EKITI: THE HANDS OF GOD

Source: thewillnigeria.com

On October 26, 2010, exactly ten days after Governor Kayode Fayemi assumed office as the governor of Ekiti State based on what is now known as the Salamic judgment, I wrote an article titled; 'Ekiti: Between men and God.'

That article was premised on the decision of Fayemi and his men to give praises and adoration to former Lagos State Governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) leader, Senator Bola Tinubu by erecting a billboard at Fajuyi area of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, with inscription; 'Thank you Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban of Nigeria.'

In other words, Fayemi and his men chose to show gratitude to Tinubu, the man whose hands brought Fayemi to power. I concluded then that; 'there is yet one other judgment that will come soon, which is that of God. When it does, no one, except Himself will take the glory.'

That judgment of God I predicted ten days after Fayemi assumed office came on June 21, 2014, with an unprecedented electoral victory for Dr Peter Ayodele Fayose, a man who appears to have become the Peter (rock) on which the future of Ekiti and its politics will be built.

Signal that the June 21, 2014 was going to be between the hands of men and those of God became evident when Fayose's wife, Feyisetan, a highly devout woman said she received a divine revelation that her husband would be inaugurated again as governor on October 16, the exact date he was removed from office in 2006.

However, Fayemi, in demonstrating his self-confidence had responded; saying; 'anybody can eat too much pounded yam and claim to have received a revelation from God.' He went on to say that the election will be won through the hands of Ekiti people, whom he claimed to, have served faithfully in the past four years.

'They would use their hands to thumbprint for the APC in hundreds of thousands,' Fayemi said.

When I read Fayemi's response then, my mind went to the story of King Herod. Herod had made a speech to the men of Tyre and Sidon, concluding with an assurance that he would pass by their offence and receive them into his favour again. He had power to keep alive and put to death. The people applauded him and gave a shout; saying; 'It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.' King Herod took these praises to himself, pleased himself with them, and prided himself in them; and this was his sin against God for which angel of the Lord smote him and he was eaten of worms above ground, and gave up the ghost instantly!

Eventually, Fayose, the man who believed solely in the hands of God won the election in such a way no election has been won in Nigeria. Fayemi lost all the 16 Local Councils in Ekiti State. Not even the people of Oye, his local government of origin gave him their votes.

Because he relied solely on the hands of God, Fayose has set enviable records as the first democratically elected governor to rule Ekiti State twice and the first politician in Nigeria to defeat an incumbent governor twice.

Not only that, Fayose will be assuming office the very day his removal from office will be eight years. He left office on October 16, 2006 and will return on October 16, 2014.

Most importantly, the same hands of God, now moving in Ekiti made it possible for Prince Dayo Adeyeye to be sworn in as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on July 9, 2014, the very day it made seven years that he lost the chance of being appointed a minister.

Adeyeye's name was sent to the Senate as the ministerial nominee for Ekiti state and he was expected to appear before the Senate for screening and confirmation on July 9, 2007 when news got to him in the morning of July 9, 2007 that his name had been withdrawn.

However, like Fayose, who will be returning to office exactly eight years that he was removed, Adeyeye was sworn in as minister exactly seven years that his name was withdrawn from the Senate.

With Fayose's October 16 and Adeyeye's July 9 dates of fate, the reality of John 3:27; (A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven) has no doubt become evident in the affairs of Ekiti State, with the effects also being felt in other States in Nigeria.

In virtually all APC controlled States, anti-people policies of the government are being reversed. Tuition fees of the Lagos State University (LASU), which was increased from N25, 000 to over N300, 000 by the State Governor; Mr. Babatunde Fashola was reverted to N25, 000 that it was before while the ban on Okada in the state was reviewed.

Also, Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun followed his Lagos State counterpart by ordering an across-the-board reduction in fees of all State-owned tertiary institutions in the State. With the reduction, medical students of the State-owned university, Olabisi Onabanjo University who were paying N301, 610 would now pay N176, 596 while arts students had theirs reduced from N126, 540 to N81, 112.

Like Fashola and Amosun, Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi also ordered a 50 per cent reduction of school fees paid by students of tertiary institutions in the State. Ajimobi also went further to raise the bar of graduate teachers in primary schools in Oyo State on level 14 to 15.

In his own response to the Ekiti hands of God, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole reversed the planned teachers' competency test and recalled 936 teachers whose names were deleted from the payroll over certificate discrepancies and age falsification.

Obviously, what happened in Ekiti was God on the move. It was a wave of His hands that has troubled the political river of the Southwest in particular and Nigeria in general. And having fulfilled July 9 for Adeyeye, by the time Peter (the rock) Ayodele Fayose keeps faith with another October 16, the date he lost power and regained it, those who described Fayose wife's divine revelation as a function of too much consumption of pounded yam will have no option than to accept that Ekiti has been returned to the hands of God.

Written by Lere Olayinka, a Journalist.

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