Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, now harried to perform or bounce, may well ponder the gubernatorial history of Lagos.
Two cases, one ending in peril; the other in glory, but both boasting no sparkling starts, should capture the governor’s attention, as he navigates this teething stage of his governorship.
The one, Governor Michael Otedola, of blessed memory. The other, Governor Bola Tinubu.
Sir Michael Otedola, ever before his gubernatorial years, was an Epe folk hero of profound community value. He was the quintessential entrepreneur, who swarmed his immediate community with scholarships and allied philanthropy.
Even when the Lagos progressives, in 1991, feuded to the death, and could not agree on a common candidate, an aggrieved faction trusted Sir Michael enough to invest in him their grand plan: punish the uppity Dapo Sarumi faction of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP); but also make aprogressive proxy of Otedola’s conservative National Republican Convention (NRC) government.
True, the June 12 protests badly distracted the Otedola government, Lagos being the epicentre of the mass 1993 presidential election annulment dissent. Still, when Gen. Sani Abacha, in a November 1993 coup, ended the still-birth Third Republic, Sir Michael’s had become among the worst gubernatorial tenures in Lagos history.
Governor Tinubu’s debut was no radically different. Asiwaju Tinubu came six years after Sir Michael. The misfiring military had, in utter disgrace, exhausted their self-imposed historic role. But everyone still lay in the ruins they left behind.
So, Governor Tinubu took over a Lagos in sheer paralysis. True, Col. Buba Marwa, the last military governor of Lagos, had made his own mark, a giant of a sort, among the military Lilliputians. HisOperation Sweep anti-crime squad had elicited copy from neighbouring Oyo, which named its own squad Operation Gbale (“sweep” is “gbale” in Yoruba).
Indeed, it was in this politics of perception that the Tinubu government made its first public gaffe, renaming Marwa’s Operation Sweep as Rapid Response Force — before someone, somewhere remembered you couldn’t possibly have a force within a force! So, the name was changed to Rapid Response Squad.
But the crime crisis was just one among the many crippling challenges. All over Lagos were mountains of refuse. Even the waste-management public-private-participation (PPP) model, which eventually solved the problem, became the butt of cynical media jokes, as newspapers mocked the harassed government with choice pictures of bagged refuse, by road medians, awaiting clearance. “Tinubu’s bouquets”, they dubbed these ugly and smelly polythene bags!
Meanwhile, Lagos roads were in a complete shambles. Though Governor Marwa somewhat weaned himself from the “no bitumen” of the Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola era, the approach was still artificial patching, when an overhaul and complete reconstruction would do.
Then, the Lagos Bar Beach overflow! That became so consistent and persistent that the most brilliant idea of the Federal Government, under President Olusegun Obasanjo and Works Minister Tony Anenih, was sand-filling. So, contractors ended up sandbagging their own country, but with the problem unsolved. The Lagos environmental problem was complete and daunting.
In the midst of all of these, the ever-impatient people and media went to town, dismissing the new Tinubu government as long in slogans but tragically short in substance. That prevailed for no less than two years, during which the Tinubu government perfected its tactics and strategies.
By the time the government took off in its third year, however, the next six years, in the two terms of eight years, would climax in glory. Though Tinubu started rather slow, he ended rather well, even if the state was still a vast work-in-progress junkyard, since the bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors were under construction.
This long historic tieback is imperative to emphasise that the present agony of Governor Ambode — an impatient and bad-tempered citizenry, goading him to perform or get the hell out of the way — is not novel.
Otedola went through it and wilted; though his four-year term was truncated after only 21 months — less than half way. But Tinubu went through it and triumphed. But again, he enjoyed two democratic terms of eight years.
The question: which path would Ambode tow? That is where history beckons.
In “Ambode and King Solomon’s complex” (June 9), Ripples somewhat set a putative agenda for the new Lagos governor. But he warned that the governor’s tenure would enjoy neither the restless drama of Tinubu’s entry and exit; nor the sheer excitement of Fashola’s entry and exit. Lagos, that piece noted, was now much more settled; and less prone to drama and titillation.
In order words, Ambode must creatively manage the humbug of his entry to somewhat make it sparkle; and give the ever excitable Lagos, backed by an often mischievous media, something to chew.
So far, little of that has happened, though there is little proof the governor has been idling away. Still, clearly the Ambode governorship would appear nowhere near where Ambode wants it to be.
What to do? Don’t panic or get distracted. Don’t even get prickly. Queries and comments, rational or irrational, come with the territory. Governance, after all, is service, not over-lordship.
Then, no unnecessary comparison and contrast with the Fashola tenure. That would be sterile, and frankly, unproductive. Ambode doesn’t need to wear Fashola’s shoes anymore than Fashola needed to wear Tinubu’s.
Yet, when the history of post-Tinubu Lagos is written, Tinubu would pass as perhaps the most visionary, since he started the Lagos modernising project — after the no less heroic contributions of a previous two, of different eras: Alhaji Lateef Jakande (first elected governor) and Brig. Mobolaji Johnson (first-ever governor).
Fashola, on the other hand, would pass as perhaps the most clinical and efficient in policy execution; earning national and global plaudits along the way.
In this long continuum of exemplary Lagos governorships, Ambode has ample space to create his own niche, and make his own mark. That is why he should, in the short run, focus on the very basics: roads, crime and traffic. On roads, the governor is doing some work. Witness: Ikotun-Egbe-Okota axis.
But on crime and traffic, the report is not too cheery: umpteenth reckless Danfo and even BRT drivers; and lawless Okada riders invading major highways where they are barred by law, are turning Lagos into some Hobbesian jungle. The governor needs to be uncompromisingly tough on these road outlaws. Add the trailer/tanker drivers’ menace, and you can feel a splitting gubernatorial migraine!
It is a teething stage in the Ambode governorship; and the way angry Lagosians react isn’t pretty. But that is hardly unexpected.
That is why Governor Ambode must dig deep to make his mark. Governor Tinubu turned round his own early setbacks. So can Governor Ambode.
And Sir Michael? That is no option. Governor Ambode can and should scale his teething challenges; and ultimately get it right.
NATION
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