Democracy and delayed LG elections in Lagos

As Governor Raji Fashola takes his exit from power it is necessary to ask him why he was not able to allow the state INEC to conduct elections into the state local governments before leaving office . In January this year the outgoing governor swore in 57 Executive Secretaries for 20 LGs and 37 LCDAs instead of holding elections in the LG s and LCDAs whose tenure expired in December 2014 . That was clearly an undemocratic misuse of power and authority and he should be ashamed of that as part of his legacy . An announcement in the media this week said he would launch his book titled The Example – The Era of Babatunde Raji Fashola as the Governor of Lagos State and that he would speak at the Public Lecture Series of The Institute of Directors on the topic – My Stewardship – Eight Years of Delivering Excellence as the guest speaker of the IoD .

Undoubtedly the fact that the governor has appointed Executive Secretaries to head the local governments in his state rather than have elections as expected in a democratic dispensation puts a stigma on his claim to excellence in terms of service delivery during his tenure and casts aspersion on any claim or achievements he may want to celebrate as a democratically elected governor of the state . This is because by simply not allowing the elections to take place at the local government level which is the grassroot of our democracy he has done worse than even a military dictatorship which rules by force as it does not have a democratic fiat or mandate to govern in the first instance . So how can he claim excellence at the point of exit as a true democrat .? Certainly on the local government elections the outgoing governor is leaving office as dictator rather than a promoter and lover of democracy in Lagos state in particular and Nigeria in general .That is the truth and that is his legacy .

One can go on to hazard a guess or two on his motive for this but the fact has to be stated first . Some have said the fear of the APC losing local government elections on the eve of the 2015 elections was the paralyzing factor . It was felt in his government that it was becoming unpopular and the loss of the local government polls would be a death knell for the ruling party in the general elections . But then that was to be expected and the anti dote was to have had a good record of performance for eight years of two terms in office .

Nothing best illustrates poor performance and deceit on the part of his administration than the news that after cajoling the Okada motorcyclists to vote for his candidate at the last elections for governorship which his party won the state government has asked the Okada people not to ply routes which were opened for them during the campaigns for governorship which the APC has now won . Of course the state government’s hands were forced by the successful strategy of Jimi Agbaje of the PDP who rode to a campaign rally on an Okada, a feat that drew tremendous applause and admiration from the Lagos electorate whose sympathy was with the Okada people because of t heir functionality and convenience in making people move around the state on an affordable means of transport . Now that the APC has won the government has gone back on its words and the world is to be bleak and painful for Okada riders and their millions of Lagos commuters again . That simply means the people of the state have been taken for a ride by a government that wooed Okada drivers only to disappoint them after securing their votes . That is certainly dishonest and is a misuse of a fresh election mandate and is highly condemnable .

Certainly there is need to remind the outgoing governor about the norms and nuances of democracy as well as the need for elections to hold as and when due as in any democratic state such as Lagos state . Elections are the rituals of democracy to check poor performance in office which is usually visited with voters disenchantment in voting out those who did not use power well while in office . That certainly was the impression that the governor created when he did not allow elections to hold but waited till after the general elections . Whether the outgoing governor likes it or not he is postponing the evil day of reckoning for his party as Lagos state is not a one party state as the 2015 elections have shown with the brilliant performance of Jimi Agbaje of the PDP at the guber elections . Lagosians cannot wait long enough to get even with the APC for the nagging electoral fear of the outgoing governor in not being democratic enough to organize LG and LCDAs election before his exit as demanded by the law . Definitely there is nothing excellent about such an undemocratic legacy .