The Ekiti governorship election is a couple of days away and the major contenders are ready to slug it out, having gone round the nooks and crannies of their state to campaign.
The two main contenders for the Ekiti gubernatorial election are Dr. Kayode Fayemi, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a former one-term governor of the state and Prof. Kolapo Olusola, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the current Deputy Governor.
The campaign has taken a different dimension this time around. Civil servants are now the main focus of the two main political parties.
While the APC is promising to pay workers salaries and pensioners their pension, the PDP, the ruling party in Ekiti State, on the other hand, is promising not only to pay if elected again but to increase salaries. Indeed, the bloc vote that could decide this week’s election is that of the civil servants.
The state workers usually decide where the pendulum swings in Ekiti because they usually vote in unison.There’s no doubt in the calculations that the party that has the support of the civil servant is likely to win the governorship poll on Saturday. This, therefore, explains why the civil servants have become the beautiful brides and a determining factor in the forth coming election as a Ekiti like most states in the country is a civil service state.
The APC and PDP are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that they get the bloc votes of the civil servants. In the last governorship poll four years ago, there were 733, 766 registered voters, out of which only 369, 257 actually voted. The civil servants made the difference.
As the state goes into another election, there are agitations as workers are being owed salaries and the incumbent, Governor Ayodele Fayose, has promised to clear all arrears before leaving office.
Taking a serious look at the situation at hand and the relationships built over the years with the workers in the state, it’s glaring that when it comes to using the state workers as an advantage, Fayose has the upper hand. He is the incumbent and has the power to make promotions. That is exactly what he has done. In order to gain the favour of the workers for the election, Fayose has promised to clear the promotion arrears of 37,132 workers, while 15, 722 workers were also promoted.
The exercise, which was meant to have been both written and oral interview, going by the civil service law, was only oral. One of the questions, according to reports, was “who will they vote for during the election?” Mentioning the PDP candidate, Prof. Olusola’s name as the answer automatically earned the worker a promotion.
One of the recently promoted civil servants who spoke to the press alleged that, “Almost all of us were asked the same question and once you assured them you would vote for Eleka, you have passed the interview. I just received my letter, but we all know that it’s all politics, because he cancelled all promotion exercise Fayemi did shortly before his election.”
Another measure being taken by Fayose is the promise to create more jobs to the unemployed youths. The Next Edition gathered that a pavilion in Fajuyi, Ado Ekiti, has become a meeting point for job seekers, who assemble at the place every day to submit their application letters.
Governor Fayose, last month announced that all unemployed residents of the state interested in government jobs should submit their application letters there and since then thousands of youths have been trooping to the centre.
It was also gathered that the deputy governor and governorship candidate of the PDP, Prof. Olusola took it upon himself to collect the application letters.
It was also alleged that what was the main concern was the bank details and Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) of the job seekers not their academic or professional qualification.
Apart from that, the state government has not left the job seekers unattended to it constantly sends them text messages on why they must vote for the PDP candidate, Prof Olusola, in order to secure their “dream jobs.”
Like other civil servants in the state the job seekers received a message, which stated: “You are invited to meeting with the Governor in Ado Ekiti on Thursday 5th of July 2018, 10 a.m. at the Fajuyi pavilion. Kindly be punctual. Thank you!” A few seconds after the message, they received alert of N1, 500 from the “Empowerment Fund.”
Members of the APC are clearly not happy about the moves by the PDP. The State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said it is unfortunate that the governor keeps on deceiving youths when he has no plan for them.
He said: “During his governorship campaigns in 2014, he asked Ekiti youths to submit their credentials to his campaign office for immediate mass employment if they voted for him. But after winning the election, the credentials of the youth found their way to groundnut and roasted plantain sellers, and up till now, none of them has been employed.
“I think people should ask him how many people he has employed since he became governor, instead he sacked people employed into various intervention schemes by Dr. Kayode Fayemi. The old trick he used last time will not work now. People know who has the capacity to employ and they will vote for Fayemi on July 14, this year.”
Also, former Minster of Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye who recently dumped the PDP for the APC said that the recent offer by Governor Fayose to create 2000 jobs for the youths of the state is a lie that would only hurt their feelings and worsen their present position.
There has also been a battle of text messages. The APC has been sending text messages to civil servants to counter claims by Fayose about clearing outstanding salaries and promising to do better.
The problem for the APC is that Dr. Fayemi who is the governorship candidate of the party was not in good terms with the state workers before he left office.
While he might have possessed a huge financial chest considering the fact that he is a former governor and a former Minister of Solid Minerals, his relationship with the civil servants in the state has not been cordial. There was a Needs Assessment Test he wanted teachers of public schools to partake in which did not go down well with them. He also introduced examination as a condition for promoting civil servants. Some people argued that all that was done to favour his own men.
They say those he delegated authority to were highhanded. They enforced laws without a human face. Unlike Fayose, he does not believe in “stomach infrastructure”. That made them to tag him a ‘stingy’ man. He has also been accused of not coming down to the level of the people whenever he addresses them.
Mr. Ogundipe Adepitan, who is a chartered accountant from Ekiti State in a telephone chat with The Next Editon was of the view that “the situation now is not clear. Olusola stands a better chance with the people. In Fayemi’s first term he sacked so many teachers. His policies were elitist in nature.
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“The people of Ekiti State are not urbane enough for that kind of leadership. They need someone who is down to earth, someone that can come down to their level. That was what they got in Fayose. They believe that Olusola would be similar. In politics, you can never predict, but I think Olusola is the favourite. In a couple of days, it may be a different story. In politics you just can’t tell,” he said.
The election is likely to be tough, but whoever wins the hearts of the people, wears the crown. It’s hope that people’s votes will count at the end of the excercise.