Mrs. Feyisetan Fayose: The woman who saw tomorrow

Saturday, June 21, 2014 will remain a memorable day for the Governor-elect of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose and his wife, Feyisetan Fay­ose. That was the day the peo­ple of Ekiti voted en-masse for Fayose to return a second time as governor of the state. This is remarkable, as no in­cumbent governor of the state has ever won a second term since 1999.

Many years before the pres­ent thrills and joy of winning a keenly contested election, there was the prediction of doom for Fayose, from none other than his wife, Feyisetan. While her husband held sway as the gov­ernor, in 2006, she predicted that he was going to be im­peached by the state House of Assembly.

For a woman who has al­ways been described as very ‘spiritual,’ this proclamation did not go down well with her husband, especially given his immense popularity among Ekiti people. Fayose carves the image of being ‘a man of the people.’

He was once reported to have halted a motorcade to have a drink of palm wine with locals and had severally con­veyed aged men and women to the bank to assist them in open­ing bank account.

The possibility, therefore, of having such a ‘charismatic’ leader impeached was unimagi­nable. But events that later un­folded proved Feyisetan right, for not long after that, Fayose fought one of the fiercest battles of his political career.

On October 16, 2006, af­ter many twists and turns, in­trigues, manipulations, black­mails and threats, 24 of 26 lawmakers of Ekiti State House of Assembly impeached Fayose and his deputy, Mrs. Biodun Olujimi, on corruption charges. Amid palpable tension and tight security, members of the Assembly, led by the Speaker, Friday Aderemi, convened an emergency session after which they moved back into Ado Ekiti from a neighbouring town, where they hid since their last sitting was allegedly disrupted by hoodlums.

In the short sitting, they passed a guilty judgment on the governor, whom they ear­lier accused of embezzling state funds, particularly the Ekiti State poultry project handled by his childhood friend and contractor, Gbenga James. Mr. James was star witness against his former pal, Ayo Fayose.

But the last was not to be heard of Feyisetan. Again, on December 10, 2012, she told a gathering of women of the PDP in Ekiti that Fayose would return to Ekiti Government House in 2014. In that meeting, she said: “I can authoritatively say that history will repeat itself. With your cooperation, my hus­band, Ayo Fayose, will return to the Government House, Ekiti to finish his divine assignment.

“You know him to be a self­less man, who is committed to Ekiti cause. He believes so much in Ekiti and that is why I have come to announce to you that God has promised to restore him for our deliverance in 2014.”