Revealed: Sanwo-Olu Not a Nigerian! – By Emeka Obasi
There is something to cheer about the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world. All attention may be out of our shores where people are giving up in thousands, my eyes are on Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.
I must admit that Sanwo-Olu did not sound wonderful to me prior to the 2019 elections because I listened to him on radio where he bragged about clearing the Apapa gridlock. Here was a man who was not governor yet he talked as if there was no government in Lagos. That was my impression.
It is good he did not appear to me like a performer so not much was expected from him. And I like it that way because Nigerians now know the disappointment in expecting so much from someone.
In Argentina, it happened. When General Jorge Videla assumed office as President on March 24, 1976, the feeling was that he was not corrupt, lived an austere life depending solely on his salary and had no godfather.
Three years into the Videla presidency, Argentines realized that they faced a wicked, blood thirsty leader. Dead bodies littered the streets of Buenos Aires and Cordoba. There were as many body parts in River Plate as political prisoners who went through near drowning in what his death squad called ‘el submarino’.
Sanwa-Olu did not study in Argentina. He is a Surveyor and has been to professional institutions in Britain.
His real test is here. The Corona Virus pandemonium has brought out the leader in the Lagos State governor. It has also shown that his government is filled with professionals who are miles away from politicians.
While Abuja dozed off, Sanwo-Olu lived up to responsibility, preparing Lagos for the tough times ahead. And his measures were not draconian at all. For once, I saw a leader who thought more about the people than government policy.
Sanwo-Olu had plans mapped out to check the disease. Abuja did not care about who landed in Nigeria. Our airports were free for all. Even when the United States shut air links with Europe, Europeans used Lagos and Abuja as transit point.
When President Muhammadu Buhari realized that he had to say something, what we got was a military kind of order which allowed Lagosians less than 48 hours to lock themselves indoors for two weeks.
President Buhari’s advisers did not remember that Nigeria is far away from Europe and America and not as developed. In Britain, Prince Charles caught the bug. That did not stop Prime Minister Boris Johnson from being visible.
President Donald Trump did not sit down. He was always on television updating his countrymen on what needed to be done about the unwanted visitor. Attaching China to the outbreak was not diplomatic but he made his point.
The moment Abuja was told that Chief of Staff Abba Kyari was hit by the virus, it was like oxygen left the soul of Aso Villa. It took some time for compatriots to see movement from the top.
President Buhari locked down Abuja, Lagos and Ogun. Thank heavens he did not lock up Eko. Sanwo-Olu did not surrender the key and that is why those who are half quarantined in Lagos can still take in air from one nostril.
In times of crisis we know our leaders. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States was not the first Roosevelt to rule. Before him there was Theodore Roosevelt.
Franklin Roosevelt led the US to the Second World War after Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. America turned the tide and helped Allied Forces defeat the Axis powers. The atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki made a huge difference.
Americans rewarded Roosevelt with a third term and he even got a fourth term before death stopped him. That is the only man in America to have won presidential election more than twice. And the president was not in good health.
Itzhak Rabin was Israel’s Chief of Defence Staff when the Six-Day War broke out in 1967. Tiny Israel defeated the tripartite coalition of Egypt, Jordan and Syria to gain more territory.
Rabin continued to rise after that feat. Moshe Dayan who was Defence Minister did not climb beyond that. In 1968, Rabin was appointed Ambassador to the United States, a post he held until 1973.
In 1974, Rabin was elected Prime Minister of Israel for three years. He returned in 1992 and stayed till 1995. Between 1984 and 1990, the ex-general was Defence Minister.
Leadership has been a problem in Nigeria. There are governors who are doing well outside Lagos, no doubt. The only disadvantage they have is that the crisis facing Lagos right now may be too large for their states.
Sanwo-Olu has shown leadership. From the onset, there was no communication gap. The Lagos governor held regular meetings with his cabinet and briefed the people accordingly.
There is the Commissioner for Health, Professor Emmanuel Akinola Abayomi. He is an international, core professional and a specialist in Internal Medicine and Haematology.
A graduate of the University of London, he was also at the University of Pretoria. Prof. Abayomi has gone round the world to practice, from Zimbabwe to Botswana to Barbados and back to South Africa. He is more visible than the Federal minister.
Information Commissioner, Gbenga Omotosho, has been able to show that the job is not about propaganda. A gentleman to the core and round peg in a round hole, he is a 1984 graduate of the University of Benin.
Omotosho rose from Sub Editor to edit The Guardian on Saturday before joining The Nation as pioneer Editor. He has been everywhere at the same time and has made the job easy for journalists.
With all these, one begins to believe that Sanwo-Olu does not have typical Naija blood. That is, the trait that makes our leaders care less about the welfare of the people.
I have more than a word for Mr. Governor. This idea of sharing food may wipe out all the good he has done. The Abuja woman who doubles as minister of food started the mess. Sanwo-Olu should please sanitize the distribution. Even Biafran Feeding Centres did better.
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