Crisis Of Governance In Nigeria Caused By Leadership Crisis, Says Fayemi

Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has said that governance crisis which Nigeria experiences in recent time are not unconnected to leadership problems.

Speaking Wednesday at the 25th rememberance anniversary of late sage and former Premier of old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo at Ikenne, the Governor said that unless the crisis of leadership, people’s ownership of politics and direction, leaders may not be able to make life more abundant for the masses.

Dr. Fayemi who described the late sage as a man that lived a life of service which pointed to true governance said it would be wrong for anyone to see Awolowo as a tribal leader even as he was called to serve the nation when it was in crisis in 1966 as a Minister and a Vice Chairman in the federal administration.

He said many of his legacies which people talk about today were done between 1952 and 1959 when he was Premier and a federal lawmaker; stressing that if he were merely a tribal leader, leaders from different tribes and political thoughts, both progressives and conservative tendencies gathered to commemorate his 25th rememberance anniversary.

“We are glad he was a Yoruba man and a Nigerian of unstinting loyalty to the fedration of Nigeria.There are many who would of course like to paint Baba as a tribalist, those who afre unschooled in the philosophy of Awolowo or studied carefully how he governed the west. His was a life of example, pasion for the good of the people and service and that is why we are here to rekindle that hope in the future, in the possibilities that still exist in Nigeria”, he said.

The Governor added that it was the same life of service that is being replicated and enhanced with modern time  in the South west states by promoting the legacies of the late sage in a manner that is commensurate with the modern time.

Fayemi said the legacies are not about party coloration but about ideology; saying that one must stand on a lasting ideology rather than following a multitude; even as he added that Politics, to Awolowo, was not accidental but planned, organised and was well prepared for office and spent his life reflecting on what it means to serve the people.