TINUBU PLEASE LET FASHOLA BE
By Farouk Martins Aresa
There is no doubt in the minds of many Lagosians that Fashola has turned out, more than expected, to be a blessing. He has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is neither a tenant and nor a regular politician in Lagos. He has also won the hearts of the non-Lagosians who voted as well. Everywhere Fashola goes, a shell crawls behind him like that of a snail.
It is very rare to grow up in a small village such as Lagos or any village for that matter and not know who is who. Those who do not know Fashola, know his compound and his relatives. It was very exhilarating to hear that all he wanted was one term to do a good job. One term? What type of Nigerian politician is that? The way he is going, he will be forced to do a second term since there is more to accomplish. Of course there is that suspicion that Tinubu may be happy with one term so that he can dictate who to sponsor for another term.
There is no need to repeat some of the accomplishment of Fashola here but there is much more to do and the fear is, with the weight of political godfather around his neck, Lagos State may be short changed. Some have claimed that Fashola has no time for politics, so Tinubu does that for him. But the greater fear is that Tinubu has all his fingers in every contract in Lagos.
We have former presidents and former governors but none of them features so prominently in the affairs of his/her state as that of Lagos. Since both of them are seen together on major projects, we cannot but wonder who calls who to meet where? Recently, Fashola rejected a newspaper Award given to him because Tinubu was linked to the State major contracts. Fashola needs to go a step further and also reject Tinubu as company. Without Tinubu, he can to do bad or good by himself.
This is a good time to warn all the elders and chiefs in Lagos that there is going to be one hell of a fight between Fashola and Tinubu and nobody dares reconcile them again. Tinubu’s avarice, no matter what, knows no bound, which will create a roforofo fight between them or maybe EFCC will rise up to its name. Your mother and father warned you as you were growing up anywhere in Nigeria to stay away from bad influence. Now that we are parents, we tell our children to stay out of trouble. Trouble only troubles those who trouble trouble. No be so?
Before Fashola get carried away, there is still a great deal of work waiting for you in Lagos. Lagos has expanded into the former Western Region. Small business loans, mini factories and the fish industry have to be revitalized and primary care provided for preventive services. It is a shame that the greatest accomplishment of governors today is paying salaries on time. You have to build on the foundation Jakande laid years ago. Schools were taken to many children no matter where they live or where they come from in Nigeria or Niger. Many people who owned houses today in Lagos have Jakande to thank. It is time to rehabilitate those schools and provide succor for their teachers.
At the same time, some of those teachers must be held accountable. They must face private business or pay attention to school children. Others claim they have no choice since they cannot sustain their families. In many cases because of strike, children become the losers turning all of us into losers. The memories of strikes by Lagos State workers created unpalatable causalities for the extremists both in the Union and the Government. There is no need to repeat Akele/Tinubu 2000.
The bottom line is that Fashola must find a way to cut his association with Tinubu to get the credit he truly deserves and Tinubu must let go to create a fresh atmosphere in Lagos State. The idea of building a new City extension on the Atlantic Ocean is fascinating in spite of ocean’s fury that is gradually eating Nigerian shores away. Not only must we arrest that, there are eyesore swamps in Lagos that need to be sand-filled and better suited for City extension than Sea’s tempest. Especially Nigeria with little appreciation for any maintenance, now wants draining foreign off shore skills.
It must be admitted that Lagosian’s grouse and jealousy with Tinubu came from the fact that he is not one of them but became their Governor. Even after his two terms, he still has a strong hold on Fashola and both Houses in the State. For trying to unseat Oyinlola in Oshun State with his own sponsored candidate, Bola Tinubu birth parents in Iragbigi, Oshun State became exposed as talk of the town. If he was so ambitious to become the Lagos Governor that he had to deny his parents, he would do anything to get his way including throwing his real mother under molue. It’s a slang.
Tinubu climbed to the seat of the governor in Lagos State because Lagosians outdo themselves. He was underestimated forgetting that he is street smart. Lagosians fought one another off hoping that if Tinubu is the only one left to compete with, he would lose the primary to a Lagosian. Well, with all the hype about Lagos boys, he slyly outfoxed all of them and won by hook or crook. Credit must be given to whoever it is due, as others cried that Obasanjo tricked them, Tinubu anticipated a bag of tricks. And he won. Nobody has ever called Tinubu stupid.
Of course it should not matter whether Tinubu is a Lagosian or not. We have examples all over the world where state non- indigenes have become governors. Advocates of this noble accommodation never apply it to their own State but are vigorous about it in other states where they can benefit. No other people are as tolerant as Lagosians where the Governor, the Chief Justice and the Speaker were non Lagosians in the past administration. It can only happen in Lagos. Some of the Federal slots belonging to Lagos were even filled by those from other states. Yet Lagosians were either rejected for high Federal offices or compensated with consolation posts.
This is why Lagosians say let Fashola be if not anywhere else, at least in Lagos State. Lagosians do not have the votes in or outside their State, so their cry for a fair share is drowned and derided by the majority. They claim they make Lagos what it is today. Lagosians do not want Lagos of today; they long for civilized Lagos of the fifties and the sixties. That must be Fashola’s mission.
Nigeria is now at a point where children of decent people are not afraid to mingle and be seen with crooks as long as they are money bags. If Tinubu has never been convicted of a crime, he should be deemed innocent until proven guilty. But appearance of impropriety and sleaze are enough for some people to keep their distance. In those days in Nigeria, certain families cannot marry around their villages, not because of what they did but because of the crime of their fathers. There are still such families in Nigeria today.
Nigeria may have no choice but to use plea-bargain in other to save resources and prevent a lengthy trial. It has been said that Tinubu entered into such plea-bargain with EFCC and supported PDP’s Yar’Adua to seal the deal and wave EFCC away, even when his AC Party was not ready for a Unity Government. As we now know, that is not unlike Tinubu. Tunde Olowu allegation of his drug conviction in the United States during the primaries turned out not to be true.
Tinubu’s version of the event claimed he made a deal with the United State Government and lost about $450,000.00 in his account on the advice of his lawyer to avoid a lengthy trial. Boy, nobody in his place can doubts that any smart cookie would also forfeit that for freedom. In every village in Nigeria, there are still more decent people than the bad eggs who become notorious. So until Tinubu is convicted of anything, he remains innocent.
