A lot of people have reduced Ayo Fayose’s victory at the polls on Saturday to the politics of sharing rice to poor Ekiti voters. If that were the case, Fayemi would have at least had a close run because he did share his own rice too, but the results suggest Ayo Fayose, as much as this is difficult for me to write, did maul Governor Kayode Fayemi.
The intimidation of his governor friends and the arrests of his campaign officers on the eve of the elections apart, the Ekiti elections were a step above the usual rigging that have often characterized elections in Nigeria. Fayose had the might of the state behind him in the military; that power was used in harassing and intimidating Governor Fayemi’s supporters to no end, this of course was an unfair reality but it was only an episode in a process that revealed Nigeria to many in ways they probably never saw it or paid much attention to.
Friday 20th June I told a friend pointblank: any president who intends to start a genuine change process in Nigeria must forget about his/her second term or pretend in his/her first term, then get real in the second term. Deviance is our norm, impunity is our law, and absurdities are our way.
Ekiti is not the first elections in Nigeria where candidates had to share food and money to entice voters. This has always been a normal part of our elections. In fact, the smartest politician is the one who spreads the sharing over the period between one election and the next. Our people more often than not see that as their own way of sharing in the national cake. What set Ekiti apart is the mind-boggling fact that an incumbent who had actually performed and was seen to have performed was judged not based on his performance but based on how much he couldn't share directly with the people while in office.
So, as a Nigerian politician, Governor Fayemi goofed on deciding to go with technocrats as his commissioners instead of politicians. Other things being equal, technocrats focus on the job while politics could later be a distraction but politicians focus on politics while getting the job done is the distraction. Governor Fayemi's technocrats did get the job done. That was never enough.
Just a year or so into his tenure, he was already getting the vibes of the anger of those who preferred the Governor focused on ‘stomach infrastructure’ and not enduring physical infrastructure. It was a choice between directly giving the people fish or creating the environment where the people could fish and have sustainable income.
So then, if you were a Fayemi what would you do after losing elections? Get frustrated? This was out of his hands. He was a technocrat focused on getting the job done. He had no political figure in the state who managed the political side of things.
Governor Fashola survived in Lagos despite his reforms because former Governor Tinubu managed the political costs of his tough decisions. Where a Fayemi insisted on re-training and re-testing teachers to improve the standard of the educational system, he had no politician in place to manage the anger that'd naturally rise from such a bold decision. In the end, politics won and Governor Fayemi had to let go of some of his plans. It was too little too late. The people wanted business as usual, the Governor was too much of a by-the-book person.
What do Nigerians want? For all the cries about change, Nigerians do not want the change some of us in our idealistic state think they want. A lot of Nigerians actually prefer the status quo. This is a country where you can get away with virtually any crime. A leader who comes around to make the law count, to bring about costs to disobeying the law is not likely to be a popular leader.
Corruption and lawlessness have been entrenched in our society. What some other climes may see as corruption, we may see it as ordinary stealing. Anyone who intends to go head-to-head with these established unwholesome norms cannot have thoughts of second term in his or her head. Without a doubt, such a person is likely to be appreciated after office than while in office.
We want change but only when we are at the receiving end of the norm. When the norm favours us, we are just okay with the status quo.
Congratulations to Governor-elect Ayo Fayose. He is the man the people of Ekiti want and no one can say they don't deserve him. Didn't someone already say the people deserve the leader they get? As a Nigerian, one can only hope that politics does not continue to get in the way of genuine development. As for our mostly idealistic generation, how do we ‘rice’ up to this challenge? May God help Nigeria.
The intimidation of his governor friends and the arrests of his campaign officers on the eve of the elections apart, the Ekiti elections were a step above the usual rigging that have often characterized elections in Nigeria. Fayose had the might of the state behind him in the military; that power was used in harassing and intimidating Governor Fayemi’s supporters to no end, this of course was an unfair reality but it was only an episode in a process that revealed Nigeria to many in ways they probably never saw it or paid much attention to.
Friday 20th June I told a friend pointblank: any president who intends to start a genuine change process in Nigeria must forget about his/her second term or pretend in his/her first term, then get real in the second term. Deviance is our norm, impunity is our law, and absurdities are our way.
Ekiti is not the first elections in Nigeria where candidates had to share food and money to entice voters. This has always been a normal part of our elections. In fact, the smartest politician is the one who spreads the sharing over the period between one election and the next. Our people more often than not see that as their own way of sharing in the national cake. What set Ekiti apart is the mind-boggling fact that an incumbent who had actually performed and was seen to have performed was judged not based on his performance but based on how much he couldn't share directly with the people while in office.
So, as a Nigerian politician, Governor Fayemi goofed on deciding to go with technocrats as his commissioners instead of politicians. Other things being equal, technocrats focus on the job while politics could later be a distraction but politicians focus on politics while getting the job done is the distraction. Governor Fayemi's technocrats did get the job done. That was never enough.
Just a year or so into his tenure, he was already getting the vibes of the anger of those who preferred the Governor focused on ‘stomach infrastructure’ and not enduring physical infrastructure. It was a choice between directly giving the people fish or creating the environment where the people could fish and have sustainable income.
So then, if you were a Fayemi what would you do after losing elections? Get frustrated? This was out of his hands. He was a technocrat focused on getting the job done. He had no political figure in the state who managed the political side of things.
Governor Fashola survived in Lagos despite his reforms because former Governor Tinubu managed the political costs of his tough decisions. Where a Fayemi insisted on re-training and re-testing teachers to improve the standard of the educational system, he had no politician in place to manage the anger that'd naturally rise from such a bold decision. In the end, politics won and Governor Fayemi had to let go of some of his plans. It was too little too late. The people wanted business as usual, the Governor was too much of a by-the-book person.
What do Nigerians want? For all the cries about change, Nigerians do not want the change some of us in our idealistic state think they want. A lot of Nigerians actually prefer the status quo. This is a country where you can get away with virtually any crime. A leader who comes around to make the law count, to bring about costs to disobeying the law is not likely to be a popular leader.
Corruption and lawlessness have been entrenched in our society. What some other climes may see as corruption, we may see it as ordinary stealing. Anyone who intends to go head-to-head with these established unwholesome norms cannot have thoughts of second term in his or her head. Without a doubt, such a person is likely to be appreciated after office than while in office.
We want change but only when we are at the receiving end of the norm. When the norm favours us, we are just okay with the status quo.
Congratulations to Governor-elect Ayo Fayose. He is the man the people of Ekiti want and no one can say they don't deserve him. Didn't someone already say the people deserve the leader they get? As a Nigerian, one can only hope that politics does not continue to get in the way of genuine development. As for our mostly idealistic generation, how do we ‘rice’ up to this challenge? May God help Nigeria.
For breaking news out of Abuja, follow us on Twitter: @MetropoleMag
No comments:
Post a Comment