Reading the lips of one Mark Adebayo who described himself as the convener of o to ge (Free Lagos) movement in Lagos on Arise TV, this morning, a keen observer of Lagos Politics easily conclude his motive is far from genuine.
I became curious about his sincerity when he mentioned some of their collaborators to include Ohaneze Ndigbo Lagos, Pan Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF) and Wale Odumakin’s faction of Afenfere among other politically exposed groups. Every politically conscious Nigerian knows the background from which these groups are coming from. Aside Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) who was also named, other allies of the movement are PDP apologists which detracts from whatever credibility the movement may have earned itself. At that juncture, I needed no clairvoyance that the group was dead on arrival.
The question I’m throwing at members of the movement is, at what time had our brothers from the other ethnic nationalities sought after Afenifere or OPC to help them sort out their internal matters? I know people would promptly cite the Cosmopolitan status of Lagos to authenticate the involvement of other socio-cultural groups in its so called Lagos emmancipation. Why did the conveners adopt O to ge, a Yoruba slogan for their action if Lagos belongs to nobody? Why the appeal to the Yoruba socio-cultural sentiment?
If the slogan had played out in Kwara, should we juxtapose the situation in Kwara State with that of Lagos where the AD, AC, ACN through APC have delivered verifiable democracy dividends to Lagosians over the years? To say that Asiwaju who is being villified today is the brain box of what Lagos is flaunting as giant developmental strides is to beg the obvious. If some people are uncomfortable with Tinubu’s style, democracy allows them to build their political empires and challenge him to a duel on the political turf and let us wait and see who “strips the other of his anklet” ( tribute to Chinua Achebe) I believe this will further deepen our democracy rather than resorting to smear campaigns against the APC leader. Perhaps, O to ge would have earned itself credibility if it had not aligned with the main opposition party even at its take off.
My take is, o to ge movement may not become relevant, how much more entrench itself in S’West politics until the party in power deny the people good governance and their hopes of a better tomorrow dissipate.
O to ge (Free Lagos): A movement or conspiracy
