By Oluwaseun ‘Dayo Omotoso*

I have for some days now quietly monitored the diverse scenes unfolding in Lagos as the momentum slowly builds up to the gubernatorial elections. Much drama has played out with Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples’ Democratic Party and Akinwumi Ambode of the All Progressives Congress occupying the centre stage. While both candidates clearly have their strengths and flaws, I am of the humble view that the interest of Lagos will be better served if a PDP candidate is prevented from occupying the seat of the Governor of the state.
Indeed many Lagosians, particularly those of the younger generation and the largely uninformed have been deluded by the style with which Agbaje presented himself to the Lagos populace with his posters declaring him as a man with BOLD IDEAS, touting vague expressions like ‘Ocean Economy’, ‘Ensuring better WAEC Performance’ (I ask how) and ‘We have so much work to do” (of course I know, the issue is who I choose to work with). To drive home the delusion, a mellifluous ‘JK is OK’ mantra was coined, which has since been the fad.
I have taken my time to consider this fellow called Jimi Agbaje. His zeal to occupy the seat of the Governor of Lagos state is indeed not in doubt; he has tenaciously returned to contest after losing successively. He seems determined, he however will not get my vote and I will here proceed to give my reasons.

1. The PDP-Niger Delta Militant Connection: I agree this is not the best of ways to start an argument but I will start mine thus anyway. Jimi is a product of the same party that almost grounded the nation before Nigerians made a firm decision to root out the cankerworm a couple days ago. The Yorubas are wont to say “omo ajanaku kii ya arara, omo ti ekun ba bi ekun nii jo (The elephant does not beget a dwarf; the offspring of a tiger takes after it.) Ordinarily, I respect Agbaje’s right to freedom of association and he is indeed free to fraternise with any political group. Asking me however to vote him as Governor of Lagos is telling me to institute in the Lagos, the same brazen corruption we rooted out at the National level and Agbaje has not been able to convince me to the contrary. Some persons have argued that one should separate the party from the individual. I wish I could. I cannot however.

First, Jimi has the same spirit as was in Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that made Nigerians vote him out and his words betray him as having such. A couple of days after the Presidential elections that ejected Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from Aso Rock, Agbaje was quoted to have said “the best revenge is to win the Lagos gubernatorial polls.” That single statement credited to Agbaje stripped him of every regard he would since have had from me, politically and betrays his intentions. To Agbaje therefore, winning at the polls was not to ensure the interest of Lagos but to make a statement to the perceived political enemies. Little wonder then the several desperate moves that were later to follow, some of which I will later talk on. Politics and indeed administration is not about political vendetta, Agbaje should have known better.

Second, after emerging as party flag bearer at the end of a flawed round of primaries wherein 863 votes were cast by 806 delegates, he rushed to action issuing all sorts of phantom promises all in the bid to remain politically relevant in Lagos while not appearing a disloyal servant to GEJ. In the frantic effort to show his loyalty to the government in power, Jimi said at a meeting of supporters of the Peoples’ Democratic Party organized at the United Kingdom that the Niger Delta Militants would ‘shut down’ the nation’s economy if APC won the elections and that returning GEJ to power was imperative. That was the same as saying that only PDP had a hold on the Niger Delta Militia that had constantly threatened war against the nation, and this was, of course, apparent from the way GEJ caroused with them and even had some of them on government payroll as contractors.

Indeed Asari Dokubo, a retired militant (even though his utterances betray this claim) stated in like manner days after the elections that they could return to the creeks. This sequence of events and the harmony in the utterances of a gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos state, and those of a warlord who should be standing trial for treason leave me with no other conclusion than that, Jimi Agbaje, Bode George, Ayo Fayose, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Asari Dokubo, Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo) and others of their ilk were serving the same interest at the relevant time and were getting instructions or information from the same source. This interest we were later to discover when the reality of the nation’s depleted foreign reserves starred us in the face. It was not the militants that almost shut down the economy after all, it was GEJ and his foot soldiers one of which Agbaje was. If Jimi Agbaje could come out to persuade Nigerians to return such administration as that of GEJ to power, I need not talk more about his values as an individual and makes me seriously wonder if such an individual can be trusted with the economy of a dynamic and complex state like Lagos. I would not for any reason trust anyone who carouses with felons and individuals of questionable character who ‘dollarised’ Nigerian politics with my security or my political destiny. Why should I trust him with that of a whole state?

Third, Jimi Agbaje has resorted to the same politics of division and enmity as was resorted to by GEJ towards the swansong of his administration; pitching the Igbo community against other occupants of Lagos for political gains and making it appear like the whole show is about the Igbos against every other tribe. I have learnt, to my chagrin that JK has also stated in the course of his campaigns that Igbos developed Lagos State and that he would elevate the Eze Ndi Igbo to the level of Oba of Lagos, the same promise GEJ made to Obas in 2011 that he would create a more constitutional role for Obas, just to win their support. He was also reported to have incited the Igbo community in the course of his campaign, assuring them that they should be the ones calling the shots in Lagos owing to their numerical strength. Such comments as these are purely divisive and capable of precipitating animosity. Indeed Agbaje’s utterances was what led to the verbal gaffe by the Oba of Lagos who felt threatened by such swipe at his royal stool and warned the Igbos who had been incited by Agbaje against voting for him.

Like I said to Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in my open letter then, a leader ought to be a rallying point, not a cause for dichotomy. The Igbos have lived in Lagos peacefully for years, have made their fortunes in Lagos and some have even found their way to the Lagos legislative house. Inciting a section of the community against another for selfish political gains is purely opportunistic and antediluvian. Jimi Agbaje has in just few days precipitated division among these Lagosians that have lived in peace for hundreds of years by deciding to use the Igbos as political rooks just like GEJ did with militant groups like the OPC. I see in him the same desperation as was seen in Goodluck Ebele Jonathan which made him do almost anything he could to return to power. He is indeed the son of a tiger that takes after its father, JK is just another GEJ, he will not get my vote.

2. The hypocrisy factor; talking from two sides of the cheeks: Jimi Agbaje indeed comes across as an amiable individual who claims to have bold ideas for Lagos and has the interest of Lagosians at heart. This does not however appear to be the case, as I view it. Shortly before the presidential elections, Jimi Agbaje was reported to have stated that Lagos had not had its share of the nation’s economy because it had remained in the opposition for too long.” Now that he is on the hot seat and his party has lost on the national scene, he does not seem to hold that view anymore; now it’s time for Lagos to continue being in the opposition. Mr Agbaje persuaded me (of course he persuaded Nigerians, one of whom I am) during the Presidential campaigns to vote continuity, arguing fluently on the benefits of having the same group remain at the helms of affairs in the country and even issued a threat that his Niger Delta cohorts could ground the nation economically if the ruling PDP was not returned to power. However, this morning, I heard him decry the evils of continuity in the course of a radio interview, stating that Lagos State deserves “a breath of fresh air.” It appears to me that Mr. Agbaje says one thing when it favours him and says another when the earlier one would not work in his favour.

If indeed Lagos has suffered over time because it always was in the opposition as credited to Agbaje, I believe the time has come to reverse this trend and ensure that Lagos enjoys its pride of place as the economic capital of the nation with the support of like minded administration at the centre. Voting for JK at this point will only keep us grounded and “suffering” yet again because the state will once more be in the opposition and out of touch with the government at the centre. I have only caught JK by his words, if they are his bond.

3. The Legacy Factor: A vote for PDP at this stage will indeed be a disaster! For 16 years the nation has had to endure at the hands of political charlatans who saw the nation as a buffet from where they could freely dish their daily meal. One needs not be told at this stage that voting a PDP government into power in Lagos simply amounts to enthroning in Lagos the ‘scum of the earth’ corruption that was successfully rooted out at the national level days ago. The Peoples’ Democratic Party institutionalised crass impunity and the monetisation of politics in Nigeria, which came to a head with the alleged sharing of hard currency during the GEJ re-election bid. I do not suppose any person of honour would freely fraternise with such ideologically bereft group and yet lay claims to being a true Lagosian.

What more, you can predict the likely actions of a person by the band of advisers that surround him. Much as Agbaje has been touted to be a gentleman, I fail to see him as such amidst the throng of battered images like Bode George, Ayo Fayose, Buruji Kashamu, Segun Mimiko, Femi Fani-Kayode, Diepriye Alamieyeseigha and others of like feathers and their foot soldiers like Asari Dokubo and other militant warlords who almost ruined Nigeria. We cannot afford at this level of development, to sell Lagos to such individuals. I shiver to imagine Fayose, Bode George, Fani-Kayode or Asari Dokubo strolling freely into the oval House, Alausa to visit the Governor. We have suffered enough at the hands of these individuals whose ideals are antithetical to civilization and democratic governance. Agbaje is just a rook in their hands, I make bold to say.

Indeed some might say Agbaje is different from the PDP and should be appraised as an individual rather than as a member of the PDP but that as well further convinces me that Agbaje himself is an embodiment of the PDP attitude, as would be seen from the manner of his entrance into the party. Once a member the Action Congress, he defected to the PDP solely because failed at the primaries which produced Babatunde Raji Fashola as gubernatorial candidate. His defection to the PDP, just like the entire party structure and ideals on the whole, was not ideologically motivated but on account of personal dissatisfaction that he was not made the AC candidate. This reeks of intolerance, impatience and sheer ideological prostitution.

The PDP has left the nation a legacy of plunder which generations to come will find hard to comprehend. A stark contrast to the PDP mismanagement at the national level however, was the systematic transformation the then opposition party carried out in Lagos. The thriving commercial hub of West Africa which also doubled as a den of thieves was recreated by visionaries who occupied the seat at Alausa. Their sweat and toil seasoned by hours of dedicated research led to the creation of the blueprint for the modern Lagos contained in the Ehin Igbeti 1 & 2 documents which led to the current mega city state of Lagos. Today, Lagos remains the only state in Nigeria that has a blueprint for development, thanks to the dedication of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who started the process and Babatunde Raji Fashola, who inherited the vision and consolidated same. I do not suppose its time to introduce to the Lagos system, the same cankerworm that almost ruined the Nigerian fabric. JK will not get my vote.

In all, I have come to recognise that the majority of persons who flock after JK do so only on account of his perceived aesthetic appeal and gentlemanly mien. I sincerely hope they haven’t forgotten the ‘shoeless fallacy’ that brought GEJ into power and the manner of his ousting when his incompetence became rife. Lagos is working already, we cannot afford to have it grounded at the stage like the PDP did the Nigerian Railway System. #vote wisely

*Oluwaseun ‘Dayo Omotoso is a Lagos based Legal Practitioner, Consultant and Political Strategist.[img][/img]

By Oluwaseun ‘Dayo Omotoso*



I must concede Mr. President that this moment in the nation’s history isn’t so easy for you with the volume of information you have to process almost every minute and the several political activities in which you have to engage despite all. To borrow the words of Woodrow Wilson however, ‘the ear of a leader must ring with the voices of his people’. For this reason, I’d like to say these few words to you and to draw your attention to a couple of things you ought to consider, which I am sure the band of ‘sweet talkers’ around you dare not say for fear of losing their livelihood.

It is often admonished among the Yorubas of Western Nigeria that “ki sobia to d’egbo, olugambe ni aa ke si” (it is wise to seek a surgeon before a simple ringworm attack festers). Mr. President, ringworm has attacked the polity called Nigeria; I suppose it’s time, not only to seek a surgeon but also to identify the political ringworms before the wound in the Nigerian polity festers.



Permit me to begin by expressing my sincere admiration of your person. You rose to become the number one citizen of the country from the ranks of persons I had always advocated for during my active days as a member of Amnesty International; the Niger-Deltans, who had long remained at the butt end of bad governance and corrupt leadership in the nation. Indeed my concern for them during my university days was so deep that it informed the choice of topic for my final year thesis; ‘Natural Resources Exploitation and Management; the Derivative Rights of Natives and Landowners in Law’, in which publication much of the deprivation suffered by people of your region was addressed. Your story has indeed rightly been stated to be that of movement from grass to grace, having defeated all odds to become the number one citizen of the nation.





I’d also wish to commend you, Uncle Joe (as I’d like to address you) for your doggedness, which has been of immense benefit to your administration. Indeed not many governments on this side of the globe could survive what you have withstood since the inception of your administration. Right from the word go, rumours had it that some individuals swore to make the nation ungovernable under you. The events that were later to unfold seemed to lend credence to the unpleasant tiding. Without doubt, yours was a government greeted by a barrage of bombs going off almost in quick successions; the erstwhile ragtag vermin in the north-eastern Nigeria transformed at the wake of your administration to a devious and defiant guerrilla army which constantly held the nation at the jugular and almost dragged it to its knees. The climax of the crises was the abduction of over two hundred young schoolgirls at the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State. Through all these difficulties, you remained undaunted in the proclamation of your transformation gospel. Indeed I have great respect for persons who remain true to their convictions.



Your doggedness was not entirely commendable however, for the same quality almost proved the bane of your administration. You will agree with me sir, that often in life, we get condemned for the same reasons we earlier were commended. The saying goes in my village that ‘afifila p’erin, ojo kan ni o nniyi mo’ (the hunter that kills an elephant with his hat doesn’t enjoy commendation for long; people will soon avoid him for such tendencies). Uncle Joe, I’ll apply the same reasoning to your attitude to governance, using the notorious abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls as case in point. Much as your resilience in the face of opposition and difficulties is commendable, your handling of the matter was not fatherly; it could have even been rightly described as inhuman, for rather than visit the affected parents of the abducted schoolgirls to commiserate with them and perhaps prove the human side of your personality, you were reported to have rather invited them for a meeting at a venue of your own choosing. Mr President, in civilized societies across the world, sympathizers visit the mourning, not the other way round, you need not be told sir.



The second instance was your melodramatic performance at the people’s Democratic Party rally in Kano barely 48 hours after the April 15, 2014 bomb explosion at the Nyanya Motor Park, Abuja. Hours after the nation was thrown into mourning at the wake of such grim event, you were spotted dancing at a political rally like a gambler who just won jackpot! Such disaster befell the nation yet you had the nerves to dance a couple of hours after; the cause of disaster your government has not succesfully addressed till date. These acts of yours Mr. President do not anywhere across the world cut the image of a good leader. Since you have proved in recent interviews to be a fan of parables and analogies, perhaps one would not be out of place here. Imagine the nation Nigeria being your home and you being the father of the home. Hoodlums break into your home and carry your daughters away or burn down your home, would you dance days after? You might be quick to say the abducted ‘Chibok girls’ are not your daughters and that Nyanya isn’t your home but that would only accentuate allegations of your meanness. A leader is like a father to all. On him lies the responsibility for the welfare of all his subjects. Your response was woeful, both to the abduction of the schoolgirls and the bomb blast at Nyanya and on this score you failed the nation Mr. President and lost my respect and the respect of several other well-meaning Nigerians. What more, you refused to visit the victims Chibok abduction for months until another rounds of elections starred you in the face.





Since you have been seen kneeling on altars of all manners of registered and unregistered places of worship in recent times, I will refer you at this point to the foundation of what you profess to be your faith; the Holy Bible. I commend to you the words of Jesus Christ in John 10:11-13 where he said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”



Uncle Joe, your response to the abduction and indeed the whole Boko Haram episode was not that of a shepherd but of a hired hand that cared nothing for the sheep; you saw the wolf coming and fled. Need we be told again that the wolves snatched your sheep?



Your wife did not do any better. One would have expected her to fare better being a mother but her unbridled remarks and careless utterances made her the butt of wicked jokes and offered comic relief through the entire episode. This leads me to the second issue that bothers me about you sir.

One of my favourite quotes by leadership guru, John C. Maxwell is “if it doesn’t work at home, don’t export it.” If your leadership does not reflect in your home, do not attempt to sell it to the world outside your home. Uncle Joe, your leadership, I regret to inform you, does not reflect in your home and your wife tells it all. I need not repeat the diverse toxic utterances which have found their way out of your wife’s mouth. These do not present her in any way as a good mother. So sublime is the image of a mother that some have adopted same as objects of worship. Forgive me if I tell you sir that you wife falls short of this image. Her penchant for confrontation and overt insults launched at individuals some of who stood by you at the wake of your administration has won her the enmity, not of a few persons. What started as a histrionic performance by a carefree woman has degenerated to verbal assaults at anyone she perceives to be your political antagonist.



Recently your wife was reported to have stated during one of her performances that anyone heard chanting the slogan of a rival party should be stoned. Uncle Joe, that was extreme. A leader is and ought to remain a rallying point. That statement credited to your wife was divisive and inciting and could have precipitated a serious crisis but for the wisdom of those who waived her words aside as mere political ranting.

Uncle Joe, your silence in the face of such behavior by your wife and your refusal to retract some of such foul utterances betray your position as a father and leader of a nation. It leaves one with no other conclusion than the fact that you have no control over the woman who lives under your roof and leaves the right thinking minds to wonder how you intend to control a nation if you have failed to control your wife. However, I am quick to add, how would you correct your wife for speaking foul when about the same time you also referred to a revered political figure in the country as a ‘motor park tout’? Indeed you have proved by such utterance to be no better than your wife.



Another recurrent feature of your administration sir is the ‘transformation’ of hitherto faceless individuals and ex-convicts into celebrities overnight. Twice you were taken on by journalists for this tendency of yours to hobnob with individuals of questionable character; twice you were offered the opportunity to clear the air on the allegations of crass corruption which hangs like a storm cloud over your government and you flunked the two opportunities, on one occasion even theorizing that stealing and corruption are mutually exclusive. You seemed at that moment to have forgotten sir that six and half a dozen are one and the same. Mr. President, this left many of us with no other conclusion than that you either do not even understand what corruption means, in which case you would be too naïve to rule the nation or you deliberately choose to ignore acts of corruption around you, in which case you would be complicit and also unfit to rule. Your refusal to take a firm stand against corruption betrayed the trust of all who committed their mandate into your hand at the last elections. It is not surprising however Uncle Joe, that you cannot clearly define corruption since you are in the midst of it and the band of praise singers around you are either those who benefit from the status quo or those who are hoping to. If thus the hackneyed saying that “show me your friends and I’ll tell who you are” remains valid, Uncle Joe, the group of persons you surround yourself with leaves us with clear ideas of who you are too.



At the height of your administration, twice were secret arms purchase deals foisted by a government that proved itself more responsible than yours; incidences that were to further bury your already soiled image in the mud. On the first occasion two Nigerians and an Israeli were nabbed while they attempted to smuggle US$9.3 million stashed in three suitcases into South Africa on board a private jet from Abuja, ostensibly to purchase arms on behalf of the Nigerian Government.



Just three weeks after the initial attempt, the South African Government, through the Asset Forfeiture Unit of its National Prosecuting Authority seized US$5.7 million yet smuggled to South Africa under your watch, Mr. President. The succession of these embarrassing events left many Nigerians wondering why your government was so desperate to discreetly purchase arms through the back door. As if that was not enough, your government barely weeks after the two incidences was yet complicit in the purchase by ex-militant, Government Ekpemupolo (a.k.a. Tompolo) who trades under the name Global West Vessel Service, of six decommissioned war ships, purportedly under a contract to fight piracy on the Nigerian territorial waters. Uncle Joe, this contract awarded by your government to the ex militant warlord has left me wondering what reasoning underlies some of your decisions. Much as you might want to argue that the warlord had undergone the amnesty rehabilitation programme, the fact remains that he has a history of violence and ought not be trusted with the security of the Niger Delta creeks much less the nation. Perhaps this illogicality in your choice of whom to entrust with the security of the nation led to the insinuation in some quarters that you cared little for the security of the nation and that you were deliberately underfunding the Nigerian Army while empowering your own Niger Delta militia in fear that the political tides might someday turn against you. Indeed you need not dispel this fear already nursed by some Nigerians as to the genuineness of your interest for the nation as your words do not appear anymore to be your bond and no volume of lofty promises at this point can change the mind of those who are resolved to vote you out of power.



Uncle Joe, I remember your words in 2011 when the whole nation was agog with the ‘goodluck’ bug. You were the cynosure of many eyes then and your name was the mantra of many a Nigerian. In the euphoria of your short-lived popularity, you raised the hopes of many and made hundreds of promises, many of which have found their way down the drain.

The most relevant at the moment was the promise you made in January 2011, when you sought to cut a good image in the face of Nigerians by declaring you would not stay beyond a term in office. Of course you were under no obligation at the relevant time to make such promise, neither was there a constitutional or legal restraint on you. However, having made such public declaration, honour would require you to stand by your words. On this count, you failed again as your desperation to return to power at the end of that single tenure is almost unprecedented.

I remember as well that in the course of your campaign in 2011, you vowed to create a constitutional role for traditional rulers across the country. The only role you have created for then till date was that of beneficiaries of dollars you are reported to have doled out to them to seek their support for your re-election bid. Which brings up another serious issue; the huge sums of money you are said to have been ‘sharing’ to borrow your wife’s words, across the country. Uncle Joe, the Yorubas are wont to say that anyone called a thief ought not play with a lamb (the assumption would be that he wants to steal it).



You need not be reminded sir that allegations of crass corruption swing heavily around the neck of your administration like a hangman’s noose. Many indeed are the instances of mismanagement of funds that you have failed to address, the climax of which was the alleged disappearance of US$20 million from the NNPC coffers. Indeed the first reaction of your cronies, like your government did to the Chibok abduction was flat denial until a recalcitrant CBN governor, now His Highness the Emir of Kano insisted that the funds were missing. Uncle Joe, at a period when your government finally accepted that the funds were indeed missing but refused to publish the findings made after inquiries to how the funds got missing, you were reported to be dolling out dollars in political campaigns across the nation. Mr. President, would it be out of place for even a buffoon to see a link between the missing funds and the dollars shared clandestinely, more so that your government was quick to cover up the facts surrounding the whereabouts of the funds?



Uncle Joe, I have taken the time to put down these worries of mine so that you would see things the way the ordinary Nigerians, one of whom I assume I am, see things and why many clamour for your removal from office during the next round of elections. Indeed so much is your undoing that the constraint of space would not allow one to recite. If you are truly a man of honour, one would have expected you to clear the air on the many allegations made against your administration before even presenting yourself for re-election. I however do not suppose it is too late to make amends. If you ask me, I would advise you bow out silently at this point. If you however chose to go on, I wish you ‘goodluck’. I will conclude though by referring you to the book of Daniel, chapter 5 verses 25-26:

“This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

This is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: your kingdom is divided…”



Uncle Joe, it might be easy for you now to seek re-election, which a couple of millions of dollars can purchase for you but believe me sir, you won’t find it easy ruling a nation that is at the moment so severely divided along ethnic and political lines. It is not out of place for your praise singers to draw your attention to your perceived achievements and advise that you ignore such words as mine. While you might have recorded marginal breakthroughs on some fronts, the misdeeds of your administration are gaping holes that have indeed started sinking the ship of your administration. Your kingdom is divided, Uncle Joe, if you have ears, hear what the spirit is saying to you, I wish you well.



*Oluwaseun ‘Dayo Omotoso is a Lagos based Legal Practitioner, Consultant and Political Strategist.