John Olukayode Fayemi: Outstanding Political Brand Personality of The Decade
John Olukayode Fayemi is a Nigerian politician who is currently serving as the Governor of Ekiti State. He has been in office since 16 October, 2018. He previously served in office between 2010 and 2014 before losing re-election to Ayodele Fayose. He was also the Minister of Solid Minerals Development in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet from 11 November 2015 to 30 May 2018, when he resigned to contest for a second time as Governor of Ekiti State.
He holds degrees in History, Politics and International Relations from the University of Lagos and University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). From 1989 to 1992, he earned a Doctorate in War Studies from King’s College London, specializing in civil-military relations.
After his first degree in 1984, he proceeded on the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps from 1985 to 1986, during which he was a lecturer at the Nigeria-Police Training College in Sokoto State. After his service year, he served as a Research Officer at Development & Management Consultants in Ikeja between1987 and 1989.
When he moved to the UK to pursue his doctoral studies between 1991 to 1993 he worked as a Research Officer at the African Research and Information Bureau in London. In 1992, he was a Tutorial Fellow at the War Studies Department at King’s College, London during his doctoral studies.
Later, between 1993 and 1995, he was the Strategy Development Adviser of Deptford City Challenge in London and later served as the Secretary General of the Media Empowerment for Africa (The Radio Foundation) in London between 1995 and 1997.
He was also a journalist with The Guardian and City Tempo; and the Editor of Nigeria-Now, a defunct political monthly magazine. In 1997, Fayemi returned to Nigeria where he established the Centre for Democracy and Development, a research and training institution dedicated to the study and promotion of democratic development, peace-building and human security in Africa, where he served as Director from 1997 to 2006.
Fayemi has taught in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Asia. He has also served as an adviser on transitional justice, regional integration, constitutionalism, security sector reform and civil-military relations issues to various governments, inter-governmental institutions and development agencies. He was the main Technical Adviser to Nigeria’s The Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (Oputa Panel), which investigated past abuses and served on the Presidential Implementation Committees on Security Sector Reform, NEPAD and the Millennium Development Goals.
He was technical expert to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on small arms and light weapons and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa on governance issues. At other times he has served as a consultant to the OECD on Security Sector Reform and chaired the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s Committee of Experts on developing guiding principles and mechanisms of constitution making in Commonwealth Africa.
In 2006, Fayemi made his entry into partisan politics ahead of the 2007 election during which he contested for Governor of Ekiti State under the defunct Action Congress.
After three and a half years fighting through the legal system, on 15 October 2010 the Appeal Court, sitting in Kwara State declared Fayemi the duly elected Governor of Ekiti State, and marked the end of Olusegun Oni’s administration as the then Governor of the state. Thus began his first tenure as the Executive Governor of Ekiti State.
He re-contested for second term as Ekiti State Governor under the platform of the All Progressives Congress in the 14 July 2018 governorship election after resigning as the Minister of Solid Minerals Development. He was officially declared the winner of the 2018 Ekiti State gubernatorial election by the Independent National Electoral Commission on 15 July 2018; and, in October 2018, he was sworn in as Ekiti State Governor for the second time.
Fayemi was later elected Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, a position which he holds till date.
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