By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor
LAGOS—GOVERNOR Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, weekend, gave one condition for the reversal of the dissolution of local government councils in the State saying the recent action was taken to stop the spate of looting of government property.

Fayemi who spoke in an interview with newsmen in Ado_Ekiti, equally affirmed his determination to maintain a mind of his own in his dealings with former Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State who he described as a worthy party leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

The newly inaugurated governor who affirmed that governors were insulted by the underground schemes employed in the abortive attempt to make Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, however, excused Governor Daniel of blame. He described the Ogun State governor as an innocent victim of the whole episode.

Noting that the dissolution of the councils arose from the spate of looting of government property and vehicles, Fayemi said the dissolution could be reversed by a judicial pronouncement or by a resolution of the State House of Assembly.

He said: “We felt we needed to take a decisive step in that direction. If the courts say that we are wrong, I have said that I will never do anything that will undermine the rule of law.

I came on the back of the rule of law and it only stands to reason that I will not do anything that will put the rule of law in any jeopardy and that is the position I continue to hold.

“One of the reasons that we have not put transition or caretaker committees in place is to ensure that the matter that is before the court is quickly disposed off and we said that the most senior civil servants in the local governments should take over.

Abortive attempt
“So, if the House of Assembly refuses to ratify what we have done, fine. We will go back to where we were but if they do, nobody in Abuja can do anything about it. Off course you know of the Supreme Court position on this matter.”

On the abortive attempt to make Governor Daniel chairman of the Governors’ Forum he said:

“We felt insulted by what happened and the ACN caucus, though we are a minority, we are only three at the Governors Forum, we argued passionately for a process and a procedure for succession in the Governors Forum. This was why they put one of us in the chair of drafting the procedures for that. It is not a PDP Governors Forum, it is a Nigerian Governors Forum.”

Decision not Gbenga Daniel’s agenda
Excusing Governor Daniel of blame over the issue, he said: “In all fairness to Gbenga Daniel we discovered that he wasn’t really pushing for it, it was foisted on him by those who had an agenda that was not necessarily an agenda for the Governors Forum.”

Asked to respond to insinuations that former Governor Tinubu would exact a burden on him, Fayemi said: “He (Tinubu) is a leader of my party, I am proud of my relationship with him but those who know me know that I also have a mind of my own and they know that Asiwaju does not generally go for yes people around him.

Whether you look at his cabinet or those who he associates with, I don’t think he is one person who indulges in promoting sycophantic relationships.

“I will certainly go to him for a lot of advice, he’s been a Governor, I have never been a Governor before now so he would have advice to give me, he would have insights into issues.

He is also very astute politically and has a lot of experience on how to handle funny or difficult situations. So, I won’t hesitate to go to him just as I won’t hesitate to go to Governor Olumiyuwa or Governor Adebayo or even the stormy petrel, Governor Fayose.

He sat here before so he probably knew one or two things that he did wrong that he would be able to advise me ‘don’t go down that route, I did and I made a terrible mistake of it.’

“So for me, I have no repository of knowledge, I don’t have all the answers to the challenges that we face here in Ekiti and I certainly will not pretend that I got here on a single handed journey. No I didn’t.

I got here with the support of a lot of people and I stand on the shoulders of elders  and people who are wiser than I am. I also know that at the end of the day if anything goes wrong with this government nobody is going to blame Tinubu, nobody is going to shout the name of Fayose or Adebayo, they will say Fayemi’s government.

That is the bottom line and that is how I want us to see it and I know that some of these things are attractive in the media but I don’t think it is something that will create a crisis.”