By Segun Oderinde
Forget his initial claim to fame as an activist, Governor Kayode Fayemi has the money habit. He knows how to put vast state resources to getting personal comfort. Many would find out that his thrifty, pious posturing was just a facade when he built an obscene Government House in preparation for his failed second term bid as governor of Ekiti State.
Built on the rocky plains of Ado-Ekiti, the governor’s personal room had a multi-million naira gold-plated bed to boot. However, he was trounced at the 2014 election by Governor Ayodele Fayose who refused to live there and on the day of his inauguration, opened the mansion to Ekiti people in mockery of Fayemi’s extravagance. In the intervening years, Fayemi went on to become Minister of Mines and Steel Development and he didn’t drop the money habit.
In 2017, he purchased a mouth-watering mansion in GRA, Ikeja, and his neighbours were beside themselves with joy that they have a top government functionary in their midst. Those conversant with workings in Abuja are privy to the fact that Fayemi had the ears of President Muhammadu Buhari. Thus, it was a warm and welcoming GRA residents association that opened its embrace to the bespectacled academic cum politician.
Few months after moving into the mansion which he bought off a millionaire auto magnate, the same residents are ruing their fate, groaning and whingeing as Fayemi has now become a thorn in their flesh. According to a prominent resident, since Fayemi was sworn in as Governor of Ekiti State in October, his congenital hauteur has come to the fore. “We didn’t have any issue with the former owner of the house until Fayemi came.
In fact, things were relatively calm and peaceful when he first moved here as a minister, but since he became governor, it seems he is hell-bent on making other residents know how much power he wields now,” the resident lamented. According to this source, the first thing Governor Fayemi did was to unilaterally mandated that it be locked from 7pm. To make matters worse, the alternative road to the street is longer and deplorable which causes a lot of discomfort for those trying to connect their house.
Another embittered resident described Governor Fayemi as ‘an arbitrary and territorial overlord’ who revels in dominating his environment; “Someone needs to remind him that this is Lagos, not Ekiti. And we won’t allow him dominate us here like his colleague, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, did in Ajisafe Street (also in GRA).” Amosun was alleged to have manipulated how the gate leading to Ajisafe Street became permanently locked because of a house he visits only on weekends.
Before his 2015 victory at the polls, President Muhammadu Buhari was alleged to have a permanent suite in Amosun’s Ajisafe home.
