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Chief OLUSEGUN OBASANJO Explains
It is no longer news that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose have reignited their enmity. Following the fall out of Baba Obasanjo’s controversial speech at Fayose’s 65th birthday ceremony held over the weekend in Lagos, fireworks have begun between the two former political allies. Fayose, who was once one of Obasanjo’s most reliable political children, responded rather brutally to the harsh remarks OBJ directed at him while making his speech at his birthday. His brutal remarks has triggered reactions from all over, with many divided over the issue. Let us tell you a bit about the genesis of the conflict between Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his political son, Ayo Fayose.
For nearly two decades, the two men nursed animosity towards each other. The hostility between them dates back to 2006 when Fayose and his then deputy governor, Abiodun Olujimi, were removed from office by the state House of Assembly. Fayose believed then-President Obasanjo to be the architect of the plot for his removal from office.
In October 2006, less than a month after Fayose was removed from office, Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in the state, following the turmoil that resulted from the impeachment saga.
The state of emergency saw the state House of Assembly suspended, as President Obasanjo appointed Tunji Olurin as the sole administrator of the state. Olurin governed the state till April 2007.
However, the Supreme Court would years later, in April 2015, declare Fayose’s removal by the state House of Assembly illegal. As of that time, his tenure in office had long expired, so he never returned to office, until he staged a comeback in 2014 when he won election for a second term.
While the animosity between them lingered, Fayose never missed an opportunity to attack Obasanjo. He once asked for a refund of the N10 million he donated to the presidential library built by Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in 2005 with interest. He said Obasanjo, as president, compelled the governors who were members of the Peoples Democratic Party to donate N10 million each to his project.
At the birthday celebration, the ex-president recounted how he knew the host, supported his governorship bid, and their relationship turned sour.
“You are not the best of my political children, you are not,” Obasanjo said to Fayose during his closing remarks. “But you have made achievements that must not be ignored.”
“I knew you because of the initiative that you took to start giving water in Ekiti, and that was what set you apart,” Obasanjo said.
“I didn’t know you before then. I was told to support SK Babalola, who had a beautiful track record in the NUT for many years,” Obasanjo said. “But when you came up, then I dropped him — he wasn’t even in our (political) party.”
The former president said, as governor, Fayose consulted with him on how to help the poultry farmers, and he advised him to subsidise the chick feeds for them instead of going into poultry.
“You decided you were going into poultry, and I said, … what will you do? And it comes in four days,” Obasanjo said.
He recalled that he once made a trip to his poultry farm and noticed that it was clean.
“And I turned to you and said Ayo, ‘your chicks don’t poo?’ And I heard your brother, Oyinlola, saying to you quietly that ‘If he doesn’t know anything, he knows poultry.’”
Obasanjo said the former governor had come to him at least twice to apologise for his wrongdoings and he forgave him, but that “it (insults) didn’t stop.”
Perhaps the part that hurt the former president the most was the fact that Fayose and his wife, Feyisetan had both personally gone to privately apologise to him. He said at one time, Fayose was accompanied by his wife to seek forgiveness at former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s residence, yet he continued to insult him at every given opportunity. From the hurt in his voice, one could tell this one pained him the most.
“You and your wife came to me in Oyinlola’s house to apologise to me for what you have said, what you have done and I said, I forgive you. But it (the abuses) didn’t stop. You came to my own house, you came to apologise, and I said, okay. But it didn’t stop.”
The former president also clarified that he did not compel the former governor and his counterparts to donate toward his library project. “Ayo, I did not ask you to contribute to my library. Did I? I did not,” Mr Obasanjo said. “The governors decided and you joined them.”
Additionally, he said, “even when you were abusing me, I still took an interest in your welfare.”
He added that when there was a controversy around Fayose’s academic qualification, he spoke up for him.
He urged Fayose to call those he might have wronged and seek forgiveness, and also forgive those who might have offended him.
The former president also recounted his surprise when he first learnt of Fayose’s invitation.
He recalled that Fayose first reached out to him through former transportation minister Osita Chidoka, whom he described as a political son.
“When Osita came to me and said, ‘Ayo,’ I asked, ‘Ayo who?’ He said Ayo Fayose. I told him to tell him, the message has been delivered.”
He noted that Fayose called him afterwards, and he told him that he could come anytime to see him. Obasanjo said, “Everybody should learn a lesson from that,” adding that the former governor still took precaution before coming to see him.
“You did not come directly to knock at my door,” the retired army general said. “You sent Folusho as an emissary to feel the pulse and about an hour later, you came,” Obasanjo said.
The former president recalled that Fayose subsequently visited him to further persuade him to attend the birthday celebration.
According to Obasanjo, during their meeting at his residence, Fayose telephoned his own wife and handed the phone to Obasanjo to let her talk to him on the birthday invitation. Obasanjo said he took the opportunity to scold the couple over his past grievances.
“I told your wife, ‘Madam, you and your husband, you are not ‘Omoluabi’ (not responsible). She admitted and said ‘Baba, you are right. Please, forgive us.’ Then, when you get that, what else can I do?” The former president said with reference to a Yoruba adage that a ‘badly-behaved child cannot be chased into the lion’s den.’
But after making up his mind to honour the invitation, Obasanjo said he was advised against attending the ceremony due to their frosty relationship.
“Before I started coming here, some people called me and said, ‘We heard that you are going to Ayo Fayose’s birthday (celebration). Can’t you remember that he abused you?’ I said, ‘Thank you for reminding me,’” Obasanjo recalled his response.
Meanwhile, Obasanjo said he had to cut short his trip to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, to be present at the occasion.
He noted that he was supposed to be in Rwanda till Sunday but had to return on Saturday around 1 a.m. to grace the birthday celebration since he had promised Fayose to be present, whatever it takes”.
He however said he hinged his attendance on Fayose’s undertaking to pay for his flight back to Nigeria, as he was not prepared to pay for it from his pension. He said, although Fayose sent some money to him, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote sent an airplane that brought him back to the country.
Days after the event, Fayose had sent a scathing SMS message to Obasanjo and thereafter request for a refund of the airplane ticket. Obasanjo has since returned the said money back to Fayose.
The SMS, described as a “Thank You” note, was made available to journalists in Abeokuta by Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi.
In the message, Fayose expressed appreciation for Obasanjo’s attendance but criticised what he called the 89-year-old former president’s “irresponsible comments” during the birthday celebration.
The former governor said he chose not to respond at the event to show “the whole world the difference between a sane man and a mad man.”
“Not to worry, Baba. I shall set the records straight in due course. Lastly, I shall appreciate it if you return my money since you publicly admitted you received it, but Dangote brought it back. Your leopard will never change its skin.”
Replying to Fayose, Obasanjo was quoted as saying, “Ayo, thanks for your ‘Thank You’ message, which undisguisedly revealed who and what you are, unchanged and unchangeable. Your money has been sent back through Foluso Adeagbo, who brought it, in the same bag as he delivered it, unopened by me.”
–WALE LAWAL
(08037209290)
