After about four weeks of losing the Ekiti Governorship election as an incumbent, widely believed to have averagely performed in the physical development of the state over the last three and a half years, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has figuratively added a new twist to why he lost the election.
Fayemi, who in the early hours of Sunday, July 22, 2014, a day after the election, conceded defeat to the declared winner, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), gave a figurative explanation of why the Ekiti electorate rejected him at the poll, in Abuja yesterday night while making a remark at the Parliamentary Excellence Award presentation to some senators among whom was Olubunmi Adetunbi who represents Fayemi’s (Ekiti North) Senatorial District in the Senate.
According to him, intellect is not reckoned with in Nigeria now but grassroots posturing, a situation that made anybody seen to be an intellectual to be considered as an elite that must be thrown into the dustbin.
His words: “I know that intellect is not supposed to be popular in our country now. What counts to be popularity is what I hear is grassroots. If you are an intellectual, you are perceived to be elite and an elite is what should be thrown into the dustbin, not to be associated with.
“There is so much about our democracy that is very frustrating. There are times that you have to ask yourself if you are a politician, whether it is worth all the troubles at all”.
He went further to congratulate all the senators given the award and commended the Senate Press Corp that honoured them, saying , the Press, the Senate and the House of Representatives may well be the last hope of the already undermined Democracy in Nigeria if they will not chicken out.
His words: “I want to particularly thank the senate press corps for identifying the sterling performance(s) of our legislators because what it points to is the possibility; what this means to me is that the media can still be the last defender to this democracy because the awardees were not honoured because they have lined your pockets with naira.
“I know you are honouring them because they really have consistently contributed to deepening this democracy which is in dire stray. I hope the courage they displayed in the times they have been serving in the senate, they can also be able to do that beyond partisanship because we run the risk of undermining this democracy and the senate and its counterpart, the House of Representatives, may well be the last hope of democracy if they will not chicken out in speaking the truth”.
Aside Adetunbi, other senators honoured at the ceremony where the Deputy Senate President, Ike EKweremadu, who gave a lecture on the need for courage among Nigerians in the face of Boko Haram insurgency, are the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, the Senate Committee Chairman on Rules and Business, Ita Enang.
Others are Senators Domingo Obende, Jummai Alhassan and the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa who received Parliamentary Administrative Excellence 2014 Award.
Source: Daily Newswatch
