OLAWALE OLALEYE
This year’s elections have been clearly testy, such that have further exposed our pretty much filthy fault lines like no other election period in the history of this country, and in particular, the very cosmopolitan nature of Lagos State.
The nation’s unity in diversity, which incidentally, is her strength, has been put to an unwholesome shock – back to back – in the last few weeks. But, what’s been pushing some of the patriots through is, perhaps, their indomitable spirit to rise above their existential demons ensconced in primordial sentiments and see the big picture in collective and larger interest.
After results of the February 25 presidential election were released, showing the Labour Party with unexpected but exceptional showing, many people appeared to have been blown away in the heat of that moment, forgetting that Lagos stands out from the lot and her leadership can neither be gambled nor toyed with.
A lot is at stake and the future of millions is in clear contemplation. This is why returning Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his partner-in-progress, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, for another term of four years, has become a compelling task, not just one to be discharged by everyone but by all legitimate means possible.
The governor has acquitted himself well in the about four years that he’s been in the saddle and his records speak for him – in high volumes. He’s exhibited nothing but remarkable leadership traits, whatever his inadequacies could be.
He is the listening type – compassionate, trusting and dependable. Importantly, he knows and understands the demands of his office, more so as a decent family man. He is not one to struggle with identity crisis either. With Sanwo-Olu, what you see is what you get.
It’s okay for people to hurt and disagree, if and when they feel strongly about certain developments in the affairs of the state. What should not be contemplated, conversely, is being needlessly disagreeable, when the matters in contention could easily be addressed.
Without paying undeserving attention to those, who had done everything possible to slant the narratives of Lagos politics along ethnic considerations, and at the same time play the victim, their character portrait is not shrouded in secrecy either, except that ignoring them and all that they tend to represent pays off in the circumstances.
It would be defeatist, nonetheless, to make them an issue in this all-important election. After all, they have made tolerance, which they are not wired to reciprocate, even at no discomfort to them, a crime.
Dear Lagosian, as you go out tomorrow, Saturday, March 18, to cast your votes in the governorship and state assembly elections, you have a responsibility to engage your critical minds and discard the tendentious mob mentality that seemed to have crept into the political artery of the state. It is not in the interest of anyone, much less you. It is nothing but destructive.
Lagos, for all it is worth, is not a training field, but an enviable “leadership institute” with strict admission process for those, who are not out to learn on the job, but hit the ground running. In other words, if you love Lagos, which has been kind to all regardless of creed and in spite of her shortcomings, you should know better what to do tomorrow.
Put succinctly, a support for Governor Sanwo-Olu is support for a better and your dream Lagos. It is also why you have to be a part of the development process of what you call “your Lagos”. May that Lagos never go down or backward.
Sanwo-Olu le’ekan si. Eko o ni baje… lailai!
Olawale Olaleye