SIR: “Weep not, child, weep not, my darling, with these kisses let me remove your tears; the ravening clouds shall not long be victorious. They shall not long possess the sky – shall devour the stars only in apparition; Jupiter shall emerge-be patient-watch again another night – the Pleiades shall emerge”.
These words are those of a father consoling his child on a beach at night in a bid to give a highly importunate and crestfallen young one a lullaby to enjoy a relief from the endless cries piercing his eardrums.
This is the season of politics in Ekiti State and politicians gunning for the forthcoming governorship election will use all tricks in the book including lies, blackmail, subterfuge, unrealistic promises and other devices to hoodwink the electorate.
Many of the aspirants have resorted to telling lies all in the name of clinching the gubernatorial tickets of their parties.
The most egregious falsehood from the governorship motley crowd was the one spewed by a recently sacked Minister who represented the state at the federal cabinet before he was relieved of his job for apparent non-performance.
In a bid to justify his ambition of winning his party’s ticket and ultimately clinch the highest seat in the state, the ex-minister accused the Fayemi administration of doing nothing with funds accruing to the to the state from the federation account.
Those of us who knew the condition Fayemi met the state in October 2010 believe that the governor has faithfully utilized the resources available to turn around the fortunes of the state in the areas of infrastructure, education, tourism, human capital development, urban renewal, agriculture, empowerment, among others.
One would have thought the ex-minister would have been honest to acknowledge that Fayemi has done a lot and that he should tell the Ekiti electorate what he would do better if realises his ambition if ruling the state on the platform of his party.
I don’t need to be a minister to be able to educate this aspirant on the achievements of the APC-led government in Ekiti – in Ipoti Ekiti, his hometown. These achievements include the renovation of Ipoti High School, construction of the 17-kilometre Ipoti/Ayetoro road, 5.3km Ipoti/Ilukuno/Oke-Oro road and payment of social security stipends to the aged people in Ipoti.
We have not forgotten the Grants-in-Aid to communities to execute projects peculiar to their needs, construction of five kilometres of roads across the 16 Local Government areas (phase 1 & 2).
In all these, Fayemi has restored Ekiti’s core values through good governance, quality and viable representation and service delivery.
I want to advise all aspirants in all parties to make their campaigns issues-based and not to engage in distortion of facts, character assassination, mudslinging and deliberate use of falsehood to gain advantage.
Ekiti people are wise, knowledgeable and discerning enough to know what is good for them and they will speak with their votes at the June 21 governorship election.
By Sina Odewale
This article was first published in The Nation on Tuesday, March 11, 2014.
Last modified: March 11, 2014
