governor in spite ofhis achievements, which are indeed, many. Infact, from the moment the final result wasannounced, journalists in Ekiti State had begun toreceive frantic telephone calls. And the questionseverybody was asking were the same: “Howcome Fayemi could not win even a single localgovernment area out of the 16 in the state? Wasthe election rigged?”Yet, the elections were devoid of violence orrigging. Local journalists and others, who hadcovered the election stormed theCorrespondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union ofJournalists (NUJ) in Ado-Ekiti that Sundaymorning after the result had been announced.They affirmed that there was nothing like rigging.It was peaceful, free and fair. No snatching ofballot boxes, no delay in the delivery of boxesand other voting materials throughout all the 16local government areas. The IndependentNational Electoral Commission (INEC) officialsarrived on time at their polling units at the righttime.There were even more questions from Nigeriansthat could not believe that a sitting governorcould be so massively defeated. “What happenedthen? Are they saying the man did not perform?What is their problem? With all the huge crowdsthat have been attending his mega rallies, whichwe all saw on television and in the newspapers,are you saying the man could not even win alocal government area? Not even his localgovernment?”But it is not only Fayemi that was defeated in hislocal government area. His deputy, ProfessorModupe Adelabu, was defeated in her ward inAdo – Ekiti. The Secretary to the StateGovernment, Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi, was defeatedin his base; the Chief of Staff to the governor,Yemi Adaramodu was defeated in his area; allthe Senators and House of Representativesmembers lost in their local government areasand some even lost in their polling units. In fact,it was gathered that former governor, ChiefOlusegun Oni, was the only one, who voted forthe All Progressives Congress (APC) in hispolling unit.So, what could have been responsible for thisterrible defeat? Three factors have been cited byinformed analysts in the state.There was an internal crisis within the APC andthose who saw the problem coming weresuppressed and eventually kicked out of theparty. Those ones began to work against theparty. There were lots of grumblings within theparty, and many of the commissioners hadcomplained at various times of being financiallystifled, lamenting that they could not render anyhelp to many of those seeking help from them.Everything was centralised around the governorand his close aides, according to them.Another reason was the glaring disconnect withthe people. The then PDP governorshipcandidate, Ayodele Fayose, right from his daysas governor, had been close to the commonman. He has no problem, sharing roastedplantain or corn with the commoner in thestreets of Ado-Ekiti or Itapa-Ekiti. He freelyassociates with the commercial motorcycleriders and drivers, which earned him assortedappellations from the elite in the state. Fayemi,on the other hand, was not of a similar stock. Heis seen as belonging to the elite class.“But funny enough, those people don’t voteduring election. They often stay indoors,watching television while the downtrodden andcommon men, who are fully in love with Fayosebecause he identifies with them queue up tovote. All the civil servants, teachers, localgovernment workers, students and artisans, whohave direct access to Fayose see him as a manof the people while they see Fayemi as thebourgeoisie governor,” an Ekiti-based principaltold the reporter.Mr. Jide Adegbemi, a lawyer in Ado-Ekiti, whileanalysing the current political realities in thestate, also informed: “By the time the realcampaign started, and Fayemi’s supporters weresinging Koduro soke (let him stay up), thepeople said, now that the governor has startedbuilding a Government House on the hill, if wegive him a second chance, he would now bevery far from the people and no one would beable to see him. So, whenever his supporterswere singing, JKF: Koduro soke, the ordinaryman would say, e ta ni rubber, ko jabo s’Isan.What that means is, if he’s staying up, shoot acatapult at him and bring him down to Isan-Ekiti,his hometown.”But most people in the state would agree that anumber of factors actually marked the beginningof the end of his tenure. One was the way hehandled the Teachers Development NeedAssessment (TDNA) crisis in 2012, an issue thatdragged all the way to 2013. He also had issueswith local government workers, students of EkitiState University (EKSU), judiciary workers, healthworkers, pensioners, commercial motorbikeoperators, the Road Transport EmployersAssociation of Nigeria (RTEAN), and others.“All these people have families who are aware oftheir complaints against the governor. So, whenhe began to buy buses for the associations andunions this year, and the people were aware thatthe election was coming in a few months, theywere just looking at him, wondering how thegovernor thought they could be so easilydeceived. And instead of showing any grievance,they too started hailing him and chorusing: JKF:Koduro soke. Each union and professionalassociation began to tell their members that theyshould endorse him so that they could get theirown dividend of democracy,” said a union leaderwho pleaded that his name should not bementioned.More annoying, especially to teachers was thegovernor’s complaint that the state was not richenough to pay the 27 per cent TeachersPecuniary Allowance (TPA) while he was busybuying exotic cars and sport utility vehicles fortraditional rulers across the state. Then when theelection was less than a month and he approvedthe 27 per cent allowance, the teachers toldthemselves that this governor probably thoughtthat they were foolish. So, they too decided togo to the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium to deceivehim and affirm that they were for him.“Of course, all these people are from differentlocal government areas. And on the Friday beforethe election, the workers, especially teachers andlocal government employees, gave themselvesan unofficial holiday, fully determined to vote outFayemi and give their votes to Fayose. Early onthe day of election, teachers and localgovernment workers began to send textmessages to one another on the need for themnot to forget their decision to vote Fayemi out.They said the governor would deal with them ifhe got a second chance as governor.“It was like a hurricane. If you like, you may callit a revolt, because never in the history of EkitiState has any incumbent governor lost somassively. That is the truth that many peopleoutside the state do not know,
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