Kayode Fayemi, a former governor of Ekiti, has criticised Afe Babalola, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), for saying previous governors of the state “abandoned the vision of those who laboured for its creation.”.
On Monday, Babalola, without mentioning any name in particular, said former governors of Ekiti failed to develop the structure that would have propelled the state to higher standards.
Reacting to Babalola’s comment, Fayemi, in an interview with ThisDay, said the statesman may be “suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder” that has prevented him from seeing the good in others.
He said Babalola is partisan in his review of his administration, adding that the 94-year-old lawyer has not been his supporter even during his terms as the governor of the state.
“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 who 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.
“Chief Babalola’s prejudiced view can never be the final word on their 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.
“But then, because 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.”
