Something good from Ekiti

The battle for the gubernatorial seat in Ekiti State was fought, lost and won on Saturday. And from clear indications, the contest was free, fair and credible. The outcome of the poll did not go against most predictions and analyses before the poll. Both local and international observers have said so. Good enough, the election did not witness violence and anarchy as feared in certain quarters and Ekiti people were happy with the outcome of the poll where grassroots politician, Ayodele Fayose, expectedly beat incumbent and performing governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, in a titanic electoral battle ever in the state where no civilian governor had been returned to power for a second term.
This is victory for the electoral umpire, INEC, the people of Ekiti State and Nigerian politics. This is not the first time an incumbent governor will be defeated in an electoral contest. It has happened in my home state, Imo, and some few others in recent times. The lesson in an incumbent being beaten is that those elected into position of power should never take the electorate for granted. It demonstrates that the incumbency factor is no longer potent enough for electoral victory.
Those in power should not lose touch with the masses, who are the source of their power. Political office holders should find avenues to relate closely with people at the grassroots. For these are the people that vote mostly during elections. They include the Okada and Keke Napep riders, market men and women, artisans and ordinary folks on the streets. Rulers should, of necessity, embark on populist programmes that touch on people’s lives. These are the programmes that endeared the Awolowos, Ziks and Bellos to their diehard supporters. While construction of roads and other physical projects are important in a polity, it is also vital that rulers do programmes that will enhance the masses welfare.
Where state governments find it extremely difficult to offer direct employment to job seekers, it can create programmes that can engage the youths through agricultural loan revolving scheme or other schemes that can ensure that the youths get some stipend at the end of the month while being trained for self-employment. After all, the basis for the existence of government apart from providing security of lives and property is to ensure the welfare of those under its rule. In a civil service state like Ekiti, it is expected that the welfare of civil servants should be paramount in the government’s programmes.
Any action that negates this, no matter how altruistic, can never go well with the people where, I gathered, every family has at least one teacher or one civil servant. Ekiti people, I am told, value education. They are very enlightened and will never forget any campaign promises, especially those not kept. What is good for the rulers is also good for the ruled.
Nigeria has got to a stage where all citizens, the rulers and the ruled, should have equal access to the common wealth and the goodies of life. Governors should tar roads and feed voters’ stomachs as well. Call it amala and ewedu or garri and ofe uha brands of politics; we should all be for it, so that Nigerians would enjoy the fruits of their labour and the gains of democracy. If democracy only profits the political elites, to hell with it, and if it is tailored to profit all citizens, it is good and welcome.
The beauty of Ekiti gubernatorial poll is that the loser, Fayemi, was able to immediately concede defeat and congratulated the winner, Fayose, and made plans for a smooth transition. He even vowed that he will not contest the outcome of the poll. He has demonstrated that politics is not a ‘do or die’ affair. In doing so, Feyemi has respected the wishes of Ekiti people. His uncommon attitude in the face of defeat is good and signposts new things to come.
He was not the first in the nation’s electoral history to make such pronouncements before. Some Nigerian politicians have made similar pronouncements but later recanted. I hope that Fayemi will keep to his words like a gentleman, I think, he is. He should not recant like others I have mentioned.
He lost but he was not bitter. For the first time, the ACN-turned APC never said a word or cry blue murder. For the first time, the APC megaphone, Lai Mohammed, kept mum. I still wonder why other APC lords also kept quiet over the defeat. I hope this is the same Nigeria where every defeat suffered by APC is taken to be rigged.
If APC has, indeed, conceded defeat, which I think it has, I really doff my hat for them and urge other political parties including the behemoth PDP to emulate the born-again APC example and concede defeat whenever it is routed in an election. Perhaps, APC is thinking of how to restrategize to prevent a similar fate in Rauf Aregbosola’s Osun State whose gubernatorial  poll comes up in about two month’s time. Osun poll will be uppermost in their minds than brooding over a lost clean contest. One of the problems of our recent democratic experiment is the inability of the loser to accept defeat. The Nigerian electoral loser will always blame everybody except himself for the loss. But if he wins, it is praise God Allelujah and victory to INEC!
Ekiti gubernatorial poll has shown that INEC can truly conduct a credible election if given the resources, both material and human, to do so. This has shown, too, that the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State will be credible as well. But INEC cannot ensure credible poll if there is no adequate security as the Ekiti case has proven. It can’t even contemplate doing so if the electorate and the politicians did not conduct themselves in an orderly and lawful manner. I hope that the people of Osun should emulate the Ekiti example. Let Osun poll be an entirely Osun affair.
Presence of politicians from other states during the Osun election, be they governors, political appointees or party stalwarts, should not be tolerated. Apart from security agents, INEC officials, observers and residents, such people have no business being in a state under election. There were alleged presence of such people in Ekiti poll but no case was established against them. We don’t want such unholy presence again in future elections. In fact, INEC should use the Ekiti template to guide its future elections including the 2015 general polls. Nigerians would not expect anything less than orderly, credible and fair polls in 2015. I wish Ekiti people and Nigerians well ahead of other elections.