It is instructive that Nigeria remains a spectacle of dysfunction, no thanks to fading hopes of renewal through the All Progressives Congress which rode to power on the wings of a change agenda. Major cities are paralysed by lengthening fuel queues resembling scenes of fresh riots, while the failure to arrest pronounced infrastructural woes such as epileptic power supply remains a potent symbol of official and national incompetence.
Emeritus Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, while lamenting recently, the death on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway of yet another brilliant young Nigerian alludes to the paradox of a nation whose technocrats build power stations and pipelines in the United States, but which continues to pay such a high price for its wasted opportunities and fiascos. It is against this unhappy backdrop of expectations of change slowly dissolving into another nightmare of broken promises and failing governance, that one must inspect the one man oppositional role of Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose.
A bundle of contradictions who also is steeped in the cunning ways of Nigerian politicians, Fayose is the nemesis of the Ekiti educated political elite, that failed to live up to minimum standards of governmental efficiency and service delivery. His homespun ideology of stomach infrastructure found resonance and popular appeal among an electorate that had raw deals under successive politicians who promised much in impeccable English, but delivered little. To be sure, Fayose’s earlier advent as governor, and his recent comeback to the same seat are dogged with controversies, some of them still unresolved. That notwithstanding, his raw populism and down to earth style appeared to have carved out a niche for him, not just in the stomachs, but perhaps also in the hearts of citizens of his state.
What is of particular interest is that, in recent months, especially as the much anticipated magic wand of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to resolve Nigeria’s multiplying problems, Fayose has emerged as a lone oppositional voice to the government’s undiscerning interventions. His heroism may seem a bit awkward, considering the heavy cross of moral reproach which he carries; it is nonetheless a symbol of the retreat of civil society, and of an opposition Peoples Democratic Party hanging between life and death that Fayose has emerged as a tribune of sorts for the voiceless. Before dealing with the ramifications of this development, I characteristically crave the readers’ indulgence to enter a short take.
The anguish and resilience of Nigerians in the face of the multiple crises of fuel shortage, the reign of darkness during the Easter season, and of prices of goods escalating wildly have been well-documented in our newspapers. For example, it is common knowledge that in several states, petrol is selling for between N120 and N170 per litre, leading to an upward cascade of transport cost among other items. It remains to be seen whether the Minister of state for Petrolum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, will be able to perform the magic of making fuel available at the official price in a week or two from now, as he was “forced” to promise early this week.
It is also well-known that in spite of the government’s promise to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity by 2019 by adding 2,000 megawatts every year electricity supply continues to dip and currently hovers around 2,000 megawatts. (The PUNCH even reported on Thursday that the country’s power generation that day collapsed at “exactly 12.58pm to zero megawatt and this persisted for about three hours.” ) What may be less well-known, however, is that survival strategies for coping with these stressors reached a new low recently with the revelation by resident doctors in Ilorin, Kwara State that they now perform surgeries with phone lights, torchlights and lamps.
In a story, published by several newspapers, including The PUNCH, the immediate former President of the Association of Resident Doctors at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Dr. Oyinlola Oluwagbemiga, as well as the incumbent President, Dr. Ade Faponle, revealed that whereas the hospital had a 500 KVA generator, it could no longer afford to fuel it through the long hours of darkness. Consequently, if they needed to perform a four-hour operation, and electricity was available for only half the time, they had had to regrettably resort to lights from their phones and torches. It is not clear, whether Ilorin is the only “teaching hospital” using this Stone Age improvisational technique, or whether many other hospitals are caught in the same bind. This distressing narrative however symbolises the plight of Nigerians at the very brink.
To return to the initial discourse, it is interesting to note that Fayose’s exciting one-upmanship is not without its cost, as the travails of the state House of Assembly probably illustrate. For example, the newspapers reported on Thursday that most members of the Assembly had relocated to Ibadan because of incessant visits and harassment by security officials. It is also interesting that the APC in Ekiti State recently described Fayose as “a threat to national security” (The PUNCH, March 29, 2016).
While some of these may be little more than political shenanigans gone gaga, it is conceivable that they represent attempts to get Fayose to tone down his criticism of the Federal Government, or alternatively be impeached if matters can be so arranged. Relevant too, is the outcry of the Ekiti lawmakers over the insistent visits of security agents to Ado Ekiti. Listen to them: “Everybody should understand that human rights activists are nowhere to be found, there is a conspiracy of silence from the other angle, the only hope is the press” (Nigerian Tribune, March 31, 2016). The lawmakers’ criticism of a once vibrant civil society in the face of state intimidation of a legislative house speaks to the vacuum in the opposition, and in intellectual challenges to the action and inaction of the Federal Government.
It is perhaps fortunate that the internal cracks within the APC allow us to hear the other side of policy and political matters. Otherwise, we would have arrived at a one-party state given the current feebleness and virtual absence of an opposition political party. It may take time for the PDP to recover from both the shock of electoral defeat and an anti-corruption war skewed to put its leading lights in the dragnet. Perhaps, another opposition party will emerge from the ashes of the PDP in combination with disaffected members of the APC. What is lamentable however is that for the moment, the polity lacks the stimulus which an opposition party in combination with a vibrant civil society can provide. It is this vacuum that Fayose is filling with his biting criticisms of the Buhari administration. For example, in the wake of Buhari’s initial enigmatic silence over the massacre in Agatu, Benue State, by Fulani herdsmen, Fayose queried that “If President Buhari could offer to pick his phone and call the Ivorian President, Alassane Outtara, immediately after the attack, Nigerians must ask the President why he kept mute for days over the Fulani herdsmen massacre of over 300 Agatu people of Benue State.”
More recently, Fayose admonished Buhari to go beyond merely apologising to Nigerians for failures, to sitting down to addressing in concrete terms their woes. In the current conjuncture in which we find ourselves, and in spite of his own blemishes, Fayose has emerged, to paraphrase Rotimi John, in the unlikely role of the conscience of the nation. It will be a pity, if he is silenced.
PUNCH
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As much as I agree with your position on the role which Fayose is currently playing (viable opposition). I would have been more thrilled if I had read your views some months ago when PDP was in power and the APC lawmakers in Ekiti state has to scampered to Lagos for the safety of their lives because the situation in the state then wasn’t conducive. How about the impeachment carried out by just five members of the Ekiti state house of assembly then? Was it constitutional? As much as I do not advocate for the politics of ” an eye for an eye “, I would very much appreciate that when an injustice is perpetuated – by whosoever – let us report it without bias. Thanks.