[allAfrica.com] [Take_allAfrica.com_with_you] Grappling With Ekiti Unrest Daily Champion (Lagos) NEWS September 25, 2004 Posted to the web September 27, 2004 By Biodun Sonowo and Sina Fadare Lagos Unrest in the touted Fountain of Knowledge, Ekiti state, is finally galvanising stakeholders into action. By the last count, 10 senior police offences had been panelised for their idleness while Ado Ekiti was under armed siege. Henceforth, Governor Ayodele Fayose will be under intense scrutiny from diverse sources as BIODUN SONOWO and SINA FADARE report: HENCEFORTH, Ayodele Fayose, governor of Ekiti State will be under watch. Not only will the distraught elite and elders of the state be monitoring events in the largely rural South western state, so also will the security agencies. Signposts to the future were shown early in the week when the federal government punished several senior police officers based in Ekiti for the less than tidy roles in the latest violence of three weeks ago when armed men attacked the Ado Ekiti local government chairman, Mr. Akin Fasuba at his home. Demoted and transferred out of the state were a Deputy Commissioner of Police, an Assistant Commissioner, a Divisional Police officer and a few others. Their offence: While the capital city of Ado Ekiti was literally under fire for three hours, Ekiti State police command personnel vanished! Several distress calls to police officers and formations failed to get a response. It was only one of the details of the unfolding tragi-comedy in Ekiti State. Since the second leg of democratic rule begin in June last year, violence has become endemic and police and armed units are regularly in the thick of the mayhem. More curious still, they always seem to join forces to main shoot and pulvarise opponents of the government. However, whatever the truth of that, it is likely that from now, Ayo Fayose may not carry on ruling the state as he has done these past 16 months. Just how serious the matter is was demonstrated last week when within 48 hours, a request by concerned elders of Ekiti State to President Olusegun Obasanjo was facilitated. Reportedly, the elders expressed disgust at the rate at which a once peaceful Ekiti State is acquiring the reputation of violence, of the political variety. Central to the discussion was the style of governance of Ayo Fayose, the man almost universally blamed by victims and observers alike for the orgies of violence and thuggery in Ekiti State. But Fayose had always enjoyed the backing of President Obasanjo who relishes being seen as the new leader of the South West and views Fayose as his anvil in crashing the Alliance of Democracy (AD) in the geo-political zone. Nonetheless, not even the president's paternal backing could ignore the seriousness to which the Ekiti quagmire is generating to. Informed sources told Sunday Champion, that damning report to the president by security men on ground had been alarming enough to make the president re-consider his kid-gloves treatment of his youthful protege. Intense attention beamed on Ekiti State in recent times means that the old ways of doing things that invariably led to violence may have to change. Can this happen? Observers believe that it should not be different given the aversion of the average Ekiti man to violence in resolving issues. One new and dangerous dimension, was added to the Ekiti problem. At least, one top Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) man, former governorship aspirant Sikiri Babalola believes the state is ripe for a state of emergency. This is a call earlier made by the main opposition AD but dismissed as sour grapes - being the party swept out of power in the 2003 polls. Swiftly, royal fathers in the state opposed the call the next day fearing that such an eventuality would have an unpredictable end. Besides, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, believes the problems that led to violence can be resolved amicably without the extreme step of emergency rule. Earlier, Fayose who was in Lagos while the mayhem lasted rushed home and made reconciliatory moves and vowed to bring the papetrators of the assassination attempt on Fasuba's life to book. Not a few however recalled that the attack in Fasuba had been preceded by a stormy falling out between the governor and the local government chairman. Not a few also recalled that several other Fayose opponents had been attacked in the last one year. The pattern emerging is of attacks on perceived opponents of the governor. And the armed thugs perperating the mayhem appeared to many to have the full backing of the police. It is in this light that observers situate the inaction of the police. AD chairman in Ekiti State George Akosile alleged that it would not have been otherwise as he believed the state police command had been completely "bought over by the governor and were allegedly always ready to deploy force against Fayose's opponents. The chairman accused the governor of derailing from a path that could lead the state onto rapid development Similarly, the forum of stakeholders definitely did not mince words when it reminded the governor of the parable of the stones and the glass house lamenting the "unquantifiable damage which the latest attempted assassination had caused stakeholders especially those resident outside the state, tagged Group E-11", a forum of Ekiti stakeholders in Lagos in one of their recent meetings, strongly condemned the "mess" unfolding in the their homeland. They rejected the committee set up by the state House of Assembly to investigate the matter saying being agents of the governor, the house may likely dance to the tune of its financier. "The house cannot claim neutrality in the matter because a few days ahead of the attempt on the local chairman's life they (lawmakers) were about moving a motion to suspend him with the obnoxious bill recently submitted to the house by the governor himself and was passed with a twinkle of an eye", the forum said. Percent utterances and actions of the embattled governor of Ekiti has possibly encouraged some of the academically conscious illustrious sons of the state to come out from their academic shell to cry loud before the state is plunged into another political war front. A former military governor of Ogun State, Nav. Commodore Joseph Olofinmoyin at a public forum in Lagos, enjoined the sons and daughters of the state to nevertheless support the present PDP-led government in resolving the socio- political crises in the state. Olofinmoyin lamented, "most of us are concerned about what is happening in Ekiti State now while our people are suffering in poverty. Whether we like it or not the best way of getting our people out of this is to work with the government in and at any particular time". But to Otunba Niyi Adebayo who has himself been subjected in the new wave of Ekiti violence at the same forum, differed with Olofinmoyin on how to solve the crisis. He said "if a small child decided to die during the dry season the father will not hesitate to bury him at the river bank. Adebayo vowed not to drop his struggle to right the wrongs done by any government in the state. He said the former military administrator was speaking as a soldier. "I resolved to work with my successor but things worked the other way. I will continue to work and cooperate with whoever is in authority in the state, provided he works in the interest of the people", Adebayo said. Uneasy peace now reigns in the cocoa producing state. The governor is not getting favourable press reports and political observers say the governor has two options on his table. They argued that an attempt to continue with his hardline posture, history may not record him positively. Others say another option for the Afao-born politician is to embark on radical welfarist programme that could benefit the down trodden of the state. They pointed out that if he can do this, all his supposed "sins" would be forgotten with passage of time.   ===============================================================================  Copyright © 2004 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ===============================================================================