Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has stated that he does not have any political godfather that is dictating the pace of the transformation agenda of the state, rather his drive for development of the state comes from the indigenes of the state as his administration is vigorously upgrading the rate of development. Fayemi said that it is the will of the people of the state that sets the tone for governance in the State.
The Governor stated this in Ado Ekiti on Monday while playing host to participants of the Course 35 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru who are in Ekiti State on a study tour.
Governor Fayemi who said that he only had mentors, not godfathers, stressed that it is practically impossible for him to have the will of a godfather imposed on the people of the State who are renowned for their high intelligence; saying that this is why he enjoys the people’s support right from his election in 2007 till date.
The Governor said: “I don’t think we should denigrate mentorship. Mentorship in politics has been bastardised but we don’t suffer any problem of godfatherism because it can’t succeed in this State. Everybody in Ekiti is a governor and has a sense of how government should work. Ekiti people are my godfathers because they send me messages everyday on what they want done and that’s exactly what I do because we run a participatory government”, he said.
He added that if he had managed to get into office through some manipulations or godfatherism, it was unlikely that he would respect the wish of the ordinary citizens; emphasizing that a credible system will definitely produce good governance.
While stressing the need to demystify political offices so as to bring government closer to the people, the Governor said the nation’s democracy is fragile because citizens have not been carried along in decision-making process and have deserted the nation State; leaving it in the hands of charlatans.
Fayemi stressed the importance of investing power in the people; saying that this is the only way to rescue the country from bad governance.
While speaking on the political situation in Ekiti, Dr. Fayemi asserted that he had no reason to play politics of bitterness since each of the political actors are his kinsmen who share from the homogeneity of the State.
He added that he was not interested in leaving behind a legacy of insensitivity and brigandage which characterised the history of the State in the previous administrations; saying that if he did not resort to violence while trying to reclaim his mandate in the Court, there is no reason for any political “element” to heat of the polity since the State is now enjoying relative peace.
The Governor who highlighted some of the programmes of his administration stated that the essence of any transformational agenda is creating the greatest happiness for the greatest number of the citizenry in any society; saying that for the agenda to serve the need of the majority and meet their expectations, the importance of regulatory frameworks cannot be overemphasized.
He explained that his administration has maintained fairness and has not interfered with other arms of government but has consistently supported their exposure to local and international capacity building programmes.
While expatiating on the supports given to the State Judiciary, Fayemi stated that the Executive arm of government has not got any undue favour from the Judiciary rather it has majority of its verdicts against the executive; showing that the support from the State Government has not influenced the Judiciary.
He also spoke on the efforts of the State Legislature which has helped provided legislative backing for many of the programmes embarked upon by the State Government as the Assembly has passed no fewer than 40 bills since its inception in 2011.
Fayemi who also spoke on the efforts of his administration in the areas of agriculture, tourism, education, health, and infrastructure among others said the underlying goal behind the gesture was to banish poverty from the State and give the people a new lease of life.
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the NIPPS course participants, Prof Aja Akpuru-Aja had said that the team was not in the State for fault-finding but fact-findings so that State Governments can develop their own templates of development aimed at moving in the same direction of the federal government and achieve the vision 20:2020.
Aja added that if Nigeria must achieve the transformational agenda, it needs more efforts in the context of infrastructure and human capital development as well as address insecurity; saying that every State must security so that there will be economic transformation in the country.