It probably came to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in an epiphany that titles have significant spiritual connotations capable of sustaining or marring the future and reputation of a title holder. Last Wednesday, he announced that henceforth, he would want to be addressed as Mr Governor rather than Your Excellency. Scoffers may argue that titles mean nothing in the face of a governor who has seemed slow in addressing the problem of bad roads, whether they are federal or state, and other challenges of governance. As far as they are concerned, the governor should simply ‘perform’ regardless of how he chooses to be addressed. But some other commentators urge a rational understanding of the merits of the case the governor has made.
Was this epiphanic digression meant as a red herring? For a governor who has chosen not to use siren as he drives around Lagos, it may be uncharitable to conclude that Mr Sanwo-Olu (is it really Sanwo-Olu or Sanwoolu?) is merely creating a distraction from the mountain of problems that assail his government. It seems genuine, given his rationalisation, that he is idiosyncratically opposed to exalted and highfalutin titles. He appears, in particular, genuinely discomfited by the title of Your Excellency. Whether his detractors think he has done enough in his five months in office or not, the governor is at liberty to set any philosophical tone for his government even in matters that appear secondary and seemingly inconsequential. Has it cost the state and taxpayers some money? No. Well, then, let him have his way.
Here is his argument rendered convincingly at length: “It has come to my consciousness to review certain features of citizen-government relations which impede the genuine expression of the democratic spirit of our society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people. The Office of the Governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity. This demi-god mystique spreads over the entire machinery of the executive arm of government, symbolising an authoritarian disposition on the governed. It has deformed the orientation of elected and appointed persons who are paid from the taxes of the people to see themselves as oppressors who can do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people. Only God, the Almighty, the Creator, the Protector is the Most Excellent. No man can share His eternal qualities. Thenceforth, I wish to be addressed simply as Mr Governor, a title that will constantly remind me that I have been chosen out of so many fellow compatriots to lead a collective salvage of our political economy. To give official effect to this announcement, I shall issue tomorrow an executive order that will formally ensure full compliance with this new policy.”
There are indications, in the case he has made for both simplicity and the bridging of the chasm that separates the government and the governed, that Mr Sanwo-Olu is a convinced democrat who wishes to narrow the ever-widening gulf between the government and the people. There are also indications that he is gradually coming to his own, reassuring himself who he is in government, evaluating the misgivings he has about the governance culture he seeks to deodorise, and determining how he wishes to position himself and be remembered, not only in terms of infrastructural legacy but more importantly also in respect of the intangibles of governance. Most leaders ignore the intangibles, that is why their legacies do not endure. If Mr Sanwo-Olu has chosen to set what looks like a philosophical cum spiritual undertone for his government, he must be encouraged to solidify the process and make it permeate his entire governorship.
Is there any doubt about the existence of a chasm between the government and the governed in Nigeria, with the former feeling and acting as viceroys and deputy God, and the latter helplessly submitting themselves as indentured servants to feudal lords? There is no doubt whatsoever. And is there any wrong, therefore, in acting purposefully to bridge a yawning gap every Nigerian knows to exist? Again, there is no wrong. Mr Sanwo-Olu’s observations and conclusions about the metaphysics of governance are unimpeachable. He is right, and he is setting the right tone. What remains is to encourage him to go the whole hog by setting a deep and sound democratic culture for Lagos State, quite unlike the feudalism that is inundating most other states and particularly the federal government. The Lagos governor must brace up to be tested in the months ahead, and he will have to determine whether he would retain his simplicity in the face of glaring provocations or become a teflon governor unable to match words with action. Tests will come; and he will find out whether he to eat his words, fall on his sword, or gradually rise in the esteem of his countrymen as a formidable character.
Perhaps he should be given the benefit of the doubt. It should be assumed that the governor will stand pat in the face of provocations. But it is even more important for him to, in line with the new metaphysics of governance he is trying to project, begin to take steps to take ownership of his government in the face of unscrupulous law enforcement agents derogating and polluting governance in Lagos. For instance, it was shocking that four policemen accused of extrajudicial murder of two suspected phone thieves were last month exonerated by the state’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins. The state recanted only when public outrage overwhelmed the case. Such missteps that encourage impunity and rights abuses of all kinds should never occur in Lagos. Mr Sanwo-Olu must set the ethical and cultural tones for law enforcement in Lagos and summon the discipline and courage to enforce them. Too much perversion is authored by security and law enforcement agents in Nigeria. The governor should rein it in Lagos State considered rick picking for security agents. He should also probe the exoneration of the four policemen. It was suspicious and insensitive.
In line with Mr Sanwo-Olu’s thinking and understanding of democracy and the philosophy of governance, he must also set a benchmark for the enforcement of the rights of Lagosians against invasions orchestrated by feudal governors from other states. Alleging social media infractions and other sundry crimes that border on free speech, some governors and police commissioners from other states have invaded Lagos and arrested suspects. That is outrageous. Mr Sanwo-Olu should in line with his thinking set the bar very high to make such invasions permissible only under civilised and strictly legal bounds. If a Lagosian commits a free speech or even libel infraction against anyone from any other state, be they governors or individuals, it is important that a hearing must first be conducted in Lagos before arrests are carried out civilly, lawfully and according to the pace-setting standards enunciated by the state. The governor should insist on this standard despite the constricted boundaries of the malformed federalism allowed by Nigeria’s unitary lords.
Mr Sanwo-Olu is encouraged to intensify his efforts to narrow the divide between the government and the governed, and to scrupulously pursue and consolidate his infrastructural and democratic agenda. He will be criticised or even mocked along the deplorable considerations of ‘stomach infrastructure’. Let him stay the course in executing what he earnestly believes in. The future is his to make. Let him also remember that the country has produced hundreds of governors, and that among them only a few are today remembered, honoured, or celebrated. Let him remember that even his predecessor, Akinwunmi Ambode, despite building bridges, lost the affection of his people because of a poor understanding of the intangibles of government and power. The re-designated Mr Governor is laying the philosophical basis of his government; shortly after, it will be time to commit himself to the arduous task of rebuilding Lagos and setting it on an enviable course for the future.
Leave a Reply