“It is important for
people to know this is malicious and not a dispassionate and objective
assessment,” Fayemi said.
“The only thing I brought to public service is my name and I
won’t let people take my silence as consent as far as Chief Babalola’s opinion
is concerned.
“He never supported me, he supported Segun Oni in the 2007
election. But that’s fine.
“He has a right to
support anyone. I don’t begrudge him for that. Even when I challenged the
stolen mandate in 2007, he was Segun Oni’s lawyer in court.
“So, as far as he was concerned, this little David defeated
the giant Goliath of Ekiti. Despite that, I embraced him as governor and asked
him to chair the Airport Viability Committee, which he was keen on during my
first term in office.
“Age is supposed to imbue one with a level of circumspection
in what one says, but not this old man who believes he owns Ekiti and any
governor who chooses not to grovel before him and shower him with sycophantic
adulation of the Almighty Afe Babalola must be brought down.
“Unfortunately, I will not grovel before any human being.
Only God is Almighty in my books.
“Chief Afe Babalola
has always been unfair to me personally, and to Governors Adebayo and Fayose
equally. I can say categorically without any fear of equivocation that every
governor that has occupied the exalted seat in Ekiti performed well in the
circumstance they operated in.
“They all handed the baton to their successors who took the
state further than they met it.
Also, Fayemi said the respected lawyer’s view would not be
the yardstick to measure his performance and those of others who have served as
Ekiti governors.
“Chief Babalola’s prejudiced view can never be the final
word on our times in the office, certainly not on my time in office because I
know and the record is crystal clear that I improved the state on every
developmental index than I met the state,” he was quoted as saying by PREMIUM
TIMES.
“But then, Chief Afe
Babalola is an old man and as well brought up Omoluabi, one should grant him
the indulgence of failing memory that comes with age.
“I’m, however, glad that he recognised the good in Governor
Oyebanji.
“We will continue to
applaud his contribution to Ekiti State but I hope Baba is not suffering from a
narcissistic personality disorder that prevents him from seeing the good in
others even as he relishes his exaggerated sense of self.”
