[size=14pt]I’d have been stoned to death by now if Fashola were a bad person[/size]
By ADEOLA BALOGUN
Saturday, 9 Oct 2010



Deacon Iyanda, Gov Fashola lookalike


[size=14pt]As far as resemblances go, Deacon Olusola Iyanda could be said to be the twin brother of Gov. Raji Fashola of Lagos State. Iyanda shares the story of how his resemblance to the governor has caused him anxious moments with ADEOLA BALOGUN
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Lagos State governor, Raji Fashola, SAN, no doubt, is popular among Lagosians. He is seen as a governor who is doing something, at least, to change the face of the Centre of Excellence.


And so his face has become as common as the naira note. [size=14pt]But there is a young man who daily prays that the governor continues to remain in the good books of the masses through the provision of quality governance.


And as Fashola continues doing that, the young man too can walk freely on the streets without being molested – or stoned[/size].


[size=14pt]It is not that Deacon Olusola Iyanda belongs to the same political party with the governor or shares any familial affinity; his own burden is that there is a striking similarity between him and Fashola.


Iyanda, the Fashola lookalike, not only shares same physical features with the governor, he dresses the same way, especially as he also wears the famous etu (a Yoruba) cap and the clean pair of glasses being worn by the governor.[/size]


Iyanda, who is a branch manager of a multinational company in Lekki, Lagos, has since 2007, when Fashola came into the limelight, become an object of embarrassing stares from Lagosians who think he is actually their governor.


[b]Iyanda tells SATURDAY PUNCH that he has for almost four years been battling embarrassment from the public, who have countless times mistaken him for the governor.


He says, ”There was a day I was waiting for the traffic light on the road here and while I was eager to see the green light, a group of secondary school pupils came to my side and knelt down and said, ‘Good afternoon sir.‘


”I was so embarrassed because they thought I was the governor. And it has become a daily thing. There was a day I wanted to buy my children‘s books at a bookshop around here.


”As I parked the car and entered the shop, come and see how everybody started starring at me. After a while, one of them who was bold enough and maybe was satisfied that I was not the governor, came up to me and said, ‘We thought the governor has decided to pay us a visit today.‘


”In fact, this thing took a dangerous dimension one day when an okada (commercial motorcycle) rider nearly ran over me in his attempt find out whether I was actually Fashola.


”I had just parked and was about walking into a place when the okada man cornered me and I nearly fell in my attempt to escape being knocked down.


”He said people around the place had been watching me for some time, that an argument had ensued among them that I must be governor. He told me that he did what he did to find out whether it was true that I was actually the governor.


”Can you imagine that? And this has become a daily affair unless I don‘t go out.”


To compound Iyanda‘s plight, he is a chartered marketer, who before his elevation to the post of a branch manager a few months ago, was a sales manager in his outfit and was always on the road in Lagos.


And very often, Lagosians have been used to tales of how Gov. Fashola often disguises as an ordinary citizen, visiting places in Lagos. So many times Iyanda has been mistaken as the governor in disguise without his security details.


”There was a day I had a meeting with the management of an eatery that we supply in Lagos and just as I entered the room, everybody stood up just as it is done when an important dignitary such as a governor enters a place,” Iyanda recalls.


”I was so embarrassed and I had to ask them why they did that. They told me that they actually thought I was Gov. Fashola.[/b]


”Nowadays, I don‘t want to remain so long in a public place because once people start staring at me, I know why and such stares could be embarrassing.


”I am not a politician at all, but I thank God that Lagosians love their governor. My prayer is that God will continue to guide him so that the goodwill he has among his people is not frittered away by becoming unpopular among them.


[size=14pt]”As long as he remains a good person and a good governor, I am safe as an individual. Let me tell you, if Fashola had been a bad person or an unpopular governor, I would have been stoned on the streets of Lagos.[/size]


”I would have even been shot because I go out every day and people often mistake me for the governor.


”You know they say he is always on the street in disguise without his security aides, it would have been very easy for some disgruntled elements to tail me and attack me in retaliation for their grievances against the governor.”


Accepted that he shares facial features with the governor, why should he then begin to wear the same etu cap and the same pair of glasses being worn by the governor?


But the Igbo-Ora, Oyo State-born Iyanda says that it is a coincidence. In fact, he insisted that our correspondent followed him home to have a look at his various photo albums, where he appeared in the same apparel dating back 15 years.


[size=14pt]”This is how I dress,” he says. ”At least you can see the pictures here. I took many of them almost 15 years ago. I never knew Gov. Fashola before 2007 and even up till now, I have not met him as a person.[/size]


”I only see him on television or on the pages of newspapers. I admire him as a person because of what he is doing in Lagos because I am a Lagosian too.


”But it does not go beyond that, I am not a politician and I am not from his family. I am from Oyo State, while he is from Lagos, but it only happens that people say we look alike.”


Iyanda, a deacon, is a pastor in one of the Pentecostal churches in Lagos.


He attended the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where he obtained a degree in Animal Production and Health.


He is also a master‘s degree holder in Animal Science from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201010091515293

Lagosians and their blindness.

What resemblance?

paddy_lo:

Very Good. . well donee Fashola. . .now on a side-note can our own resident evil one. . [/size][size=14pt]better known as IBB aka Independence Bomb Blast[/size][size=12pt],walk the streets of Lagos freely without being stoned?. . . The evil that men do. . .

I think he should try. Go on IBB. . .For old times sake.

[size=16pt]Can GEJ walk through Niger Delta states without bodyguards [/size]

Like they way they stoned previous bad ex governors - Nigerians are to weak to carry out such good acts