By Bolanle BOLAWOLE
It is not a surprise that attacks and demands for more expose, as some of the commentators have called it, trailed the first and second instalments of “Sixty-Fifth birthday fire-works…” between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor of Ekiti state, Peter Ayodele Fayose. The two personalities involved are newsmakers, even if controversial. The fire-works between them were newsworthy.
Some of the information in Fayose’s unpublished autobiography, which I released in the first and second parts of my comments on the melee between both men, also interested a lot of people. With this column and the news medium being popular – without being immodest – the materials travelled far and wide, but since it is impossible to give everyone the opportunity to air their views on the matter, I decided to collapse such views into two broad categories of attack and demand, allowing a representative of each group to speak for the others.
The most vicious of the attacks accused me of hiding “the moral filth” that he said was responsible for the falling out of godfather and godson. “That is the crux of the story between Obasanjo and Fayose, which illustrates the intersection between public office and morality in our morally-discounted world today.”
I responded: “I don’t think that was the crux of the matter. Besides, I have Fayose’s verifiable words in his (unpublished) autobiography for what I published. I don’t have any of what you mentioned!”
What did he mention? I think it is appropriate that I let him publish that himself (if he is not afraid of libel) since he is also a journalist and publisher! But not done yet, he fired back, asking whether I did not know that what he was insinuating actually happened “or you just want to be politically-correct?“ He then rehashed the story – or rumour – of running mate or no running mate.
I replied: “I hear so many stories but can only recount for public consumption those that can be authenticated. Besides, what is the public interest involved in people sleeping around? Fayose recounted how he came about Eleka as his running mate in his autobiography. No mention was made of the lady in question. Again, if OBJ really wanted, the coast was clear after Fayose was impeached. Why state of emergency? Why bring in Gen. Olurin?”
Actually Fayose said nothing in his autobiography about who would have been his running mate for second term had he not suffered the kangaroo impeachment orchestrated by Obasanjo. Would he have retained his then deputy or would he have changed her? I cannot say!
Still not satisfied, my attacker fired back: “Sleeping around is the most destructive activity destroying nations and leaders not only in Nigeria but in the US and all over the world. You see, Satan has organized the world in such a way to belittle sexual immorality as a minor thing that shouldn’t be brought to the public space; yet, it is the most common thing fuelling corruption and public larceny on earth. You will be shocked to learn that sex is responsible in most countries for public servants (who) steal in order to meet the financial needs of their harems and so-called side-chicks and the baggage that goes with it. It should not be dismissed casually, Sir!”
Well said, but I cannot publish what I cannot verify or substantiate. I should not open my eyes wide and run into libel. That is why, the canon of our profession is “Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” It was made famous by Charles Prestwich Scott, in a 1921 essay marking the Manchester Guardian’s centenary. Even comments must be informed, not reckless. You must have your facts; where you do not or where you know proof is difficult to provide, it is wisdom to vote with your feet!
“If in doubt, leave out!” This is another of the guiding principles of journalism practice the world over. Suffice it to say, however, that I heard from reliable sources who were competent to speak on the matter (as we usually say in the media!) that Owoseni Ajayi Esq., Fayose’s lawyer before, during and after his travails, was many times passed over in the battle for running mate. I did not hear this directly from Fayose or Owoseni, who is an alumnus of Great Ife like me and a former president of its Student Union Government, although we belonged to different ideological spectrums at the time.
Fortunately, all the dramatis personae involved in this sex-or-no-sex, running mate-or-no-running mate controversy are alive and can throw some light on the matter if they so decide!
The other commentators were those asking me to comment on the widely-reported Fayose family feud which raged at about the same time as the fire-works between Obasanjo and Fayose. I bluntly told them I would not! And this for the simple reason that I was not close enough to any of the dramatis personae to begin to pretend that I can offer an informed opinion on each or any of them.
During the two years that I spent walking closely with Fayose, I met Mama, the matriarch of the Fayose family. Long may Mama live, in good health, happiness, and joy! I was in the vicinity of the First Lady on a countless number of occasions. Gorgeous and prayerful, she carried herself publicly with decorum and respect. I also met the Fayose boys and a number of Fayose’s brothers and sisters – because they are many – but all of this from a respectable distance.
Incidentally, the only Fayose that I can speak about with some authority is the one I never met – the patriarch of the family, Pa Oluwaseyi Fayose who later became Pa (Pastor) Oluwaseyi Oluwayose, because former governor Fayose spoke extensively about him in his autobiography.
The autobiography itself – Peter the Rock: Autobiography of Dr. Peter Ayodele Fayose – was dedicated by Fayose to his father in these words:
“I dedicate this book to the loving and eternal memory of my father, Pastor Oluwaseyi Oluwayose (formerly Fayose), whose streak of constructive and positive stubborn commitment to the public good runs in me. He was a man constructed with steel and was lion-hearted. I inherited his unwavering courage even in the face of daunting challenges and perils that many will flee from.
“My father’s dogged pursuit of the common good has outlined my own public life. His resoluteness, never wavering a little to the right or a little to the left the moment he is convinced of the rightness or justness of his cause, speaking truth to power and gladly and joyously facing up to the consequences, are traits which I also inherited from him. Put together, these define who, truly, is Peter (the Rock) Ayodele Fayose.”
There are also three references that Fayose made to his father in his autobiography which can also give readers an inkling into not just who Ayo Fayose is, but also of the entire Fayose/Oluwayose clan.
One: “In a story about him that I was told, on the day I was to be named, my father left home as early as 5,00 am to fight on the side of someone who was maltreated at the point of fetching water. My father was slapped by someone and he had to follow the case up to the police station to apprehend the fellow. He came back at six o’clock in the evening to name me, whereas he had scheduled the naming ceremony for six o’clock in the morning! That was the way I was brought up.”
Two: “Polygamous homes have a lot of issues. My father had to do restitution by marrying one of his (six) wives. Ideally, he should have chosen the first wife but he chose to marry the one behind my mother (the third wife) – and the wives were all living together in the same house. I felt it was humiliation, which I considered unfair to me and my siblings. As the most senior son at home at the time, I went to report the injustice to a CAC leader because the CAC was to do the restitution marriage for my father. My late father-in-law was the then Baba Ijo of the CAC . I went to his house and the lady I met – who peeped from upstairs and told me Baba had travelled to Ekiti – is my wife today!”
Three: “In the course of (my) travails, my father, who I last saw before I left office, came to visit me at Ikoyi prisons; he was a little over 81 years. When he came, he prayed thus: ‘Ayo, if you are guilty of the reasons that brought you here, you will never get out of this problem.’ I was shocked and everybody around was shocked. Then he added, ‘But if it is a conspiracy by some people to disrupt and stop your future, then, they will wait in vain and Ekiti people will serve you and you will return to your lost glory!’
True to Pa (Pastor) Oluwayose’s pronouncements, Peter Ayodele Fayose returned to office as the governor of Ekiti in 2014, but his father had died earlier in 2009. A fruit, they say, does not fall far from its tree!
Fayose narrated extensively how he came about his running mate in 2014. He mentioned the names of those who lobbied for the job. He spoke about his own reservations about each and everyone of them. He said he did not want his first tenure experience, where he had three deputy governors, to dog his footsteps again. He narrated the fortuitous circumstances that led to his choice of Kolapo Olusola Eleka.
The same Eleka, against all expectations, was anointed by Fayose as his successor, but APC, taking advantage of the ubiquitous “Federal might”, massively rigged the 2018 Ekiti state governorship election in favour of its candidate. That is one side of the coin. The other side is to ask whether Fayose actually supported Eleka’s governorship bid body, soul, and spirit. Was he over-confident of victory or did he have a re-think mid-way about his choice of Eleka? Has this got anything to do with the advice he said he got from a big-wig politician in Lagos? Maybe that should be a story for another day!
LAST WORD: As they say, if Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain should go to Mohammed – or is it the other way round? That is the import of the comments of my brother, Lasisi Olagunju, when he said: “You’ve finally published the autobiography, Sir!” That’s correct! There are still many interesting details in the autobiography – if and when occasion demands!