By
Dr. Anthony Phillips
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, haba! Which one you dey –trying to market expired goods?
At the public presentation of your light-rail project, you had difficulty introducing your hero and your infatuation. Like a person suffering an emotional fit, you got hold of yourself and asked for a video clip to be switched on. The video had hardly started playing before you started eulogising your mentor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
No one could fault your display of excitement in your accomplishment, having been given a chance to have a second shot as Lagos State’s Governor, especially with your allusion to Tinubu’s role in your life. You wanted Nigerians to reward Tinubu with the Nigerian presidency for mentoring you and eventually making you Governor of Lagos State.
However, it must be said that your presentation of the video clip, claiming that the light-rail system was an original idea of Tinubu his mentor, is nothing but a preposterous and bogus lie.
Needless to wonder why very little was said about the Lagos light-rail that Your Excellency used in your short video presentation of your boss as your mentor. As usual, your presentation was a work of fiction, sprouting only from a figment of your imagination. It had little to do with the light-rail project.
Sanwo-Olu, your hero, who spoke for hardly a minute, lied to Nigerians in broad daylight. Tinubu misrepresented the facts by accepting before Nigerians and the whole world that the rail system was his original thoughts. That is a blatant lie!
The concept of a light-rail, like that of the metro line, was well documented in Lagos before you Sanwo-Olu were born.
If you could not access the archives of Lagos State, you could not have been too young to learn about the introduction of a METRO LINE PROJECT by Alhaji Lateef Jakande in Lagos in the Second Republic. General Muhammadu Buhari, the then military Head of State (and your APC President), came in 1984 and cancelled the contract for whatever reason he has refused to tell Nigerians up to this moment.
Nevertheless, the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation had continued to research into effective transportation systems for Lagos and its growing population every minute of the day.
Tinubu, as the then Governor of Lagos, failed to build on those research results.
He failed in his job of delivering the service, which has taken 20 years now. If you wanted to present the light-rail to Lagosians, you should have focused more on the cost effectiveness of the light-rail in your presentation. This way Lagosians would have holistically shared the historical perspective of your presentation of the light-rail package.
We have an idea of what a light-rail looks like and we also have the knowledge that Tinubu is your godfather. We don’t have any idea of when the light-rail will be ready after the test running in January. We take this your presentation with a pinch of salt –another one of your publicity stunts in the media. We are left with many unanswered questions.
1) We know what it costs Lagosians to commute via BRT in Lagos. What will it cost commuters to use the light-rail?
2) Along the light-rail route, I hope Badagry road will be completed by March 2023 to provide alternate transportation for commuters from Badagry to Mile 2. It is necessary for you Mr. Sanwo-Olu to clarify this because the Lekki-Epe alternative road has been forgotten after the old dual carriage road was expanded from two to three lanes. What happened to the land given up by the communities in Eti-Osa and Ibeju/Lekki as concession for building the alternative road?
3) Several markets had been forcefully taken over by your government for remodelling. Most of them have not been occupied after 10 years of completion. Those markets couldn’t have been remodelled for the poor market women and men. That is why you Sanwo-Olu couldn’t be bothered that 10 years after, the markets have remained empty. If the capital used to develop the facilities came from investors, those markets would not have been allowed to remain empty for so long.
4) Or could the capital investment on the markets’ development have come from laundered money?
5) Sanwo-Olu’s government continues to make life unbearable for Lagosians because of its disconnect from the people and their communities. Sanwo-Olu’s emotional detachment from Lagos State and its people speaks to the fact that, like your boss, you remain a stranger in the land you govern like Ajele.
6) Sanwo-Olu, the people of Lagos have wizened up to your antics. Their quietness should not be taken for granted. They are no fools. They came a long way with your party, no matter how many times you changed your party’s names. Can you guess how many symbolic projects your administrations celebrated undelivered or failed abysmally?
In conclusion, Sanwo-Olu, your godfather held Lagos under siege, having occupied the Governor’s office at a critical moment in time, immediately after the democratic struggle against the military. Tinubu was trusted as one who fought on the side of the people. However, he seized the opportunity to amass wealth for himself and his family, to the detriment of the state. Throughout his eight years’ misadventure in office as Lagos State Governor and despite the huge internal revenue opportunities in the state, Tinubu has no significant achievements.
Name one project, Tinubu started and delivered?
The two governors before Sanwo-Olu performed well in service delivery, hence, the boss’s acrimony and hostility towards them. It was a hassle to return Babatunde Fashola for a second term and Akinwunmi Ambode was thrown out after one term. The better you try to provide good governance to Lagosians, the worse enemy you become to your boss.
With your dismal performance in office, you were given the second term to run. You are the best, according to your boss’s standards. That speaks volume –the most profitable investment of the boss. You dug the biggest hole in Lagos State treasury for your boss. You gave your boss the keys to Lagos State to take as much as he needs any time. No wonder he had no problem endorsing your return to contest for a second term.
History will not be kind to you, as it hasn’t to your boss who spent eight years amassing wealth for himself, and converting the resources of the state to his own. You have devoted yourself to continue diverting the state’s resources to your boss in return for your compensation. God will judge.
Dr. Anthony Phillips writes from Lagos