Kayode Fayemi at 60: A Profile In Courage and Determination.
By Raheem Akingbolu
As he sat inside the plane and his thoughts hovering between trepidation and confidence, John Kayode Fayemi, then a veritable tool to the then National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, was in Nigeria as part of efforts to set up the now defunct Radio Kudirat, the guerrilla radio station that was an irritant to the despotic regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
Fayemi was just 32 years old then. But he was acting like a 62 years old. Nigerians knew so little about him then. But he was an irreplaceable asset to the movement for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. Fayemi happened in Nigeria when the nation was in dire need of men to stand up to the Abacha junta.
Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Musa Yar'Adua, Beko Ransome-Kuti, Sina Malaolu, Lawan Gwadabe, Chris Anyanwu, George Mba (journalist with TELL magazine) and a host of others were in jail on trumped up charges of planning a putsch against the Abacha regime.
Hounded into exile were the likes of Professor Wole Soyinka, Chief Anthony Enahoro and the current president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Fast forward to December 1997. Oladipo Diya, Lieutenant-General and Abacha's number two, was arrested on the 20th of that month of December for, wait again, planning a coup against the despot who happened to be his boss. He was not alone. Generals Tajudeen Olanrewaju and Abdulkarim Adisa, were also rounded up. Colonel Seun Fadipe, Professor Muyiwa Odekunle and others in that category made the list of the 'coupists'.
Meanwhile, Senator Olabiyi Durojaye, Chief Olu Falae, a former Minister of Finance and one time Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, a medic turned pro-democracy activist as well as one time governor of old Kano State, late Abubakar Rimi, were in detention.
These were old political war horses who Abacha threw into jail. 32 year-old Fayemi knew what awaited him as he sat inside that plane that night if Abacha good could lay their hands on him. He knew he was on a suicide mission. He knew he was toying with possible extermination. It was like daring the lion in his territory. A lion that fed on the blood of its subjects and using their bones as a walking stick.
But the heart of this young Nigerian was made of stone. Personal safety was secondary. He had stepped out of the comfort and political as well as personal protection the United Kingdom guaranteed him. But his nation needed him. After all, the woman the guerrilla radio was named after, Kudirat Olayinka Abiola, had paid the supreme price in the cause of trying to save the country from Abacha. And she was not alone. The list reeked of Alfred Rewane, a consummate businessman whose offence was being "naive" enough to bankroll the activities of NADECO. The old man, 79, then was popularly known as the 'Osibakoro'. Sired via the progressive loins of Warri, he was an asset to the nation. But Abacha and his good considered him dispensable. Such was the recklessness and incredible penchant for sucking the blood of its own which the Abacha regime was known for. There was Sola Omatsola, an aviation top hand decimated on his way from work. Can one also forget Chief (Mrs) Bisoye Tejuosho, mother of Oba Adedapo Tejuosho?
Late Senator Abraham Adesanya and late Alex Ibru (who was at the time Abacha's Internal Affairs Minister. Ibru was a successful media mogul whose newspaper, THE GUARDIAN, would not be thrown into the disposal of the regime as an unofficial trumpeter.
He nearly paid with his life when Abacha good opened fire on him on the streets of Lagos.
Those times were like the biblical perilous times when even the most strong-hearted cringed when death was advertised on their faces. But our Fayemi survived those times. The reason could be fatal and at the same time tactical. Perhaps, Mother Nature, the one who sees the future even when the present has not taken shape, knew Nigeria would be needing Fayemi beyond planting a guerrilla radio. His fatherland would need him beyond pro-democracy activism.
Perhaps, it was unknown then, but even if the despot was eventually booted out and consigned into the putrid stench of the dust bin of history, competent hands with unquestionable democratic credentials needed to take leadership positions in the post-military era.
And that was why, in 2005, Fayemi was thrust into the limelight of politicking with an onerous responsibility of saving his native state of Ekiti from the hands of another democratic despot who was running the state, not just like a personal fiefdom but like a conquered territory. A state known for nobility and unquestionable integrity became a but if jokes from outsiders who felt with all its vaunted educational superiority could have done better in its leadership recruitment. Not even when the man they voted out was a certain suave and cosmopolitan Niyi Adebayo. The man who succeeded him did not only elevate brigandage into statecraft as he trampled on real and imagined adversaries. As the state bled, he seemed untouchable.
Fayemi was the man thrust into the ring of political uncertainty even when the bloods of the likes of Dr. Daramola and Seun Omojola were yet to dry from the ground on which their promising lives were garroted like a condemned soul thrown into the guillotine.
Even his immediate family feared for his safety. Not the least his wife who felt her hubby was being set up for a certain death.
But this dude, Fayemi, had seen greater and more intense battles. The man who dared Abacha and came to plant a guerrilla radio when such an expedition was a suicidal one would not be fazed with a misguided minion who was thrust to a position he probably never dreamt off. Fayemi soldiered on and picked the ticket of the now defunct Action Congress, AC. But little did he know that the greater battle that would weary him, both in body and soul, was still ahead.
His belief was that he had done enough to convince his compatriots on April 14, 2007 to entrust their political destiny into his hands by making him their governor. But anti-democratic forces had other ideas. Not only was what happened a tantamount to daylight robbery, but a glaring dance on the wounded graves of the founding fathers of the state.
It is debatable if the ruling People's Democratic Party, PDP, knew who they were messing with in John Kayode Fayemi. On the morning after the electoral heist, he told his crestfallen supporters that he would do whatever it would take, legally, to recover his stolen mandate.
He was not joking. He had seen tougher battles before. He had braved death and looked at the devil in the face and dared him to do his worst. He knew what lay ahead. He knew what he was up against. The greatest consolation, however, was that he was a war Trojan. His doctoral degree in War Studies was not just for theory alone. He had put it into practice in those dark days of the goggled one. Then was the time to dust up his arsenal and go to war, albeit without firing a single bullet.
Fayemi's approach to solving issues and dealing with struggles has always been steeped in intellectualisation of those issues. He would never descend low into throwing brickbats. He would fight with ideas while his adversaries fight with violence. And ideas have always won.
It was not until October 2010 that he recovered his stolen mandate. That was just five months into another election cycle. But his doggedness and steadfastness not only encouraged his teaming supporters, but have also inspired many across the country and beyond. Not many people believe he could pull it through. But he did. Such was the stuff the this man was made of.
When Fayemi recovered his stolen mandate in 2010, he was just 45! But many would not argue if a total stranger thought he was 65. Such was his carriage as a leader and profile as a fighter: Bruised. Fatigued. Wounded. But he fought on because he wanted to write history. And he was fully aware that the history of any war is never written by losers or those who died in the war. It is always written by winners. And that is why history is being written by him today as he clocks 60 because he has always been a winner.
The electoral setback of 2014 did not deter him. He felt he had done enough to earn a second term on office. But some forces felt otherwise and he rightly questioned the then emerging sociology in the state. But, again, nature was preparing him for another battle which he also won: the 2015 electoral victory of the then opposition All Progressives Congress, APC.
Fayemi was neck deep in the campaign and, as usual, he brought his usual candour and intellectualism into play as the APC became the first opposition party to win election against a ruling party in Nigerian history.
In 2018, he launched a political come back that left his opponents spellbound. He returned as the governor of the state and when he completed his four years, he handed the baton to another competent hand, Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO), who has been building on Fayemi's ineffaceable records in office.
And as he marks his 60th birthday, the nation has no choice than to celebrate this great son of Africa!
Akingbolu is a Journalist and Media Relations practitioner.
