Gov Ambode: Four Years of Great Strides, But…

For the second time, I drove through the ten-lane, 3.6km airport road last Saturday on my way to the Guild of Editors’ Bi-ennial Conference in Ikeja. It was such a great delight driving through the road. It had all the trappings of modernity and global standard: the sheer breath of the road, the smoothness, the cedar palms and flowers in the narrow median corridor, the over-head bridges (though unfinished), the clear demarcation of the service lane from the express lane, plus the street lights that blaze brightly at night, all combine to give a soothing relief from the jaga-jaga road network that dots most parts of Lagos, especially the inner roads.

At least, the re-done airport road will transmit positive impression to the hearts and feelings of first-time visitors to Lagos from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA). Never mind what they will find out later in Bariga, Okokomaiko, Ajegunle, Alimosho etc.

I got to the conference to find some documented literature of what the governor has accomplished in his four years. Many of them appeared strange to me. Very strange.



I however must connect with the extension work done at the Ayinke House. The governor did not only increase the bed-space but that he also equipped the facility with modern gadgets and medical equipment. It is about the biggest children hospital in the country. Laudable!

Last year, something took me to Epe, Ambode’s hometown. I was dazed to see how a rather rural, sleepy community was given such a stupendous lift in infrastructural rejig. It looked anything like Lagos, nay Nigeria. The transformation was radical, seeming to appear like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief, as Shakespeare would say (in Macbeth). Good and laudable as it seemed, the question is must a community produce a governor before it can experience such transformation?

When last did the governor visit or taste the suffering of Lagosians in the Okoko-Badagry axis? Those people literally die and wake up everyday commuting to and fro work. Despicable!

I have seen the bus interchange at Oshodi. I am aware of what Ambode’s predecessor, BabatundeFashola did with and to Oshodi. Ambode took it to the next level. Yes, the structure looks grand and modern. But I am yet to understand how it would work, especially as drivers have not been trained on its use.

Yes, Ambode may have grown the business niche of Lagos to become the fifth largest economy in Africa, the concern is how his projects connect with ordinary Lagosians. Question is: Has Lagos gotten better under Ambode? The answer will not exactly be a straight one.

Apart from the queer and non-inclusive politics and governance style he ran, I am not impressed with the amount of discipline his governance could exert on Lagosians. There are too many examples of the city literally going to seed under Ambode. The worsening traffic snarl is largely caused by the indiscipline of many Lagos drivers. LASTMA and other traffic agencies in the city have gone rather pliant and sucked in. The result is that anybody can do as he or she likes, including driving against traffic, at any time and at anywhere. Almost.

Perhaps the one that troubles me most is the platoon of Okada riders that have literally seized the soul of the city. This is not just in the inner communities. Right from the top of Mile 2 bridge down to CMS, third Mainland bridge, all through to Ketu, Orile, Ikeja, Iyana-Oba axis, the menace of the Okada riders swarming on the rest of us is befuddling and frightening. It is just as if there was never a law banning them from these highways in this same Lagos, few years ago. The law has not been repealed. Is it for political reasons that government has literally turned a blind eye on these menacing people? And we are all worse for it.

Lagosians are lucky that the state is yet safe and somewhat secured, against the army of idle and under-employed youths milling around town.

I cannot ignore how dirty Lagos has become under Ambode. No, I cannot! I hear it is one of the issues that cost him a second term. By banning the inherited PSP scheme and introducing his ineffective Visionscape, the environmental health of the city simply collapsed. With the so-called Visionscape, Lagos city was simply reduced to an oozing miasma.

Ambode had come to governance with a certain feeling of Deux ex machina powered by some omniscient complex. And so he carried on with a solo mindset. Even many in his government have been grumbling about being left in the cold. He was simply an OOO (Only Operating Officer), not a CEO, as he ought to be. Little wonder that in his time of trial—struggling to have the APC ticket for a second term, he was more or less left alone to bear his cross. Even his deputy, Dr (Mrs) IdiatAdebule denied and disowned him. It is not so much about the hold Senator Bola Tinubu has on the nerves of Lagos politics, it is more about the team-work disposition of Governor Ambode. Many of his commissioners secretly wish he leaves earlier than May 29.

No doubt, he is visionary, having great developmental dreams about Lagos. But he was not a good politician. I hope he has learnt his lesson. And in a hard way too.

And for a densely populated city, massing about 22 million persons, not to have common source of water, speaks volume about the premium placed on life and good living.

As we pray in the Anglican liturgy, Ambode has left undone those things he ought to have done and done those things he ought not to have done…and there is no health in his politics.

Mr Akinwumi Ambode, in 18 days will cease to be the governor of Lagos State. But he is yet a young man, in his mid 50’s. The field of life yet lies wide and spread ahead of him. In the last four years, he has gone, he has seen, he has conquered (and been conquered too). He must have learnt good lessons touching on humility and team work. He must know that as he cannot do everything, he too does not know everything.

His postscript will surely say he was a good governor, but there will be a “but” and a “coma”, and he will realise that it is all more than the lingo of Itesiwaju ipinle eko l’ojewa l’ogun.

Nation’s Insecurity: It Needs More than Weight Loss

Contrary to the belief of some nay-sayers, President Muhammadu Buhari returned last Sunday after a controversial 10-day private visit to the UK. While he was away, the scale of insecurity simply rose to a disturbing height, so much that even his hometown Daura hosted some gunmen who ended up kidnapping the inlaw of his ADC and a traditional chieftain in Daura. This was as dozens of persons were either being kidnapped or killed on daily basis across board.

Then the president returns and in answering reporters’ question on security mildens the seriousness of the issue by saying the Inspector General of Police (IGP) is losing weight which is a sign that he is working very hard at combating the menace of insecurity. It was somewhat an anti-climax for those who thought having heard all thathas happened in his absence, Mr President would marshal out strategies aimed at curbing the onslaught. Pray, what was the weight of the IGP when he was appointed last January? And what is his weight now? His office announced that in 90 days, over 1,071 persons were killed. That is rather shameful! Nigerians don’t care if the IG becomes a featherweight. All we need is safety of lives and property. If he cannot take the heat, he should leave the kitchen. Surely, we need more than weight loss.