By Akeem Lasisi
Politics will always want to manipulate memory, but humanity does not forget. That is why when the re-election bid of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu gathered steam days before March 18, something passionately spoke for him in the hearts of millions of people: the inspiring way he led the Lagos team to arrest COVID-19 and save the polity from threats of mass deaths.
Because he gallantly rose to the occasion, the Centre of Excellence – and Nigeria at large – was able to neutralise predictions of doom, including those by some global figures, who saw massive tragedy ahead of the country. Generally, the Nigerian government responded well to the coronavirus challenge, but the fact that Lagos was the epic centre heaped the bulk of the burden on Sanwo-Olu’s head. So, the way Nigerians remember the late Ameyo Adadevoh for saving her fatherland from Ebola, many cannot forget the role the Governor efficiently played during the COVID war. Now, the political gain is that he has convinced a good number of voting Lagosians that he is an achiever. To such people, no amnesia would erase the impression, so that if the election had to be conducted or repeated 10 times, they would vote for him 11 times.
This must have been a major factor that contributed to Sanwo-Olu’s triumph in the election in which he polled 762,134 to defeat the first runner-up, Labour Party’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, who secured 312,329 votes, while Abdulazeez Adeniran (Jandor) of the Peoples Democratic Party got 62,449 votes, rather falling short of expectation.
Indeed, analysts believe that no one needed to have caused any scare or the few skirmishes recorded in Lagos during the election. It is good that the government, through the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has said that whoever is proved to have fermented trouble is bound to face the law. Apart from the fact that Sanwo-Olu’s opponents were light weights, with rather feeble profiles to flaunt, his legacies and robustness of his personality were and are still too consequential to be so easily overrun.
When the battle dramatically became tough, following the loss of Lagos to the Labour Party during the presidential poll, his achievements in infrastructural development spoke for him. These include the completion of star projects like the Blue and Red Rail lines, establishment of the expansive Imota Rice Mill, construction of many roads across the state – including flyovers – and reconstruction of hospitals and schools. The rebuilding of the iconic Massey’s Children Hospital. Lagos Island, particularly remains touching to many residents. Still keeping faith with its T.H.E.M.E.S agenda, the administration expanded road, rail and water transportation. It did the same in the tourism and entertainment sector, as evident in the coming on stream of the John Randle Centre in Onikan. The fact is that, by March 18, these and other star projects remained fresh in the reckoning of many voters since they were inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari shortly before the poll. The timing was obviously strategic since an industrious incumbency will always be an advantage.
Sanwo-Olu’s investment in friendship with almost every strata of society was equally a plus for him. His relationship with many celebrities became more meaningful, as several filmmakers and musicians actively supported him and even joined him at rallies. These are artistes who have hundreds of thousands of fans, many of whom they would have influenced to the Governor’s advantage. And he actually started winning the hearts of the celebrities’ long before the election, through the grants the government gave filmmakers, while it further powered major training programmes, like those organised by popular producer, Mo Abudu, and the late Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, founder of the African Movie Academy Awards. One would also recall how many were touched when Sanwo-olu gave veteran actress,Lanre Hassan, aka Iya Awero, an apartment.
Another tender factor that helped Sanwo-olu’s ministry during the election is his amiable and compassionate disposition. Firstly, he promptly responds to disasters. Secondly, his government regularly intervenes in cases of indigent people. This is exemplified by the appreciable number of people it has reached out to through the Lagos CARES and Sanwo-Olu Listens initiative. Very instructive, too, is how some ex-Super Eagles joined their colleagues, Henry Nwosu, to praise the governor and canvas votes for him on the eve of the election as they recalled how his government facilitated his treatment when he was down with sickness.
But it would be naïve to give Sanwo-Olu alone all the glory for his victory. Yes, like every leader or any mortal for that matter, he had to be the chief catalyst or otherwise of his success, through his performance and style. But the All Progressives Congress’ loss to the LP during the presidential election could not but reshape its consciousness. With the governorship election approaching, the APC’s leaders and their followers who had hitherto become complacent had to, as the saying goes, ‘give themselves brain’, meaning they had to wake up and work very, very hard. It was, for instance, interesting to see Rauf Aregbesola – the Interior Minister – push aside internal rancour and return to mobilise votes in Alomosho, the juiciest zone that had fallen into Labour Party’s hand during the presidential poll.
This became necessary when the opposition got emboldened, as the likes of Jandor and Rhodes-Vivour more than ever before saw the battle as winnable. The ethnic card that also became dominant meant that many Yoruba voters felt challenged to ‘protect’ their heritage by voting for Sanwo-Olu who, good enough, already had an inspiring record to defend. The ‘Lagos is a no man’s land’ song that reared its head, from some folks that seemed to be fuelling tribal rebellion, did not help matters particularly for Rhodes-Vivour, who had also invoked his Chinedu-Igbo maternal connection, not to spite Yoruba people but to appeal to South-Eastern voters in Lagos, alongside other Obidients. Somehow unfortunately for the Labour Party’s man, however, the perception of him largely assumed that of an Igbo candidate, tempting a lot of indigenes to see him as an agent of ethnic usurpation. Of course, his opponents too pushed this to play on the intelligence of the electorate since all propagandas are fair in war. To many ‘indigenes’ and even many Yorubas outside Lagos, Sanwo-Olu was thus the saving grace to vote for.
The March 18 election has come and gone – well, the court is open to hear grievances – but it is important to continue to x-ray why and how Sanwo-Olu was bound to win. This is important in the face of the different theories being pushed here and there, suggesting that someone else won or could have won. It is true that the election was not perfect, indicating that corrections and improvements – as well sanctions where necessary – are required. But it is unfair to stuff lies into the mouth of history by saying it was either a selection or a rigged one. Neither the ethnic sentiments, nor OBIdient storm – and nor the Lekki Toll Gate ENDSARS controversy that was invoked – was compelling enough to boot the Governor out of Alausa.
