It was both predictable and inevitable. In the land of mediocrity, nothing of value lasts. Recently in the Daily Nation, a columnist, Mobolaji Sanusi, has fired the first salvo. His advice to the Lagos State helmsman, Babatunde Fashola, is that he should perish any thoughts about a second term and instead do a Nelson Mandela.
By Kanmi Ademiluyi
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Mr. Sanusi in his column on Friday, November 27, 2009, waxes lyrical “…it would have been nice if there could be for once an elected leader who could embrace the Nelson Mandela option of not pursuing the second term bid. The person that readily comes to mind in this regard is Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State. What he lacks in excellent human/public relations he got in creditable governance that he is giving Lagos State”. Now the clincher – “I doubt if he would not succumb to the traditional urge of vying for a second term but he would have made history if he voluntarily dropped the idea.” On the surface it all looks very well intentioned. However, we know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
It is difficult to work out the connection between Fashola and Mandela, except of course that they are both democrats. Opting for a one term presidency was a very eminently sensible thing for Mandela to do. It helped to calm nerves and dispel the unspoken fear that he was about to establish a typical African big man type of dictatorship. It was for this reason that Mandela, a super patriot, deliberately contrived to ensure that his own party the African National Congress (ANC) would not get the two thirds majority which would confer absolute powers on it to change the constitution at will.
If Mandela had not carried out this valiant act there would have been a terrible fall-out. The CODESA negotiation process which midwifed the transition had made provisions for the constitution to be changed if a party could get a two-thirds majority in parliament. If the ANC had secured a two-thirds majority there would have certainly been a run on the currency. In addition, there would have been an acceleration of the exodus of white skilled workers from the country. This of course would have put the country in dire straits. Mandela the secular saint rose up to the occasion. Putting the country above party and self, he engineered a situation in which the ANC denied itself of the two-thirds majority which was theirs for the asking. It was an astonishing act of self-denial with few parallels in history. If the emotionally challenged Olusegun Obasanjo had learnt from this his own presidency might have been better and he could have left Nigeria a much more decent place to live in.
The issue involved in Nelson Mandela making assurances doubly sure by opting for a one-term-only presidency does not apply to Fashola. It did not apply to Lateef Jakande, Bola Tinubu et al either. What we are seeing is a very crass manoeuvre to get rid of Fashola. The article referred to is not just kite-flying; it is obviously the beginning of a campaign. The campaign will gather momentum and become more intense in the next few months as the election season comes into play. The knives are out for Raji Fashola and he should cover his back.
Fashola, it is true, probably looks good because he is an oasis in a desert of mediocrity. Donald Duke of Cross River looked very good too, and Akpabio in Akwa Ibom is punching above his weight. They all look good because the country has long operated on the basis of the lowest common denominator. So stultifying is the level of decadence that a little effort and you appear like a magician. Fashola hasn’t actually done anything extraordinary; he is doing what he is paid to do. When you are paid to do something you ought to do it well. There will always be disputations about the crossing of t’s and the dotting of i’s. The jury is still out on a lot of what he has done or is doing, and will be out for a while.
What is incontrovertible though is that there is a strong perception that he has had a very good innings. If for nothing else the metropolis looks much better and healthier than pre-Fashola. There has been a social cost of course. Many people feel that the demolition of structures has had a devastating effect on the weaker social sectors of society. Clearly, there is a need to pause and reflect on the social costs. Now that the internally generated source of income has been streamlined and is gathering momentum, there is a clear need for the setting up of a rudimentary social security system to act as a safety net for the poor. All this has to be looked into now.
What is clearly disturbing is the emergence of a movement offering gratuitous advice to Fashola about the efficacy of becoming a Mandela manqué. There is nothing altruistic about what is going on. Perhaps because Fashola is a departure from the run-of-the-mill he has been a bit tight fisted with the cookie jar. He has obviously constricted the space for the professional political jobbers and their retinue of hustlers. Tough luck. They should learn to bust a gut and put in an honest day’s job. That’s what the rest of us do. If the exchequer is not free flowing in Lagos State, how about trying their luck elsewhere? There are lots of places where the business of governance is about sharing the dough. Try your luck there.
Perhaps, Fashola does not give a hoot about a second term. A sensible sort of chap, he must be aware of the admonition of the English politician Enoch Powell that, “All political careers, unless of course they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, always end in failure.” The end of his first term could very well be that happy juncture. The choice should be left to him and the electorate. The present campaign is further confirmation of what we already know. In Nigeria’s rentier state, the mediocre, the indolent, will fight back against even the whiff of sensible governance. The impending sacrifice of Fashola is a tale well foretold.
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