Politics as the saying goes is a game of numbers. This was clearly and conclusively reconfirmed by the results of the recently concluded presidential elections in our beloved country. Regardless of our sentiments and predilections therefore, the will of the majority in any election must be made to prevail. Nigerians after sixteen years of democratic rule and control by a party, decided to effect a change in its political direction.
Lagos has been variously described as the melting pot in the Nigeria political firmament. The Yoruba race, which historically owns and constitutes the largest ethnic group in Lagos, has demonstrated a very high level of sophistication in its political preferences and ideals over the years.
The typical Yoruba voter decides on his political affiliation based on principles and potential performance which far outweigh ethnic, religious and tribal considerations. This quality has been repeatedly demonstrated from the days of Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe, who won elections in Lagos against Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was then a ‘son of the soil’.
In recent times, this quality of the Yorubas was again displayed in the 1999 presidential elections. It would be recalled that the two major political parties presented Yoruba presidential candidates in the election. This was understandable after the debacle of June 12 after which the general sentiments nationwide was that the Yorubas needed to be placated after the annulment of the “June 12” election, which was won by the late Chief MKO Abiola.
Most Yorubas in that election voted for Olu Falae over Olusegun Obasanjo, because as stated earlier, they were convinced that Falae had the better principles and potential to perform. Many people from outside the Yoruba race questioned the rationale for the Yoruba choice of Falae over Obasanjo, especially when it was evident that most other geo-political zones in the country would go with Obasanjo.
Yorubas therefore, unlike other major ethnic groups do not consider being in the centre as the most important motivation for the choice of candidates they support in presidential elections. In effect, the decisions made by majority of the Yorubas in the choice of candidates to support have been guided by the desire for good governance.
The Yorubas have undoubtedly suffered from this orientation. Lagos, which is the bastion of this political orientation, has suffered most in the past. Federal governments over the years have not given Lagos its appropriate dues when situated against its position and contributions to the Nigerian Federation. This has become more widespread with the relocation of the Federal Capital to Abuja. Federal properties in Lagos have been disposed of by subsequent governments in the centre with little or no reference to the Lagos State government. Most of these were acquired when Lagos was the seat of the Federal Government. This was no different even when Chief Obasanjo, a Yoruba man, was President of Nigeria. Indeed, Lagos state had it worst during Obasanjo’s period, when he, in a show of power, withheld allocations due the state for obviously political reasons.
By stroke of fate however, Lagos state was then blessed with a Governor, who knew his onions and had the vision and courage to stand up to Obasanjo in defending the rights of his people. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu not only fought this illegality to a standstill, he also used the bitter experience to grow the financial base of the state to the point that it can now actually stand without allocations from Abuja.
It is a fact that despite the negative impact of Obasanjo’s actions, which a court of competent jurisdiction correctly adjudicated as illegal, Lagos still out – performed all other states in the federation in almost all indices of good governance and the provision of the dividends of democracy.
Of course people from all other geo-political zones have continuously flocked into Lagos to enjoy the fruits of the seeds sown by the governments that have run Lagos over the years. Governor Fashola took governance and performance a notch higher as is evidenced in the Lagos we see today.
Without a doubt, the next government must improve on what the outgoing government of Governor Fashola has achieved.
This leads me to the kernel of my write up.
Lagos has been the bastion of progressive politics in Nigeria. It was the centre of activities of the most progressive political party that ever existed in Nigeria, the Unity Party of Nigeria led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Asiwaju of Yorubaland. It was the ‘Mecca’ of the Social Democratic Party that produced Aare MKO Abiola and the June 12 phenomenon.
Lagos is the political heartland of the APC, which has just overwhelmingly defeated the PDP, described by some as the largest party in Africa.
For discerning and honest minds, Lagos has always been short changed by successive Federal governments. The state is the highest contributor to VAT income and is not compensated adequately for this. Because of its location and large population, it is entitled to be granted a special status, which should come with positive significant financial implications. The state is the nation’s gateway and generates considerable revenue to the federation account and yet is denied its due by successive governments in the centre. By its location Lagos is prone to ecological problems that should ordinarily attract significant financial support from the Federal government and its agencies. These have been denied the state over the years. Lagos state by virtue of it being the former federal capital is saddled with maintaining several federal government infrastructures, which have considerably served as a drain to the state’s purse. At the last count, the federal government is said to owe Lagos state tens of billions of Naira in outstanding refunds of projects carried out by the state on its behalf.
Lagos has indeed suffered in the above manner as a result of it being in opposition to the governments in the centre since the advent of the fourth Republic. For the first time since this dispensation, Lagos has the opportunity to belong on the same political divide as the government at the centre as from May 29, 2015.
In my opinion, this is the time for Lagos to benefit from its sacrifice of several years, which has cost it dearly in terms of financial benefits. For the first time ever, Lagos has the chance of being accorded a special status as should have been done after the movement of the federal government and its agencies to Abuja.
Additionally, the omens are good for a permanent resolution of the issue of true federalism, especially fiscal federalism. The new dispensation offers Lagos a real opportunity to achieving its long held pursuit of the status of a true megacity.
As we go to the polls on April 11, the objective of all well meaning Lagosians, regardless of religion and ethnic group is to vote for the Lagos we have desired all over the years. The All Progressive Congress and its predecessors have successfully managed the affairs of Lagos over these years, even with federal government persecution and intimidation. This is the time to reward the Party in Lagos for offering itself as sacrifice to ensure the preservation of Nigeria as a multi-party democracy. Without the APC in Lagos under the leadership of the “Asiwaju of Africa” the PDP behemoth would have totally obliterated the Nigerian political firmament.
The PDP has been in control of the Federal government and several state governments since 1999. If we have to be honest, the lot of the generality of the Nigerians is not better off today than it was in 1999, when the PDP took over government in the centre. Nigeria under the PDP has earned the highest level of income from oil and taxes over the last six years with little to show for it. The PDP has elevated corruption and sleaze to the highest level in the history of this great country. Indeed its attainments in the area of evident financial mismanagement were recently alluded to and acknowledged by IBB himself, someone who should know. PDP governments have held sway in the South East and South- South states where kidnapping, oil bunkering and nauseating display of ill gotten wealth has been the only legacy they have created. Allocations to Delta and Akwa Ibom states in the last sixteen years have dwarfed what has accrued to Lagos, with “uncommon thievery” being the only evident result!
Lagos under the APC has not been perfect. It is still work in progress. Governor Fashola has taken Lagos higher from where Asiwaju left it. What Lagos requires is someone who will take it higher from where Fashola has brought it.
With all sense of responsibility and honesty, the PDP is not an option for Lagos. Lagos is too important to Nigeria to be handed over to a party, whose legacy of sixteen years is one of impropriety, non performance and sleaze. Nigerians through divine providence and the transparent leadership of INEC headed by Professor Attahiru Jega were able to turn a new chapter in its history, leaving the backward and clueless PDP administration behind. The train has moved out of the station and by the grace of God is headed in the right direction.
This certainly is not the time for Lagos to experiment with a failed and rejected product. Lagos is the main theatre of progressive politics. I wish to end this write up with a few words for our brothers from the South East and South- South, who gladly make their living from Lagos and who have also enjoyed the generous welcome of the Yorubas. It is not proper for you to reap from where you have not sown. It is immoral to eat from a table and be working to bring down the table. It is only right and proper that you cast your lot with APC since you benefit enormously from what it offers in Lagos.
The results of the Presidential and National Assembly in Lagos have demonstrated that everyone was free to make his or her choice in the presidential election, which was evidently not the case in the South East and the South- South. Owelle Rochas Okorocha is a very wise and cosmopolitan South Easterner. Below is a quote from his letter to Ndigbo.
“Igbos are very bad at politics. Fifty years after independence, we are yet to produce a president when others have taken multiple turns. Our answer? Blame others! If only you Hausas didn’t do this or Yorubas didn’t do that, perhaps the god of politics will bless our lot. And sadly it won’t stop until we learn to coexist with others instead of our ‘better than thou’ attitude when dealing with the Hausas and Yorubas. We are not better than anyone, these folks we thumb our noses at, are God’s creatures like us. We don’t like the Hausas and we don’t like the Yorubas, yet we populate their States in search for our livelihood. Our politics should mirror our economic aspirations, not the other way around. There is no wisdom in living in the North, earning a living, yet despise the Northerners. That’s being ungrateful. The gods of politics don’t like that.
How long can this collective amnesia insulate us from meaningfully seating at the table, making contributions to Nigeria’s political evolution? How long can this foolishness go on?”
Governors Okorocha, Amaechi, Senator Chris Ngige and Chief Ogbonnaya Onu represent the new face of progressive politics in the South East and the South – South. Now is the time to start following their leadership.
To my fellow Yorubas, the most sophisticated, liberal and advanced group in Nigerian politics, this is a call to stand up and bear the name of our progressive political ancestors.
Lagos must continue to lead the country in its political development. Our turnout was poor in the presidential elections and has emboldened political merchants in their attempt to take the state backwards. This must not be allowed. We must troop out in our millions on April 11 to ensure that the wheel of progress which has been set in motion by the APC is not allowed to be derailed by those who have run the nation aground in the centre and now seek redemption and rehabilitation in the Centre of Excellence. We must not and cannot allow this to happen! Yoruba ronu!!!!!!
God bless Nigeria.
END
Mr. Kayode I need you to please look closely at 1993 presidential election and see the voters’ behavior; late Chief MKO Abiola defeated Bashir Tofa not because of ethnicity and tribal sentiment but because of his track record. We Nigerians voted for the man who can do the job.
And most people who voted for General Buhari in this 2015 presidential election did so because of his track record and not because of the party.
Babatunde Raji Fashola won the 2011 gubernatorial elections based on his track record and not his party platform (ACN).
Hon. Kako Are recently defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Accord Party because of Imposition, lack of internal democracy and still won last Saturday’s House of Representatives Election for Mushin Federal Constituency 1 because of his track record.
It is unfortunate that you decided to single out South East and South- South in your write up.
Sir, do you have the statistics of how the tribes voted in Lagos during the last presidential election?
This old baggage’s of 1940 politics, makes me sick. We need the best man for job here in Lagos state. If APC man is the best man we will vote for him but if not, we will not vote him.
The last person I voted for was the late Chief MKO Abiola not out ethnicity and tribal sentiment.
Sir, what is your fear?