We have lost count of Sanwo-Olu’s achievements in Lagos – Olokoba

A pro-democracy and human right activist, Comrade Razaq Olokoba has said that performance of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu are so visible, concrete so much that his group has lost count of his achievements.

Olokoba, who is the National President of the Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), in an exclusive interview with The Nigerian Xpress said his Sanwo-Olu’s achievements in office since 2019 are so impressive it is imperative for him for a second term in office.

Excerpts from Razaq Bamidele:

 

As a human rights activist, are you not supposed to be apolitical?

We are apolitical but at the same time we are pro-democracy activists. I am by the grace of God the Convener and National President of a pro-democracy group, Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), an organization that monitors performances of political office holders to ensure they are doing the right things for the people.

READ ALSO: http://NFSC set to bring Brazil’s top club, Santos to Nigeria

In fact, we conduct secret Integrity Test periodically and some of the people tested passed the tests. Some of those who have passed and still passing the test constantly include, Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).

Is that why you are supporting Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu for a second term in Office?

Yes. The reason is simple. Having passed our performance test severally, and going by the people’s love for what he is doing, we feel it is better to allow him complete some of the assignments he started since the constitution allows two terms of four years apiece for him. We feel it is better that way than changing a winning team in the middle of the game.

Our own stand is that, if politics and democracy is about the welfare of the citizenry, and someone is doing that satisfactorily, why should we stop him abruptly without cogent reason? Or don’t you consider our stand on that as fighting for the right of the citizenry to good governance?

What attract your group to Sanwo-Olu to the extent of canvassing for his second term in office?

Thank you very much. Sanwo-Olu to us can be likened to the case of Japan. Japan has suffered Atomic crisis twice. That is a good excuse for Japan not to be in the comity of developed nations again. It was a very sad experience because the danger for any country to experience atomic crisis twice is enormous. But Japan survived and took a short cut to development. And here they are today. For you to mention 10 biggest economies in the world today, Japan would be one of such countries. When you want to gauge the quality of life in the world, Japan is number one. So, many things like that.

The same thing applies to Sanwo-Olu. He has genuine excuses to offer if he has not been a born performer. It is tenable for him to say, my non-performance is borne out of what my administration has passed through. It is amazing that he came out of COVID-19 pandemic neatly. He also came out of the inglorious #EndSARS imbroglio unscratched. The universal and global economic recession that wrecked some other countries across the world, we would not know how Sanwo-Olu got the knowledge he deployed into moving the state forward.

The last count, when we tabulated his achievement, the performance is so huge it is sufficient for two governors that served eight years each in office to grandstand that they have done well in office. When he came into office in 2019, within two weeks, he increased the number of the staff buses at Alausa seat of power. He brought the rail lines that had been the dream of all Lagosians in the last 25 years on board. And the BRT buses, the types being used in European countries were bought for the comfort of the good people of the state. The list is endless. Remember we have not mentioned several boats that ply our waterways.

READ ALSO: http://INEH FESTIVAL: One Person shot, scores injure, property N10m destroy in Delta

And if we look at the economy of Lagos, you would wonder where Sanwo-Olu got the magic from. It is so buoyant that, Lagos as just a state in Nigeria ranks with other countries in Africa in terms of tabulation and Lagos became fifth economy in Africa under Sanwo-Olu’s leadership.

The role played by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (1999-2007) and Babatunde Raji Fasshola (SAN), 2007 -2015, to get the state where it is today, we have to commend Sanwo-Olu for being a good manager who has managed the successes of the two aforementioned previous Governors in such a manner. He also improved on their success so much that the economy of the state has tremendously increased and improved..

It is against this background that every state in Nigeria gravitates towards Lagos for greener pasture. Though the number of people moving into Lagos has been increasing for decades, the survey we carried out recently is alarming. The number coming in is far, far more than the number coming in. For instance, if 20 people move out, 60 people move in to replace them. And the land mass is not increasing! Rather, it is decreasing as a result of climate change on daily basis! The planning and coordination of building in Lagos is getting more advanced by the day in such a way the people cohabitate in Lagos now, the way they sleep, the way they build their houses is getting better.

And if you start tabulating Sanwo-Olu’s achievements from, I, 2, 3, 4, 5 …, you will get to a point where you would be tired of counting again. In fact, we have lost count of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s achievements in the state. And that is why I said we have begun to lose count of his achievement in office since 2019 that he came in as the governor of the state.

What about the security of life and……?

(Cuts in), Oh, we have also appreciated the fact that a state like Lagos would have its peculiar challenges. We remember what Sanwo-Olu has been doing in the last one and a half years in terms of Police welfare and in terms of agencies that are giving support to the police.  So many agencies, Sanwo-Olu is training and retraining them. In the recent time, body cameras had been distributed to many of the trained security personnel. These are achievements that one wonders how he gets the resources to carry out such wonderful feats and other major assignments across the state.

As far as I am concerned, Sanwo-Olu has scored Excellence in performance. I want to remind our people that the template that Lagos has been working on in the last 30 years on development agenda has not been abandoned by Sanwo-Olu. The template was improved upon by Tinubu, it was improved upon by Fashola and it is also on course under Sanwo-Olu. And that is why things are falling in place.

So, what are you trying to drive at with this analysis?

What I am driving at with my postulation on Sanwo-Olu is that at this crucial period, we must not put the life of 25 million people of Lagos at risk by tinkering with the idea that we want to change hand. This good governance on ground must be sustained. The sophistication to govern Lagos efficiently, Sanwo-Olu has it in excess. So, I will encourage every Lagosian to keep his/her Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC), intact to use it to give Sanwo-Olu the needed second term in office.

We all know very well that a traumatised Lagos is a traumatised Nigeria. We should therefore not traumatise Nigeria by casting our votes for another candidate besides Sanwo-Olu. Remember the economy of Nigeria is so dependent on Lagos that, we must consistently put people like Sanwo-Olu in the helm of affairs. In our interests, we must allow Sanwo-Olu to come for a second term. We should vote for him, support his policies, promote his programmes and at the right moment we should discharge our responsibilities like payment of taxes and be law-abiding.