Chief Reuben Famuyibo, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, was a governorship aspirant on the platform of the party, which has since put forward former Governor Ayodele Fayose as its standard-bearer in Saturday’s election. He speaks with ABIODUN AWOLAJA on the election, insurgency in the country and other issues:
THE governorship election in Ekiti is just a few days away. As a stakeholder, what do you think we should be expecting?Presently, I am watching the drama. The three parties have their problems. In the PDP, there was no primary election; it was a one-man show. Some of us that belong to the late Bola Ige’s school of thought are doing Siddon Look. The candidate picked is not ready to work with anybody. He believes that the pseudo crowd that follows him about will make him governor. There are crowds and there are crowds. Where a candidate thinks that he has no elders, no leaders in the party and that he can do it all alone, good luck to him.
Ekiti people are no fools. I’m from Ado Ekiti, with a population of 134,000 voters, which ordinarily would be more than all the votes in the South combined. Nothing has been given to Ado Ekiti by the PDP; no deputy governor, no minister. So, some of us, when we go out and say “Please, vote for this party,’’ the people ask us: “What have you brought back to Ado Ekiti from your party?”
Unfortunately, the party at the national level did not do its research about Ekiti. This is the first time I would hear that they are zoning ministerial post and deputy governor post to the same senatorial district, leaving the whole North vacant for, Dr Kayode Fayemi to do what he likes there. On Fayemi himself, unfortunately, he is not a person that listens to advice. Fayemi is the only person that has ruled Ekiti that nobody can tell you that he has access to him, especially the elite. He’s on his own; it is “me and my wife ruling in Ekiti.’’ I can tell you categorically that, the way things are, there is no way Fayemi can win the election. So, the alternative we now have is MOB (Michael Opeyemi Bamidele) of the LP. I don’t know him personally, I’m not a member of the LP, but the people are saying that they want an untested hand. I’m bold to say this: I’m a card-carrying member of the PDP. But, we know the antecedents of some of these aspirants. That doesn’t mean that people like me don’t believe in our party. We do, but the people come first before anything.