A note of caution to the Jagaban Borgu

The build up to 2007 general election in Lagos was more of competitive manoeuvring and strategic positioning for who becomes the governor ship candidate, especially for the ruling party, Action Congress, AC. The then governor of was at the verge of completing his eight years tenure as Lagos state governor and there were intrigues in the ruling party, as the governor had successfully broke away from the AD and the parent body, Afenifere, to form Action Congress AC. For Asiwaju Tinubu, It was time to build a strong political platform as he was no longer comfortable with the Afenifere grip on the party. Moving a generation of young and progressive politicians with like minds to the platform wasn’t a difficult one after all.
In the build up to the primary to produce the governor ship candidate of AC, it could easily be predictable who would win the primary among the candidates, considering some factors and permutations which include, most importantly, the closeness of the candidates to Asiwaju. Many believe that Senator Tokumbo Afikuyomi was a readymade candidate for the party. As the days for the primary draws closer, it was clear that such predictions would hold no water anymore. In the end, little known Babatunde Fashola was to come out victorious in that primary. For Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, he needed a capable hand to drive his road map for Lagos state development as entrenched in his party manifesto. To this end, the hands of a trusted ally, with capacity to deliver was what was required, not just a politician. The rest was history.
For Babatunde Raji Fashola, as Lagos state governor, leadership is about service to the people. And the only way to be of service to Lagosians was to embark on meaningful developmental projects in the area of infrastructure, health, education, housing, security etc. To ensure equitable distribution of these structures, more funding was required beyond the state internally generated revenue and allocation from the federation account. There was no other alternative other than borrowing from various sources, which include the banks, capital market and foreign bodies. The internally generated revenue was also increased from about N5 billion in 2007 to N24 billion as at 2015 when he handed over to Akinwunmi Ambode.
The result of this well thought out strategy paid off when one looks at the performance of the governor in all sectors, leading to an appreciable improvement in the social-economic well-being of the people of the state. Roads and bridges construction was top in his government agenda in ensuring that there was easy accessibility to all nooks and crannies of the state as well as ensure the reduction in down time, while conducting businesses in Lagos. Same can be said of the health sector, where new hospital buildings and equipment were constructed and distributed in all the local governments of the state. Security was not left out in all these. There was complete synergy between all security organisations operating in the state. Meetings were held regularly for security briefing and equipment distributed among the outfits from the Security Equipment Trust Funds established by his administration.
Life became easier and Lagosians were happy. Businessmen and women could go about their normal business without fear of molestation and attacks. Lagosians were happy to pay their taxes in support of the government of the day. Lagos soon became a model for other governors across the country. Different governors took time to visit Lagos in order to understudy some of their policies for adoption in their various states, especially the state tax policy and administration. The governor was to have easy ride to victory during his second term election, where he was generously voted for by over 70% of the entire vote cast in 2011.
BRF, as he is fondly called transformed governance from self-seeking to service to the people. His style of governance gave APC a direction and a sense of acceptability during its early stage of formation. Lagos state was there to serve as the face of change and Fashola was readily available to give all necessary explanations and lecture the government at the centre on how to govern. Lagos was working and listening to how he was doing it was an experience.
It was therefore surprising when the national leader of the All Progressive Congress came out to accuse the previous government of Lagos state of leaving a large debt burden for governor Ambode Akinwunmi who took over from Babatunde Fashola. Though no name was mention of the particular government who bequeathed the debt burden to the present government, a cursory look at the debt profile of Lagos state government shows that Babatunde Fashola inherited a debt profile of N15Bn Naira from his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2007. By 2015, when Babatunde Fashola was handing over to Ambode the debt profile had risen to N413Bn. As at last week, when the debt management office released the debt profile of all states in the federation, Lagos state debt profile had risen to over N600Bn.
As the governor, BRF was criticised for procuring debt, especially by the opposition parties. But Babatunde Fashola justified the debt, citing the growing population of Lagos state and the need to provide amenities to avoid the collapse of the existing ones as one of the reasons. He went further to announce that there was a revolving sinking fund of over a 100Bn Naira reserves for the servicing of the debts as well the growing revenue profile of the state. It is also instructive to note that less than two years down the line, Ambode, the incumbent governor have already incurred about 30% of what was bequeathed to him to increase the state debt profile to over N600Bn.
Though one could easily see the quantum leap in the debt profile from 2007, through the eight years of BRF tenure, there is no gain saying that development in the state throughout those years was measurable. Apart from developing the state with the funds, Asiwaju Tinubu should know that becoming a national player in the Nigerian political terrain today is as a result of the performance of his political godson. In all ramifications BRF never disappointed. He was a rallying point in projecting what the ACN stand for and by large what the APC stand for.
Today in Lagos state, Ambode is doing very well. His infrastructural development is massive. His security strategy and initiative is yielding results. Procurement of security gadgets and logistics has kept Lagos working. Beyond these, Akinwunmi Ambode acknowledged Babatunde Fashola’s legacy in Lagos state. Just last week, while visiting the government house, Alausa for the first time since handing over reign of power to Ambode, he used the opportunity to eulogised him and called his visit a home coming. He announced that his legacy in Lagos is a template that is being use to further develop Lagos, noting that Lagosians will never forget him. These were kind words from the governor.
Though, some political mistakes may have been made, especially during the build up to the 2015 general election, Asiwaju Tinubu should build on those kind words from Ambode rather than make statement that could set the two men against themselves. Asiwaju Tinubu should be thankful to God for giving him an uncommon and a rare wisdom to choose among the plethora of men around him, the most intelligent ones, with capacity to project his progressive politics which he is known for. Embarking on such unholy campaign against one of his own, who have contributed massively to his political base, could be dangerous for his camp. Asiwaju should ensure that his political family is strong together at all time.

 

Shaka Oyaregba

Shaka Oyaregba is a logistics support service provider and portfolio management expert. He can be reached on can be reached on [email protected], 08023598136