Kayode Fayemi has a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in War studies but that is not the PhD I am talking about. This PhD is known in Nigerian parlance as Pull Him Down. It is usually awarded to somebody whose profile is rising or whose achievements are glaring or somebody who is successful. In most cases, such people are objects of envy against who all negative stories and untruths are peddled. This is the Pull Him Down syndrome in the current dispensation in which Fayemi is a prime target of media attacks.
This especially has become Fayemi’s lot in the last few days immediately after he appeared in a media photograph with the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, and Vice President-elect, Prof Yemi Osibajo, while receiving former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at the Defence House, Abuja. Since then, there have been well-coordinated media attacks on Fayemi on a daily basis by his detractors suspected to belong to his immediate political family who feel he is too close to the President-elect and is likely to get a juicy appointment which may adversely affect their own chances.
The PHD articles all follow the same pattern of accusing him of the same “offences”, including allegedly imposing himself on Buhari like a desperado as if Fayemi appointed himself to head the Policy and Strategy Unit of Buhari’s presidency. Other offences include his lack of electoral value, arrogance and ingratitude to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Opeyemi Bamidele and Ayodele Fayose. The media bashing started from Hakeem Adisa to Jide Adamolekun and Segun Ayobolu and of recent, Segun Adedeji, all accusing Fayemi of the same “offences”. The latest article by Segun Adedeji smacks of bile and it is glaring that he belongs to the circle of the PHD writers among whom Segun Ayobolu is a veteran while others, including Segun Adedeji, are as good as Jacob cloning the voice of Esau.
I am also a proud Ekiti citizen who God has blessed abundantly but I am very proud of this young man called Kayode Fayemi who left Ekiti better than he met it five years ago. There is nothing shameful if the President-elect finds Fayemi’s company useful and he’s comfortable with him. I will like to correct Segun’s wrong impression that Fayemi is the one imposing himself on Buhari. If Buhari finds Fayemi intellectually useful to his incoming government, what is bad in that? Is that not a plus for Ekiti State that our son is close to the seat of power? Why should this be a thing to be sad about if it is not as a result of bad blood and a hidden agenda by Segun and his gang? From what I and others know about General Buhari, he is not frivolous and definitely not stupid. He surely has a clear vision of how he intends to direct the affairs of the country. Nobody can impose himself on him neither can you lobby him for appointment as Segun would want us believe.
I am yet to read or hear our highly revered Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu say he is angry with Fayemi such that Segun and company would appoint themselves as his attack dogs, barking endlessly against Fayemi! Why are they bent on causing a rift between Fayemi and his benefactor, Asiwaju Tinubu? This is not only wicked, it is satanic. I don’t know who introduced who to whom but let us assume without conceding that Opeyemi Bamidele introduced Fayemi to Tinubu, so what? So nobody has ever introduced Bamidele to another person? This is too petty! Can Segun say in all truthfulness that Opeyemi Bamidele has no blame in the misunderstanding between the two erstwhile associates? I find it funny that one of the allegations is that Fayemi also betrayed Fayose whom he was expected (as a sitting ACN Governor in 2011) to give a Senatorial ticket to as a Labour Party candidate, does that make sense?
I laughed when I read Segun’s reference to a N60 million bed (Fayose said it was N50million) that Fayemi bought in the purported 3.5 billion new government house that he built. This is sheer hyperbole as there is no N60 million bed anywhere and the cost of the Government House is nothing near N3.5 billion. Fayemi has debunked this and challenged Fayose and his party to provide receipts but this has not been done. I don’t agree that Ekiti doesn’t need a befitting Government House because this did not stop Fayemi from taking care of the elderly who earned N5,000 monthly for over three years, unemployed youths who were paid a stipend every month, vulnerable women, rural women who were empowered, youths in commercial agriculture and youths on skill acquisition training. The new government house also did not stop Fayemi from increasing the salary of civil servants three times and pay them as at when due neither did it stop him from constructing and rehabilitating over 1,000 kilometres of federal, state and local government roads across the state including my own town, Iye Ekiti. I can attest to the various projects executed in my town and many people he empowered which is unprecedented. Apart from attracting a branch of Wema Bank to Iye during his tenure, he constructed the 43km Oye/Imojo/Itaji/Ayede/Isan/Iludun/Iye/Ijeasmodu/Ikun/Igogo road, renovation of our Oba’s palace, construction of modern civic centre, renovation of our schools and empowerment of Iye-Ekiti people to the tune of N27 million yearly. I learnt this is replicated in many towns in Ekiti.
A governor who toured all communities asking them what they wanted included in the budget cannot be described as arrogant or having lost touch with the grassroots. Yes! Oyebode was right that Fayemi left his indelible footprints in all Ekiti towns. There is no way the legacies of such a governor could be erased or rubbished for whatever reason. Yes, he lost the June 21, elections under controversial circumstances, the last of which we have not heard. It is such articles from Segun and co that made outsiders view Ekiti as ungrateful people who prefer a man who doesn’t have any plan for their wellbeing to a man who treated them with love, compassion and sincerity. I don’t know where Segun lives, but if it is outside Ekiti, he must have noticed the opprobrium which an Ekiti person is subjected to outside as a result of which many Ekitis are ashamed to own up their cradle.
I witnessed the APC presidential primaries convention in Lagos in December as an observer and I can say categorically that Ekiti delegates voted en bloc for General Muhammadu Buhari. I wonder why Segun distorted facts and lied that Fayemi instructed Ekiti delegates to vote for another candidate, referring to Atiku. God so good, Atiku Abubakar is alive and knows where Ekiti votes went. I expected Segun to commend Fayemi for conducting one of the best Presidential primaries ever in the history of the country instead of cooking up lies to discredit and portray him as a traitor. It is not for fun that Fayemi was made the head of the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council. If he is not close to Buhari, who else will be close to him? Is the major plank of Buhari’s Presidency not about Policy and Strategy? The allegation that Fayemi is following Buhari about is cheap blackmail and it reveals the real intention of Segun and co and exposed them as men of little minds.
I recall the same pattern of attacks and abuses against the President-elect during his electioneering campaign when hate campaigners left substance and pursued shadows. It turned out as electoral advantage to Buhari who was focused and earned the respect and the sympathy of the people. I implore Dr. Fayemi to ignore the rantings of these hack writers and be focused on his present national assignment. He should remember a Yoruba saying which goes thus, a n juwon o see wi lejo, ija ilara o tan boro (A person who is hated because he is successful is not likely to be able to pacify his haters because such quarrels are always difficult to settle). Fayemi seems to have hearkened to the wise saying of Joe Vitale who said: “Don’t lean on the past, learn from it and move on”. And as Vince Lombardi said, ‘the greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall”. Are Segun and his gang not happy that Fayemi is rising again?
With the barrage of hate articles from Segun and co, Fayemi should pay more attention to his personal security as it is clear that there are people who are not happy with his closeness to the President-elect and they may not mind getting him out of the way. Fayemi should watch his back.
Written by Omoba Adegoroye Bamgboye, a Media Consultant writes from Iye-Ekiti.
