Author: The Nation

By Mobolaji Sanusi

Ingratitude is a crime that is more despicable than revenge that is only returning evil for evil. Sadly, ingratitude returns evil for good.”

—William George Jordan In: The Power Of Truth: Individual Problems And Possibilities(1902).

Psychological torture can sometimes be worse than physical torture. The former is what the results of February 25 presidential election in Lagos State has inflicted on the psyche of genuine Yoruba free-born. I am one and so, l am deeply concerned.

One is more particularly perturbed by Igbo indigenes living in Lagos and enjoying the benevolence of their Yoruba host communities but now threatening to take over the state by voting for one Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour because of his Igbo blood affiliation. 

Sad also is that no one has necessarily bothered to beam deserved searchlight on Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour’s competence or prior sterling leadership virtues displayed in any previously held leadership position. All that we have been overwhelmed with are his being an architect and being an ENDSARS protagonist and shameless promoter of outlawed  irredentist IPOB philosophy. Whoever in his right frame of mind, should perish such abysmally detrimental thoughts of Chinedu ever presiding over the affairs of the Centre of Excellence.

That is a joke taken too far because the exalted position of Lagos Number One citizen is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry. Not the least, a Chinedu whose political activism has been riddled with unabashed failures and irredeemable opportunism.

Democracy is a game of numbers but more importantly, a game of plausible options as well. At the Federal level, Nigerians in their teeming numbers, despite the Lagos setback in the presidential election, voted en masse for Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is now the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

What the generality of Nigerians had done was to say that among the options made available by the various political parties, Tinubu is the most preferred. That is the majesty of democracy. Not an Atiku Abubakar or a Peter Obi can, in all honesty, be argued to match the institutional track records of Tinubu in the public service of this country.

The same logic applies to Sanwo-Olu when compared to Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Jide Adediran, aka Jandor and laughably Chinedu Rhodes-Vivor of the Labour Party(LP). In all honesty, he (Sanwo-Olu) is the best option of the trio, and more importantly, the one with the best leadership cum institutional track records. And because this is sincerely so, Lagosians, especially people of my ethic stock and friends from other ethnic groups, peaceably living in Lagos, should turn out en masse to vote for Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat ticket on March 11.

Sanwo-Olu deserved being governor almost four years ago, having passed through the hot crucible of leadership process since 2002, and deserves a re-election because he has done well, sitting on the state’s topmost seat.

Whether from Akure, Owo, Ekiti, Ilorin, Oyo, Osun, Abeokuta, Ijebu, Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry, Ibeju-Lekki or Lagos Island, for as long as you live in Lagos, speak Yoruba language, what happened on February 25 should be of major concern to you. What Yoruba cannot attempt in other ethnic parts of the country must never be allowed to repeat itself in Lagos.

To the Oluomos of Lagos, please come out and prove to us that the five-million-Man-Marches that you all organised were no fluke; by inspiring your people/marchers to come out on March 11 to vote for Sanwo-Olu.

Please come out in thousands and vote for Sanwo-Olu because doing so is rescuing our land from ethnic jingoists/invaders; and also to ensure an inexorable transformation of Lagos State.

To the Igbo that have shown ingratitude to the Yoruba on their land in Lagos-including those clung to their evil plans in other parts of Yoruba land, the words of William George Jordan in his 1902 book, ‘The Power of Truth:: Individual Problems And Possibilities’, suffices; to wit: “Ingratitude is a crime that is more despicable than revenge that is only returning evil for evil. Sadly, ingratitude returns evil for good.”

What the Igbo did by repaying Yoruba’s accommodating disposition with ingratitude on February 25 will never be allowed to repeat itself on March 11 or at any other time in future. Let’s all come out and outvote some ingrates among our Igbo friends, next Saturday.

This is not to say that all Igbo people are no good neighbours, but those who have given vent to bad influences should be told the hard truth as all pretensions, according to time-tested wisecracks, will ultimately collapse.

Therefore, we all owe it a responsibility to our generation, and Posterity, not to derail the good works of the Progressives that encapsulates good governance and giant strides, in Lagos, our Lagos.

•Sanusi, a journalist/corporate legal consultant was immediate past MD/CEO of LASAA.

By Babajide Fadoju

If any state was badly hit by Covid-19 and the aftermath of #EndSARS like Lagos, I can bet it would take them years to recover. Sanwo-olu did excellently well in managing the crisis without losing focus on delivering excellent results for Lagos.

There’s definitely something in that water they drink at Bourdillon school of leadership.

From Tinubu’s properly navigating the state from the dark days of military administration to laying the master plan and foundation for Fashola who took it further by shattering the leadership ceiling his style to Sanwo-olu who was the nation’s golden boy on his effective management of coronavirus, even when the world were predicting doom and gloom due to the large population of Lagos state. Many feared and anyone could have imagined a sporadic spread of the covid 19 virus mainly due to the fact that asides from the over 1 million residents, more than a 100 people come in and out of Lagos state every day, let’s not forget the fact that those in diaspora had entered into the country even before counter measures were put in place. Countries that had access to great medical facilities and equipments recorded higher number of casualties and death rates and this became a reason to panic but Governor Sanwo-Olu did well by actively curbing and controlling the spread and also ensuring that those who had the virus were well attended to and the total number of deaths recorded was nothing compared to that of even foreign countries. Through this singular act, Nigeria became the fourth best country in the world who effectively and impressively curbed the spread of covid 19 Virus according to the World Health Organization.

This great man has successfully impacted every sector of the state. Talk of the agricultural sector, the Educational sector, transportation (rail, road, water), infrastructural development, Job and wealth creation in form of grants to business owners, monthly payments to 4,000 unemployed youth, top notch health care programs and facilities, 24 hours help line for security and fire emergencies, cleaner environment as well as active involve in the sports sector.

It would interest you to know that most of these projects were funded through internally generated revenue (IGR) which is majorly sourced from taxes. According to the National Bureau of Statistics report at state level for Half year 2021, Lagos state has the highest internally generated revenue in the country with the country’s capital following Loosely behind. In 2021, Lagos state tops the chart as it generates 267,232,774,434.06 billion Naira in H1.

In the agricultural sector, governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu introduced the Agricultural value chain enterprise Activation program with a major aim of proper sensitization of men and women of different age groups on the economic benefits of agriculture. Through this program, over 12,000 women and thousands of youths were trained in various agricultural practices and has positively impacted the lives of many youths thereby giving them a means of sustenance and livelihood.

In addition to this, Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu’s administration has made it a continuous act to ensure that both employed and unemployed women as well youths become self dependent and employers of labor. This singular act drastically reduced unemployment rate and also decreased the rate of insecurity in the state.

You will agree with me that an administration that does not make a positive impact on the educational sector of its state can be said to have failed in its service to humanity as education is of paramount importance to the country as whole and this cuts across every level of education, from pre-nursery to the university level. This great man has however transformed the state education policy which is why Lagos state’s education policy is second to non in the country till date. Babajide Sanwo-olu began the turn-around in this sector by successfully increasing the 2020 budgetary allocation to 65 percent and giving his full support to programs like Eko-Excel initiative- Excellence in Child Education and learning, tagged “Leave No Child Behind”. This administration constructed and upgraded facilities in the entire health sector and has in the last 12 months donated over 80,000 chairs and tables to public schools in the state with more constructions still ongoing for further delivery across the state and won’t stop until every school is touched.

In addition to this, the governor approved 2,000 school personnel for primary and 1,000 for secondary arm for employment into the state’s workforce. After employment, These personnel went through proper training and orientation to ensure that they perform their various duties efficiently and effectively once work begins.

Also, grading instruments were instituted to increase the evaluation standard of schools and also improve the Education Quality Assurance Unit. He further gave out car refurbishment loans of 7.8 million Naira to school teachers, housing loans of 3 million Naira as well as construction of teachers quarters within the school premises to encourage the teachers.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, electronic leaning and teaching platforms were created and students were taught through television, radio and internet media. This program was supported by First bank, MTN and Edfin Microfinance bank. The Eko-Excel program have achieved  numerous goals over the years through investment in technology and arts, training and induction of teachers, reviewing and optimizing the curriculum, organizing and instituting good governance and administration, improving the capacity and welfare of students and school personnel and many more.

Another sector which Babajide Sanwo-olu has greatly touched is the transportation sector which includes all the major means of transportation in the country and the world at large. These includes transportation via road, water and railways. This project began through the integrated mass transportation initiative which saw to the successful completion of the elevated seas crossing track of blue line mass transit project and the recruitment of 1,017 LASTMA officers to ease traffic congestion.

There would be a great imbalance to talk about the transportation sector with laying emphasis on the infrastructures and roads built to further improve transportation in the state because, how can one improve means of transportation, drastically minimize the rate at which accidents occur and limit unnecessary traffic congestions with bad roads?.

Over 51 major infrastructural projects have been construction over in just two years. These projects includes the Pend Cinema fly over, Lagos-Ogun Boundary roads, ramp and road networks, phase II, Lekki Oniru traffic Circulation projects, network of roads in Ikoyi, Somolu, Ojokoro, constructed rehabilitation of 301 inner roads in the 20 Local government areas and 37 Local Council Development areas popular known as the LCDAs, the Oshodi-Abike Egba BRT lane, and the Eleko junction to Epe concrete pavement.

Have you seen the railway tracks and sophisticated trains in Lagos recently? If not, then you should take out time and take a ride on one of these machines. Blue line stations have been built at Festac, Alakija, Trade fair, Volkswagen, LASU, Okokomaiko, Mile 2, Alaba, Iganmu, National Theater, with a possible extension to Agbara in ogun state and about seven stations concurrently being built. This will definitely redefine mass transportation in Lagos state.

This great humanitarian has continued to take the needs of people as a paramount. Whilst ensuring that they have a conducive and healthy environment by donating 30 units of 12- cubic meter trucks, 60 units of 24-cubic meter trucks and 12 hook loaders to compliment the already existing 850 and more PSP compactor trucks to enhance efficient service delivery in all communities across the state, He has also continued to reach out to people with various incentives to help boost their standard of living. This he has done through payment of  N40,000 monthly allowances to 4000 unemployed graduates as well as some direct gratifications to widows. Business owners are however not left out as grants and MSME are been made available to provide financial support and assistance to their various businesses.

 Without any form of doubt, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has successfully made Lagos a modern Mega City surrounded by 21st century infrastructural and social amenities massively touching  Traffic management and transportation, Education and Technology, as well as Health and Environment sectors of the state within his first term. These achievements are quiet impressive and a performance worthy of emulation by every other governor and their administration.

Six days to the governorship election, the African Democratic Congress(ADC), Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party(NNPP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are canvassing votes for their candidates in Ogun State. Who wins? Asks correspondent Ernest Nwokolo.

What are their chances?

Ladi Adebutu is the main opposition politician and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP). He has undying ambition to govern Ogun State. He hails from Iperu in Ogun East, same town with governor Dapo Abiodun.

He is popular in the state and promised to run a welfarist like government if given the mandate. Adebutu has demonstrated this across the three senatorial districts of Ogun with his empowerment scheme which dates back to when he was a member of the House of Representatives. He is also hoping to make political capital from perceived disenchantments in the land over APC government in the state and at the Centre but the odds against him are daunting.

Adebutu’s ambition at a time his kinsman is the governor is seen as an attempt to disrupt the prevailing political calibration in the Gateway State. The unwritten rule is that any sitting governor from a given zone should be allowed to enjoy a second term. Former  governor Gbenga Daniel (Ogun East) and Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun Central) benefited from that arrangement. This makes his ambition unviable and unrealistic in the estimation of Ogun people.

Ogun PDP has been bogged down by intractable crisis and division since 2011. It has not regain its rhythm afterwards. Devoid of unity, it has never been able to enter election season united. This explained its poor showing in the presidential and national assembly election in the state.

The situation is not likely to change on March 11. 

Disenchantment resulting from the party primaries May 25, 2022 has not disappeared yet. One of the aggrieved PDP politicians, Otunba Jimi Lawal, has threatened that there can be no genuine unity and reconciliation without justice.

Lawal is spoiling to take the party and others to court up to the Supreme court in respect of the PDP governorship ticket. All of these dimmed the prospect of PDP in the forthcoming election.

Politicians of PDP fold are Chief Semiu Sodipo, house of Representatives candidate, Chief Toyin Amuzu, its senatorial candidate in Ogun Central, Olumide Aderinokun, a serving federal lawmaker, Hon. Segun Adekoya. These are not likely to be able help Adebutu to power  or victory having been battered terribly by APC victorious candidates on February 25.

Again, the political climate in Ogun State, does not support Adebutu as an option to Dapo Abiodun. The son of Baba Ijebu has a slim chance of winning presidential election in Ogun State 

Labour Party (LP) and Kehinde Shogunle

Labour Party is relatively new in Ogun State. It does not have viable structure in place, has no elected lawmaker and its candidates for the general elections are not known names in the state. This was revealed in the abysmal performance of the party and its candidates during the Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections.

The state executives have been dissolved by the national body following an intractable crisis rocking it.

The acting national publicity secretary of the party from the state, Dr. Abayomi Olufemi Arabambi has been suspended which further polarised the party in the State. Abayomi led a group of registered political parties to endorse Dapo Abiodun, two days ago, for a second term

Uncertainty still hovers over the party regarding the governorship candidate. 

Barely a week to the governorship election, Ogun residents cannot say with confidence if LP has governorship candidate. A former Finance Commissioner in the state, Kehinde Shogunle, who is said to be the party’s governorship candidate has not been seen or heard campaigning. There is also no posters or billboards about him in respect of March 11 governorship election.

Labour Party or it candidate does not stand a chance of winning governorship election in Ogun State and same applies to NNPP and its candidate.

APC  and Dapo Abiodun

Governor Dapo Abiodun and his All Progressives Congress(APC) are candidate and party to beat on March 11.

Abiodun who who is seeking re-election and APC appeared firmly rooted on the ground to repeat the 2019 feat and the chances have been  brightened the more with the 100 percent success recorded in the last Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections that saw Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu winning Ogun State and the party sweeping all the three senatorial seats and Nine House of Representatives.

This is a moral booster for APC and lessen the task. Abiodun came to power in 2019 on borrowed robes but he has today made one or more robes for himself. He has his experience and achievements in road works,  youth employments, infrastructural developments and capital investment such as Agro Cargo Airport as campaign tools to canvass for second term and he is already leveraging on it.

The governor also has pillars of support committed to his second term project.

In Ogun East, former deputy governor Gbenga Kaka, Tele Ogunjobi, Senator – elect Gbenga Daniel, Com. Tunde Oladunjoye, Senator Lekan Mustapha, 

Chief Yetunde Onanuga, elected local government chairmen and councillors, including Wale Adedayo, and party elders, youth leader and mobiliser. Armstrong Akintunde, among others are assiduously committed to the reelection bid of the governor and their firm grip of Ogun East makes it impregnable to any opposition party. All the former Deputy governors in Ogun East are also behind the governor. The traditional rulers under the leadership of Awujale and Paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona and the Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi  have given him their endorsement and blessings.

So, Abiodun is looking forward to harvesting a relatively bulk vote from the Ijebu extraction of Ogun East Senatorial district having six local governments while the Remo zone of it comprising three local governments will be a battle ground between him and his kinsman, Hon. Ladi Adebutu of the PDP.

Given the trouncing of the PDP during the last Presidential and National Assembly elections, coupled with the incumbency factor, Abiodun is expected to win Ogun East.

In Ogun Central which is his predecessor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun,’s stronghold, Abiodun has Amosun to contend with, who has not made secret of his resolve to dethrone his successor come March 11. 

The former governor and a serving Senator on the ticket of APC is backing an Insurance guru and lawyer, Olubiyi Otegbeye, who is the governorship candidate of African Democratic Congress(ADC).

Amosun said he is backing Otegbeye against Abiodun on the side of justice, equity, fairness and justice for the Ogun West senatorial district which has not produced a governor since the creation of the Gateway State. Amosun said Abiodun should not return this May 29  having lowered the bar of governance and development in the state.

In the estimation of Amosun, only Otegbeye could arrest the perceived drift in Ogun State on the watch of Dapo Abiodun.

However it is left to be seen how the Senator can make good his threat. His alleged support for the PDP Senatorial candidate, Chief Olumide Aderinokun and House of Representatives candidate of Allied People’s Movement (APM), Mikky Kazeem, for Abeokuta South against the candidates of APC, Senator – elect, Shuaib Salisu and Reps – elect, Afolabi Afuape, failed as his preferred candidates were defeated.

But the ready support of former governor Olusegun Osoba, Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Hon. Kunle Oluomo, former Ogun Assembly member and commissioner, Hon. Adijat Tunrayo Oladapo – Adeleye  as well as the elected local government chairmen and councillors are on the side of the governor to help counter Amosun and his preferred candidate.

All of these positioned him as the most formidable political force in Ogun State today.

The same hold true for the governor in Ogun West senatorial zone where he enjoys a formidable support and commitment of the people to deliver block votes to him. Senator Solomon Adeola, Reps member elect,  Prince Gboyega Isiaka GNI, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade,  Hon. Tunji Akinosi are among his support base. Abiodun’s deputy, Noimot Oyedele – Salako, is from Awori extraction of Ogun State, a constituency with high voting strength. The royal fathers from the zone under the leadership of Olu of Ilaro and Paramount ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle and the Olota of Ota, Oba Adeyemi Obalanlege have equally and endorsed him for second term and pledged their support for the governor’s re-election bid. 

The battle grounds for Abiodun in Ogun West are Ilaro, the headquarters of Yewa South Local Government and home of the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress(ADC), Olubiyi Otegbeye, and Ipokia Local Government, the home of Hon. Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade, the running mate of Ladi Aebutu. 

There may be sympathy votes for Otegbeye in Ilaro and it ends there in Ipokia, it will be a hard battle for the governor who has Akinlade political stature to contend with. Akinlade was the governorship candidate of the Allied People’s Movement(APM) in 2019 and he defeated Abiodun in Ipokia at the time. Today Akinlade is the deputy governorship candidate of opposition PDP but with the likes of the popular Reps members – elect, Hon. Isiaq Akinlade, Tunji Akinosi, and GNI, former deputy governor Salmot Badru, Senator Solomon Adeola, Chief (Mrs) Iyabo Apampa and a number of big politicians on the side of governor Abiodun, the Ogun PDP and Akinlade’s influence in Ipokia and Ogun West come March 11 would be drastically checked.

Dapo is most favoured to win the governorship election in Ogun state and the candidate to beat at first ballot but the state’s slippery large army of civil servants, workers in the state’s education sector, Local government staffers, the aggrieved retirees as well as the disengaged political office holders who have not been paid their severance package since 2015/ 2019, may be the undoing of Abiodun on March 11 if their simmering anger and grievances were not addressed before the guber poll.

ADC and Biyi Otegbeye

Biyi Otegbeye, a lawyer and an insurance guru from Ilaro in Ogun West is contesting for the first time. Hitherto, a member of the APC, Otegbeye moved to ADC when lost out in the governorship primary of APC. He had earlier sought to senatorial seat of Ogun West but could not push it through. He is running on wing of popular sentiment that Ogun West has not produced a governor yet and that equity, justice and fairness demand that the rest of the state support him to actualize the aspiration.

Acting independently, he does not have the political stamina to face either Adebutu of the PDP or the incumbent governor Dapo Abiodun. His ambition is perceived as a tool in the hand of Amosun to pursue personal vendetta or prosecute proxy war against Abiodun.

Again, Otegbeye’s Ogun West are not keen in his ambition. Critical stakeholders in the zone think Otegbeye’s ambition may imperil the 2027 governorship agenda of the zone. So, Otegbeye governorship bid is not a viable project now. He stands no chance of winning the race.

It is hidden that the traditional rulers are not in support of the candidacy of Biyi Otegbeye now even when he is the only Ogun West candidate in the three-horse race involving two others – Dapo Abiodun and Ladi Adebutu of the APC and PDP respectively.

The Eselu of Iselu, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi, recently told newsmen that the though the Obas are not against Otegbeye’s ambition, but there was the need to engage more stakeholders to make Ogun West agenda a reality.

He said, “Everything in life is about dreams, aims and objectives. It is our dream in Ogun West that one day we will be in Okemosan. But we still need better planning. We need to engage everybody, all the critical stakeholders in Ogun State; so we will be able to work out our modalities so that one day, somebody from Ogun West will be governor. I believe in Ogun West and I believe in good governance,” he stated.

Oba Akinyemi maintained that the support given to Governor Dapo Abiodun by Ogun West in 2019 accorded him the victory in the election, saying he is expected to reciprocate the gesture in 2027.

He said, “Dapo Abiodun is there today because we supported him to be there, and we expect him to reciprocate in supporting us too in 2027.

“Going into Okemosan as governor of Ogun State, not Ogun West alone, has to be between us and others zones – Central and East. And you can’t kill anybody’s dream to contest. It is the legal right of every citizen of this country to aspire about a particular position and go for it. But, we are looking at our own calculations that, the Ijebus should finish their terms, we supported them to be there. It’s a deal between us and them. We have supported them and we want them to reciprocate. It is not going to be Governor Abiodun alone, it’s going to be everybody; our brothers from the Central and our brothers from Ijebu.

“I am not saying Biyi should not contest and I’m not saying he’s not going to be the governor of Ogun State one day, but everybody still needs to put our hands on deck and work out modalities to make that dream come true. That’s our own position.

“Our own deal is that, we will support this governor (Abiodun) to be successful and subsequently ask all the Ijebus and the Egbas to reciprocate and support us.

“We have taken a position and Obaship is all about high integrity. We have taken a position and our position is that Dapo Abiodun should continue what he has started. This doesn’t kill our dream as well. We are still aspiring to be governor.”