.

You know, I have an on-going relationship with the University of Ibadan, the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. I have that. And then, we just set up a Regional Institute for Peace and Governance in the Ekiti State University here, so either way, I am going back into the classroom, in one form or another.

If you are called upon by the next governor to come and defend certain actions, what will be your response?

Why not!? I expect that I would be called to defend certain actions to clarify actions, to explain what I have done in office that is stewardship. Anyone who has served must be prepared to render an account of stewardship, but even before I am called, I mean I have almost a 1,500-page hand-over note for the incoming administration and I am sure they would have enough to chew on and if they are not satisfied, I am sure they can ask questions as long as the questions are asked in a manner that does not impugn my character which I hold very dearly. And there is no reason why they should not be free to ask questions. It is a legitimate expectation of any new government to ask questions about what has transpired. They need not necessarily be negative, they may just be because there are things I would have loved to do with the incoming administration, but I wouldn’t be able to do because of the way the incoming administration has conducted itself.

Clearly, one of the things I promised for instance, I promised the World Bank, in the course of my tenure, they have eight projects in this state, so Ekiti became the major focused state in Nigeria.

Projects in agriculture

And they are worried now, they are very worried, they are concerned about what is going to happen to their projects and to things we have been doing. We have projects in Agriculture, in water, we have in Education. I mean World Bank has over the last one year put in almost $150 million in this state and now, they have solicited, they have asked me to bring the new person so that we sit down, introduce him to them and reassure them that these things would be handled in the manner that would not make them regret the fund they have given.

Of course, their support is not personal, it is institutional. But in fund raising, we always say it is people that you are comfortable with that you will support and it is not an accident that Ekiti did not have that kind of support before I became governor here. So it is going to be a challenge. He would have to reassure development partners. They don’t have particularly nice stories to tell about past relationships with him. So I hope we don’t lose out, I hope the World Bank doesn’t withdraw their support from Ekiti.

Interview conducted by Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor of Vanguard