Dr. Ayodele Peter Fayose is no doubt a firebrand politician of no easy means. Quite vibrant, intelligent and dynamic, the well-connected political big weight of the ruling party-PDP is happening again after overcoming what looked like an insurmountable challenges. The erstwhile governor of Ekiti State who recently lost his sister, Beloved Apostle Bimpe to cancer is one of the candidates to beat in the forthcoming gubernatorial election come 2014. Like never before, few hours to his governorship declaration, the energetic Fayose was in his best elements when National Enquirer team led by News Editor, Faith Irabor, Entertainment Editor, Jav Imoni and Photo Editor, Bamidele Adeyemi engaged him in a no hold bared interview where he bluntly addressed issues of his family misunderstandings, life as a controversial politician among others and why he want to rule Ekiti State again. It is his very recent interview where he spoke on what his late sister stood for, you sure can`t read this anywhere.
Your Excellency, sorry about the death of your sister, can you tell us what came through your mind when you heard the news?
Well, death is regrettable but since it’s a long drawn battle for survival that took a reasonable period of time, we expected that she would get better but on the other side we know that it may be neither here nor there, so at the point the news came of her demise, we did not see it in all as a shock but expected and we took solace in the fact that there will be an ultimate end for man. But the good side of her own is that she had the opportunity to make right her life within the potted illness, so for us we thank God that she had that opportunity to right the wrongs and prepare for eternity.
Who broke the news of her cancer ailment to you, and was there traces of that in the family?
Well, my wife told me, and she`s been aware of it for like over a month or two because they all know I’m emotional, they couldn’t break the news to me, so between my wife and senior sister, they knew so they told me and I was really shocked, no trace of cancer in the family and for somebody like that in that age in her prime it was a disturbing shock and personally I got broken down, emotionally I wasn’t happy at all, but I was thinking it is something that could be managed like taking out one of the breast and she would probably survive, so I was having that kind of mind until she came to Nigeria and showed me physically the two breast.
What was running through your mind the moment you saw this is no joke, this is a death sentence?
To me, I was broken down I must confess to you but one thing that kept me going was her faith, her inner strength, her belief, when you see somebody like that, the courage runs in my family, the faith and when you have somebody like that, that is carrying herself spiritually in faith, you have to join your faith with hers so I strongly believed that she will survive it until it got to a stage that the thing turned around and she couldn’t get out of bed any more.
How have you been able to console your mum because this is the first time I’m practically seeing a mother in this situation, where did she get that courage and faith though we are aware you’ve been taking her here and there, what is that word that is keeping her?
You see, my mother is a pastor and when the incident happened like I told you it was a chance, it was a mindset of about 70, 30 at the same time when you`re alive, you still have faith in God that she will get over it and Bimpe herself made life easy for everybody in this matter because she didn’t keep anybody in the dark, she was on Blackberry, Social networks throughout the time she was in the hospital and she was reaching out to all Nigerians and all lovers of Bimpe and she was making it very clear because she arranged so many things herself, she didn’t leave anybody in doubt that there could be an ultimate end at that point in time, so for my mother I remembered my mother told me that Bimpe took her to where she went to buy or negotiate or talked about her casket, what she will like, how she will like her last journey in life to be etc. So for my mother I told her, I made it very clear to her that as a pastor, you have always admonish people, you have always preach to a lot of people, you have always encourage a lot of people, so a lot of people will keep eyes on you whether you will live by what you preach, whether you will be able to stand by your own confessions, whether you will be a preacher of the word and not a doer and I spoke her, I was in Abuja when I got the news and she quickly adjusted and realized that, that she has preached, that she has consoled, that she has assisted a lot of people that they should not lose hope in life because of their loved ones. So she is now in position to practically demonstrate it and she did and to every visitors immediately I got the news I came to join her in Ibadan, she got to know of it on facebook, that’s why this social media is not a good thing, that’s the truth, its disadvantages are major, my mother is always on Blackberry, on Face Book, on Twitter she knows all these social networks and she is always on them and Bimpe too has trained her to always go to her site and all that so incidentally somebody who was with Bimpe at the point of death posted it on face book and on the social media so my mother was in the car crying when I was about to call her to let her know when I got to know, so she was already crying but I reminded her that God is still kind to you, you’ve lost one regrettably, but you still have six, it could be the other way round and I want her to realize that nobody can console her but herself and immediately I set out for Ibadan to stay by her and dispatched my wife to the UK to be part of the burial arrangements, so I’m glad she has been able to put herself together and today you can rarely see mothers in such service.
You must have really convinced mummy enough to be part of the remembrance service in Nigeria?
I told her she has to be there according to Bimpe, she wants a befitting burial, my mother too wants a befitting burial for her, and my mother has always talked about Bimpe’s testimonies from a lot of people so I told her sit down with me, we are not in London to witness the interment but this is a Service of Songs, celebration of Bimpe your daughter, because God did not promise when you will die, He only said people will die, He did not tell you how many months how many years you`ll spend. So dying in itself is one of those things that we have to experience and I think as a pastor she tried and as a human being she did well.
Let’s not take away the fact that there were misunderstanding, there were issues in the family, how does this make you feel now knowing that all these were settled before she eventually departed?
You see, to be honest with you Bimpe and I were not in good terms since what happened had happened when I was a Governor, all the issues there and then, we’ve not been talking for about 5, 6 years but one thing I will not forget is that she came back February 13th and came straight to my house in Nigeria from England and said my brother I have come to restitute with you to apologize for what I did when you were in office, for my wrong doings and she equally apologized for insisting on my taking our father to Ekiti state for burial, she apologized profusely and said I should forgive her and we reconciled there and then.
From your heart?
From my heart oh… yes because sincerely I supported her since that day until her death.
Why we`re saying from your heart is because after then, she had a thanksgiving service in your house here but you didn’t really wait to attend?
No, because I was emotionally broken down, because she showed me the 2 breast in my room before she came for that service in my house in the month of February 2012, she showed me a lot of things, her state of health and I was broken down I couldn’t comprehend, I’ve never seen that kind of a thing before because the breast was just like a stone, you know she was supporting it with some things under the breast to match the other one but if you feel the breast, it was like a stone, I was broken down, you see with a strong person like me I will say, but I’m still soft hearted, emotionally, such things get to me so when they were doing the service, I couldn’t be part of it because it was running in my head and she told me a lot of things, she showed me a lot of personal things, she told me what she is been eating, you understand, in her attempt not to go for Chemotherapy, so I wept when she went back to her room in my guest room, I wept, I was disturbed, so if she start saying those testimonies again in the public I might be a source of dis-inspiration to her, so I didn’t want to do that but I forgave and we were made up and she left the next day for my father’s grave side and made right her ways with a lot of people before she left for Britain and she died exactly a year after, ” February 13th” 2013.
What do you think that signified?
Well, such coincidence is not ordinary, they represent a lot things for special people, for historic people you understand, so for me her departure is not ordinary, we have to thank God because it is better than suffering and since she has done all she had to do, reconciled herself with everybody, lived a Godly life then departure is better off than pain.
Another area is you’ve heard a lot of praises being showered on her by people`s comments, even a senator said his current apartment in Abuja was given to him by your sister, the late Apostle, what has that taught you?
You see, all I saw, I had seen these things in her video clips in the last 3 days and all that I saw and heard from these less privileged people, the mad people she delivered, it’s so touching to me, it shows that Bimpe did a lot and in the space of our differences like 5 years, she built her life reaching out to people, supporting people, delivering people, selfless life, life of kindness, giving all she had got, so God knows best, sometimes God give some people opportunity to live right towards the end of their life so what this tells me is that nobody knows time and chance, whatever time things will happen to you, so to every opportunity we have we must make amends of our ways.
What about the legacy she left behind, is there anyone particularly that you know caught your interest right now that if you have your way you`re going to take up?
Yeah my mother told me most of these people live in her house
She even said it on TV
Yeah, she said so, I will visit the place and see, these are things that we must sustain but I might not have the courage of holding a mad person on the road, I might not have that courage, I might not have that ministry because it takes the calling of God and gut to do that I’m telling you, she did one when we are coming back from Ekiti, she did it when we got to Ibadan and saw a lady that was mad and she said my brother stop, so I thought maybe she saw something not knowing she saw the mad woman and she went straight to the mad woman and started praying for her, the lady knelt down and was saying Amen mummy.
A mad woman?
A mad woman and she took soap and all sorts and gave her a bath and cut the hair, bought her new dresses, panties and everything then gave money to the people in the neighbourhood to look after her because she has to leave for London the next day. In fact to my surprise she was almost giving up the London travel, she was even going to bring the mad woman in the car but I told her frankly that, you will not be able to bring the mad person in the car with me, she wanted me to bring her in the car and to be honest with you, I couldn’t handle that because if the person suddenly turns around and bite you, what will you do? So that was my fear but in all honesty, she was a woman of faith, courage, she was a rare gem.
Did you ever noticed these traces in her all along aside from the fact that your mum too is a Pastor, did you know that she had these things (the calling of healing)?
We are all brought up like that
You have these things in you too?
Well, you see the manifestation of things get physical at some point in your life, you don’t know what a man is made up of until it happens sometimes, there are things you call traits which might not be realities, traits get manifested and become whole and then you start acting it and there are so many things that could happen to a man’s life that will turn you to God and those things that supposed to manifest will now manifest, so all I’m telling you is that in my family we are brought up like that to believe in God, we were taught the Bible when we were young and we were brought close to God, all of us can pray well, can fast, we were taught how to fast, so for me none of these things Bimpe is doing is strange except for the fact that the courage to go near a mad person needs an extra grace of God.
It`s been like 7 years or more since you ceased to be the governor of the State, and we heard that anytime you enters Ekiti, youths still hail you, what will you attribute this to?
You see politically, polities is like a ministry that you are called into because there will be no king without God’s approval. When I was the Governor, I served the Ekiti people well and from the way I was removed, the people can all see that it was a conspiracy and the conspiracy is like a buried person, buried with a lot of questions to ask but the person starts bringing out his leg, so that is how I can describe it, literally, what I’m saying is that the good works and circumstances surrounding my departure from office is still hunting a lot of people and the people of Ekiti state have not found a rest because of my departure so they still want me back, that’s why you see this happening even 7 years after.
What did you think you left behind, what is that magic thing that is still working for you even years after, despite the controversies, EFCC, exile and all, what do you think is still the selling point?
You see good works sell itself, good products sell itself, I can sell myself, it is my work selling me so even if I did not choose to contest for election again, let me take Awolowo as an example, you cannot hide the good works of Awolowo, most of the bridges he constructed are no more in place now but he was the originator and founder of those things. Awolowo brought roads whatever name we call it because everything is for a time, what he could do at that time was an eye opener for that generation, if you see some bridges, that time it was about iron bridges not even cast, not even concrete and the number of cars at that time were very few, so that was the best at that time, so I gave my best at that time; So my best at that time is still what is selling me and speaking for me till date.
Good, you did your part as an individual. As a Governor, there were forces that fought you, you acknowledged it, and sure you must have realized some loop holes on your part, so how prepared are you to seal those loop holes?
You see my case is not a case of having issues with anybody this is a struggle for power
There were issues that you stepped on toes of powers that be?
No, there will be forever issues because it is the struggle for power, some will want you, some will not want you that does not mean you took their wives or you took their children, it is, I am here, you are there, so for anybody who does not like me it simply means that they are on the other side.
Why do you think they don’t like you in the first place for those who don’t know?
I can’t explain that, the answer to that is that, that is why one man marries this woman and another man marries another woman what you like I might not like.
One man’s meat is another man’s poison?
Yes, so the other issue is that for me I am not a perfect man and so are all the Governors in other states, it is not as if they are perfect but that was how God structured my own, you understand and I bear no grudges, that is the truth because nothing happens to man without God and the fact remains that if I go back I cannot get 100% support, you understand, so going back is of God, not going back is of God, getting out of government is of God the person that concluded his reign does not mean he is better than me, like I said time and chance happen to all man according to the Bible, I did my best, there are some people who finished 8 years and they cannot go back to their state, they will stone them, there are some people, they spent a very short time and people will still love them, you understand, so till today people still love me, I don’t have to please everybody, you understand, but there is no truth in that I’m fighting any Oba, that is paper politics, that is propaganda, let me tell you democracy is an issue of number, why will people still love you, why will the majority love you if you are not doing good but there are people who`re well connected, by reasons of our polities they believed that they can sabotage efforts and short circuit a lot of processes, that is if God allow them, you understand, but for me, like my sister, I`ll keep struggling until I die, I`ll keep giving my best, you understand, so expect that.
One of the issues we learnt the so called high and mighty had with you then was your toughness?
I’m blunt
That’s the problem, they said you are too confrontational, you don’t compromise?
The issue is that, that is why they are on the other side and I’m on this side, I’m a very clear person, I don’t pretend, I don’t want to suffer in silence, I’m trying my best but there is little I can do, you understand, all of us cannot be liars, all of us cannot be worshiping our stomach, all of us cannot be “alright sir”, everybody leaves a legacy, the public is watching all of us, you understand, like I told you the fact that somebody finishes his 8 years does not say he is better than me, some finished 8 years they are washed off people don’t like them but people still love me till tomorrow, you understand, most Governors today want to be sitting in Heaven while their subjects on earth, some of them don’t want to be touching poor people I have heard some governors say I cannot sit on Okada like Fayose, I cannot eat bolly like Fayose, at the end of the day, no big deal, death is 6 feet for everybody, you understand. I am somebody who is more of the common whether some are against me and for me only God knows the best.
No doubt, you worked so hard while in office and some people betrayed your trust, what has that experience taught you and what will you correct if you are opportune to go back, God`s willing?
You see, let me put it this way, it`s not about correction alone, it`s not as if I wronged anybody, it was not as if Jesus Christ wronged anybody that made Judas gave him out, Jesus Christ was watching their feet they still betrayed him and let me put it this way, it was for Jesus Christ to be fulfilled that was the more reason He had all those problems. Joseph too had more enemies in his own household, you understand, but they were not able to kill the grace of God in his life. He fulfilled his destiny despite all those oppositions. Daniel is another person in the Bible days and there is nothing we are doing today that we don’t find in the Bible. Daniel refused to take the pleasant meal of the king, they did everything, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego they were honoured and eventually Joseph became the Prime Minister not even in his own nation but in another nation. Jesus Christ for His own name today after crucification, Shadrack Meshach and Abednego, they were brought out of the Furnace and they praise their God. They will praise my own God too very soon some people will soon write books about this Fayose, the life of Fayose that nobody has seen his own style because they believe I’m always in political trench all the time and I don’t care, that’s the truth.
I know you’ve been observing the administration because it is your state, first the interest of your state matters, what are you going back to do, what are the things that are giving you concern that you know if you have your way you want to correct?
The duty of a Governor or a leader is to provide social amenities, if we bring you press men if you have the opportunity today even without an election, if they carry somebody on the road, give him state money to go and provide water, go and provide this, he will look for people who`re more educated to assist him even if he cannot do it, they will provide it, so that means provision of amenities is not even the issue, the issue is your connection with the people. There are 2 types of development, there is infrastructural development which road, water, building of people, education those are physical development the other one is human development which is loving the people, eating with them, people that cannot ordinarily touch you like somebody was talking at my sister`s burial today, so all I’m saying to you is that human development is the key. Awolowo did a lot of roads and was able to establish himself in the heart of the people to a point that people will put water and say they are seeing Awolowo inside water that is stigmatization, which is when you become possessed of that person politically. Ekiti people love m
e there is something I have done right for them and I’m still praying to God for me to do more, you see that’s what I’m saying to you, if I will go back to office, I want to first of all go back to those people the common of the commonest and be their friend before I can do anything for them. You can give gift to people and give wrong gift, I employ people on the road, I’m walking pass and women will come, my son, I don’t have work and this is the certificate sign on it, and they get employed. I am one of the Governors in Ekiti, that I know, I don’t want to talk about other state that I don’t know, that has made council chairmen who don’t have education, 2 of them, no education but I could put a doctor degree holder beside him when we were putting Caretaker Committees because they are the bedrock of our politics, when we get there we now say they don’t have education, they are not educated these are boggling things that have endeared me to a lot of people, when you have Primary 6 with 20 years’ experience that is a big education, knowing books itself is education, is it not education my mother used to give birth to me? For instance my mother did not go to school but she can use Blackberry, she can go on Twitter, she can go on Face Book what education again do you want? Most of us who`re Governors now somebody is helping us to operate our Face Book and my mother does everything right and she did not step the walls of Primary School for one day, so all I’m saying is that for what I have done, what I will still do is to love the common man, I am not saying this to impress anybody, I don’t impress, that is one thing with me, I do it as I feel because if I want to impress you I will not have a private life, I want to live a life like Ayo Fayose, satisfy myself, my conscience and everybody. Somebody was telling me can you go to that place? I said I can go anywhere as long as I’m convinced beyond me so that they will not say look at former Governor in this kind of a place, there is no place I cannot go. One day somebody was doing a naming ceremony in a very useless floor I went there they named that child after me for coming there, I ate their moi-moi with them they served moi-moi there and akara, I did all that with them and that’s all they want. That one is hope alive; they believed that somebody is feeling them beyond them, you understand, so every big man wants to be in big places but me I don’t like big places too much.
Is that what you call your joker?
That is the joker, that is my own selling point that is why till tomorrow I am a politician. When I do things most big people don’t come because of the kind of people they may see there but I don’t mind.
Don’t you think those are the people you need their support politically?
What support? Is it not the people we represent, do we represent ourselves? They have money, I have money; they have luxuries, I have luxuries; they have masses, I have masses; there will be no different between us if we don’t bring these common people together and work together so there must be a meeting point between the rich and the poor. There are lots of people now, they commit atrocities but they call themselves freedom fighters, who are they fighting freedom for? The only thing they can do is to come to some areas and dash some people money. We must be real to live a life that is worthy but don’t forget people in the public still know.
What would you want to be remembered for?
My neutrality, down to earth attitude and life that has touched lives of ordinary person, somebody that cannot come and say thank you even those people that you are doing things for that are big people the moment you lose your chair, you don’t see them again, so it is good to face poor people because I have a friend, he died since 13 years ago I have kept his family in tact since he died with 5 children. A guy from Imo state sent me a text this morning that he came to serve in Ekiti in 2004 and I retained him as the best copper and I gave him job and he has remained in Ekiti since that day and he’s been fasting and praying because of me so that I can return, you can imagine how many of them like that praying and fasting that I don’t even know and the Bible says the prayer of a righteous man avails much. And The Bible also says in the book of Isaiah that when you reach out to the poor, the Lord Almighty will reach out to you, so it is better to care for the needy because people who are taking contract from you when you no more there, they will follow another person and look for that contract somewhere else and there is no day a poor man can get to them so the poor man will come back to you because it is you they know. Ask how many Governors in their various states give their number to the common people but when I was Governor, everybody in the state had my number, I dictated it on the radio and TV every time I talk, I don’t have PA I pick all my calls if anybody carries that call it is not me then it is not my number. I carried all my calls myself but if you ask me for the impossible I will tell you it is not possible, if you tell me come and do certain things I will tell you I cannot afford it, If you flash me I will call you and abuse you back because I have told you don’t flash me.
Are you just being religious or being spiritual?
Let me put it this way, I told you that we are well brought up spiritually but we are not the highest but we are growing and asking God to give us grace to keep standing, that’s how I put it but I’m a man that will not go out to be friends with enemies of God. We still have a lot to put right but I will not seek to get to the top through any means apart from the grace of God and I will not seek friendship or help of the enemies of God.
What is your own take, are you appealing about the merger to battle the power ?
There is no merger, merger will fail within the time and I will never be a party to any merger because with all due respect to A.C.N., A.C.N cannot be friends with everybody from morning till night except everything belongs to them. If you want to go to A.C.N today and say you are leaving one party, they will only bring you in and might abandon you mid-way, all these APC you are talking about comprises of A.C.N of 6 states, C.P.C of 2 states and Another one state making 9, nobody will leave PDP and follow those leaders leaving their party to follow them. When I left PDP not everybody followed me so where will they manufacture those people that will follow them there and the A.C.N that I know if they don’t take the whole thing and control the other people nobody will follow them they will not agree to that merger. In the north what will break A.P.C, this is practical analysis, Buhari is loved in the North not C.P.C, if Buhari is not allowed to contest that is the end of A.P.C because A.P.C has to do with C.P.C in the North and Buhari will say if they don’t allow him to contest, he won`t agree, then he will follow another D.P.D, he will not be C.P.C again. I must confess to you I like Buhari but let me close it, A.C.N has tried to work with Atiku he failed, they eventually threw Atiku back in the rail. They tried to work with Buhari, it did not work at some point the moment they finish to use you, they will just dump you wash their hands and go back to their original position which is A.C. and he want to sit back, that it is this same Buhari they tried to work with before, it`s still the same one you are talking about, there is nothing they will do that the PDP will not continue to defeat them because of the spread of P D P and apart from that Labour party is an ally with the P D P now but Peter Obi is an ally of P D P, of the president, that was why I said I’m not going with them in presidential election it shows that after Peter Obi joined P D P so it is 2 minus their own 9 they remained 7, join NPP with them call them 9 now let’s dash them another 3 that’s 12, 12 minus 36 is still 24 plus Federal Capital Territory it’s 25, 25 minus 10 minus 11 that is 36 plus FCT end of story
Thank you very much for your time.
