Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF), is no doubt, considered in many quarters as one of the serious minds in today’s Nigerian political landscape. One of the major grounds for this toga that invariably seems to set him apart from most of his contemporaries is that he is perceived as neither flippant nor banal.
Many believe that he came into government with this mindset. An accomplished lawyer and consummate administrator, some even say that this serious disposition to government matters was what his predecessor, the Jagaban Borgu, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saw in him, whilst he served him as the Chief of Staff (CoS), that led to his insistence on him as his successor.
This, combined with the fact that many also believe that he has done well in government, is why his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) and many others across the country celebrate him as an asset. But this is also where there is the caveat. Because the Lagos State Governor is seen in this light, his position on critical issues, especially those that concern the larger public cannot be dismissed easily.
This is what comes into play in considering his comments recently on the power situation in the country. The Lagos governor was one of the many dignitaries and APC chieftains that gathered to celebrate the 50th birthday anniversary ceremony of former Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva on Thursday, August 21, this year at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotel and Towers Abuja.
In a defining treatise entitled: The Challenge of Democratic Governance, the erudite lawyer, who was the guest speaker, once again, displayed his masterful intellectual and scholarly competence in addressing the subject matter. No one could have simplified the oft-quoted principle of social contract between the government and the governed the way the governor did.
However, it was whilst laying the fundamentals of this principle as it relates to Nigeria that he ostensibly began to deviate substantially from the reality of the message he laboured to canvass and descend into the reality of the Nigerian paradigm he laboured to avoid. Of course every intellectual has the tendency to bring in personal colorations and sentiments into a given discourse and in almost all cases are allowed the latitude to so do. That is why there are usually so much contentions and disagreements between and among those that operate in that exclusive realm, on virtually all issues.
However, were Fashola only conforming to this acceptable norm, it would have been understandable. But it was obvious he was not. Even though he struggled to ensconce his treatise in the bowels of intellectualism, it was not difficult to construe that his real intention was to play politics. And politics he played – unfortunately the Nigerian way – dangerous politics that dwell more on subterfuge, half-truth and outright lies than factuality, honesty and truthfulness.
How could any well-meaning Nigerian, not the least a governor like BRF, who is involved, dismiss the current strenuous effort by the drivers of the nation’s power sector to banish the decades of debilitating darkness in Nigeria as a farce? But that was the conclusion of the governor at the event in question.
His position is that all the effort is a lie simply because the government has not met the delivery dates it has promised for steady power supply in the country. How sad! How unfortunate!!
Definitely, there is no way anybody could expect the governor to completely divest himself of politics, in spite of himself, because apart from the fact that man is a political animal in the first place, he could not have become a governor without belonging to a political party. Besides, the occasion called for it. He was there to encourage one of his own. After all everybody knows the circumstances under which his host became a member of the ruling party the governor was intent on discrediting.
But to dismiss the entire endeavour to make power available to Nigerians as a deceit and a lie, giving what has already been achieved over the years, especially in recent months, is taking politics too far. Yes, the drivers of the power sector failed to meet the projections for steady power supply in Nigeria. But does this qualify as a lie? Sample: If a father promises his son that he will give him his school fees tomorrow on the assumption that his salary would be paid today and it turns out that there was no salary, would the son call his father a liar? Yes, the promise was broken, but does that presuppose a lie was told? If yes, then, Fashola is himself culpable.
All over Lagos today, many residents are still groaning under the yoke of unfulfilled promises – projects taking donkey years to complete and many completed in such a shoddy and ignominious manner that beggars understanding. Take for instance the street lighting project of Allen Avenue that held a lot of hope and promise for its supposed users. How far did it turn out? Did Fashola who awarded the contract that turned out in such a disgraceful outing lie to Lagosians? What about Iju Road that is already giving way to craters and potholes so soon after its repairs after such a long wait by suffering commuters? Was it a lie? What about the ambitious Lagos-Badagry expressway that is meant to make travelling on that road a piece of cake, away from the nightmare that it presently is? How far is it coming? Is Fashola lying about it? There is even a more pathetic and laughable example – the short distance of less than five minutes walk, connecting Acme Road to Adeniyi Jones, which holds a massive hope of decongesting the adjoining roads around it and providing relief to commuters. Despite this, the project which, invariably is beside the office of the APC, the party in power in the state, which has been going on since Tinubu’s era, is still moving at a horse and buggy pace under Fashola’s nose. Does that qualify Fashola as a liar?
Will residents of Okota and Ago Palace Way be right to dub Fashola a lair for the nightmare they are currently going through? What about Iyana Ejigbo – Jakande Estate, NNPC-Pako Road, Buba Marwa in Old Ojo Road, LCDA Secretariat Ijegun Waterside, Wempco Road? Are residents of Navy Town smiling? In fact, apart from power that the Federal Government is driving, how many Lagosians are smiling today because they have good roads, potable water and other social amenities? Yet, many still give thumbs-up to Fashola as an “Action Governor.” Why? Because they see his efforts and appreciate it. It is therefore not too much to expect the governor to be a little bit more charitable on the other side of the political coin in spite of his standing.
Incidentally, on the day Fashola came out with his damning verdict, already being celebrated among his admirers as “explosive,” another milestone was being recorded in the power sector at the same venue. Next to the hall where he spoke, the Vice President, Namadi Sambo was inaugurating the National Council on Power (NACOP), one of the significant blocks that added its own shape to the already emerging superstructure housing the ongoing power sector initiative. Were the cacophony and staccato noise coming from his end to allow, he could have heard the sound of another emerging song of hope from the adjoining room.
It is good to play politics. But there are areas that should be beyond politics. The power sector is one of it, because to Nigeria, as elsewhere, it is like blood, without which there will be no life.
