Fmr Gov Fayemi Slams APC, Says Party Has Lost Vision Of Founding Fathers, Urges Devolution Of Powers

By Ayodele Oni

Claims credit for swinging the Wike-headed 2023 G5 towards Tinubu’s corner, Says he asked Tinubu to meet with Peter Obi after 2023 Election

Former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has observed that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), he helped build has drifted from its founding ideals.

Fayemi was unflinching in his criticism of the APC’s current state, admitting that the party has lost both its ideological compass and the vision of its founders.

“We have lost our bearing and we’ve lost the vision of the founding fathers of this party,”

Fayemi made the disclosures during an extensive interview on State Affairs, a podcast hosted by Edmund Obilo.

Asked about intellectualism within the APC, Fayemi was blunt: “You don’t see intellectualism because there’s no debate in our party. There’s no debate.”

He criticised the party’s turn towards consensus and imposition over competitive primaries.

All but one candidate Fayemi put forward during recent primary elections in Ekiti state were roundly defeated by government candidates.

He reflected on his political journey, his role in Tinubu’s emergence as president, the rise of Peter Obi as a political phenomenon, and his vision for restructuring Nigeria.

The former governor also confirmed that he was the one who brokered the deal that brought the G5 governors, including Nyesom Wike, into Tinubu’s fold during the 2023 campaign.

Fayemi recounted how he stepped down for Tinubu during the APC presidential primary, explaining that he did so because of their shared history in the political trenches.

“Tinubu and I had been in the trenches together. Of all the people who were in the race with me, at least he was someone that I was very familiar with his trajectory in politics, with his courage, with his consistency, with his can-do spirit and that I was a much younger person and that there’s still time for me,” Fayemi recalled.

He then revealed that he went beyond merely stepping down, actively working to secure Tinubu’s victory including brokering the critical alliance with the G5 PDP governors, who had fallen out with their party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

“I then went ahead to do what I had to do in order to ensure that he won, including bringing the G5 into his fold, by the way,” Fayemi disclosed.

When pressed on how he achieved this, Fayemi explained that as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, he had cross-party relationships that positioned him to bridge the gap.

“I knew what challenges they were going through on the other side and I felt I was reasonably well positioned to bridge the gap once they fell into difficulty with their own party and their candidate Atiku,” he said,

On the emergence of APC candidates through consensus, Fayemi explained “There is nothing in principle wrong with consensus if it is genuine consensus.

“However, I am a product of a democratic process and I would always be on the side of primaries, all the time,” Fayemi stated.

He warned that the APC’s approach of absorbing opposition politicians and governors was unsustainable.

“If you kill them in that manner, then you are breeding internal opposition within our own fold,” he cautioned.

In his most politically charged observation, Fayemi suggested that Nigeria may be drifting towards what political scientists call “competitive authoritarianism” a system where autocratic governance is disguised in the trappings of democracy.

“A lot of autocrats are covering their system and government in the garb of democracy.

“Whether you’re talking of Erdogan, or you’re talking of Putin, or you’re talking of Trump, or you’re talking of the man who just got kicked out of Hungary, you will see that incrementally our democracy is being subverted by autocracy. And I hope that’s not the bad lesson we are learning in Africa,” Fayemi stated.

He warned that the danger was particularly acute given Nigeria’s youth demographics.

“If you talk to young people who never experienced or lived under military rule, they’re the campaign managers for the juntas of this world.

“Go on social media and see the way they sing their praises because they’ve never lived under military rule.”

Fayemi revealed a previously undisclosed encounter between Obi and Tinubu at the Vatican during the inauguration of the new Pope, which he personally facilitated.

Fayemi recounted that he and Obi both Catholics had breakfast with a Cardinal on the morning of the papal inauguration and were seated four rows behind President Tinubu at the ceremony.

When Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the presidential delegation, came to greet them, Fayemi suggested to Obi that they go and greet the President.

“Peter had his concern that ‘look, this might be misused in the media.’ I said, Peter, it really didn’t matter. You are Catholic.

“You are a Nigerian. You are here. Our president has honoured us. He’s even a Muslim. He’s not a Catholic like you and I,” Fayemi recounted.

“Obi agreed, and they walked up to the President. “I said, ‘Mr President, welcome to the Vatican.

“Thank you for honouring us with your presence.’ And the president is quick-witted he immediately retorted, ‘Kayode, what are you saying? I should be the one welcoming you because I’m the leader of the Nigerian delegation.’

“And Peter kindly said to him, ‘Yes sir, you are our leader. Thank you for coming to Rome to honour us even though we’re not part of your delegation, but you are our leader,’” Fayemi narrated.

Fayemi devoted significant portions of the interview to his vision for restructuring Nigeria, drawing from his recent book, “If This Giant Must Rise: Interventions on Leadership and Governance in Africa.”

He argued that Nigeria’s majoritarian winner-takes-all democracy is not delivering development, and that the country needs “alternative politics” driven by inclusion, rather than the current four-year electoral cycle that produces governments worse than their predecessors.

“This majoritarian winner-takes-all approach is not taking us anywhere developmentally, and we probably need another alternative political framework that allows us to deal with the structural question and then deal with the governance question,” Fayemi stated.

He advocated for devolution of powers from the federal government to the states, arguing that the military’s centralisation of power had arrested Nigeria’s development.

“If we had continued at the pace of development from the 1952 self-government period to independence to 1966, Nigeria would probably be where South Korea and similar other entities are now,” Fayemi observed.

He called on President Tinubu, who has an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly and about 30 governors aligned with him, to use his political capital to drive constitutional reform, rather than governing through the existing centralised structure.

When asked directly whether he still wanted to be president, Fayemi was characteristically diplomatic but did not close the door.

“My political journey is not ended. I still want to serve Nigeria to my capacity. I want to serve Nigeria,” Fayemi stated, while deflecting follow-up questions about specific ambitions.

He described his governorship as a “vocation, not a profession,” noting that he is primarily a scholar who has returned to the university to teach, and urged the interviewer not to define him solely by his gubernatorial tenure.