As Ayo Fayose returns today: Will his personality reshape Ekiti?

WITH a peculiar personal charm, Mr. Ayo Fayose seems to be greatly loved and largely despised among different segments.
This personality trait that is defined by an unusual umbilical connection with the grassroots, has seen him becoming a recurring decimal in the politics of Ekiti State and perhaps Nigeria.

Fayose

For a man, whose first tenure as state governor, created a litany of historical anomalies, many had thought that the anticlimax his charged tenure became would short-live his political career.

But that was not the case with Fayose, as his relevance grew with every controversy that surrounded him.

It was such that every part of the divide found him useful at different times, as evidenced from the role he played in the electoral victory of Dr. Kayode Fayemi in 2010.

Like the proverbial Leopard that hardly change its spots, even outside power, various political antagonisms targeted at him were returned with the same quantum of venom.

In fact, the businessman turned politician, does not spare any verbal missile for those he believed orchestrated his impeachment in 2006.

To Fayose and his teeming supporters, the sudden but predicted exit as governor was marshalled chiefly by former President Olusegun Obasanjo-a man he had publicly insulted verbally, defying the conventional respect the Yoruba are known to have for elders.

But that was Fayose doing his thing his own way and in no other person’s style.

This character trait has so far made him to be cautiously admired and largely chastised by the elite, who despise his style.

As he assumes office today, flaunting the image of a man of the people, which he earned through personal generosity exhibited to Ekiti people, the attention of the country is focussed on him.

The combination of his perception by the elite within and outside Ekiti, as someone who has brought back the days of infamy and expectations of good governance, informed such attention.

Already, the unfolding troubles in his domain, which were long predicted could pass as a curtain-raiser on the developments to expect.

Fayose would be returning to office under an unpleasant circumstance as a result of the legal crisis surrounding his eligibility to contest the polls.

With the stereotyped perception of him as always being on the wrong side of the news, no one is surprised that he is at the centre of the current storm.

But the truth is that if Fayose did most of what he was alleged to have done in the present crisis, it implies that there is much cause for apprehension.

This recurrence of what has become a familiar pattern of political culture, has raised concerns on what the future holds for Ekiti.

However, there are expectations that Fayose would characteristically conduct himself and approach governance differently, as he succeeds Fayemi-an urbane man who he overwhelmingly defeated at the June 21 governorship election.

He had during his electioneering campaign, repeatedly pledged to act differently this time.

Such promise played out at the palace of the Ewi of Ekiti, who he had a cantankerous relationship with during his first term.

In a gesture that downplayed his past, Fayose said: ‘’I urge you Kabiyesi to forgive and forget the past,so that tomorrow can come.

I will accord you the desired respect and recognition if you offer me another chance. It is my detractors that stood between me and your royal majesty.”

Aside the mixed feeling heralding his second coming, expectations that Fayose will shun the path of controversy may not be dashed.

The reason is simple: the Ekiti electorate, who voted for him against popular expectations, expect genuine leadership from him.