“The population of Lagos State is estimated at 20
million with 10 million being Christians. The ten
million have no more control over their lives than
ten million cows being driven about by nomads”.
Dele Sobowale, September 26, 2013, at the Seminar
organized by Christian Conscience at Alausa, Ikeja.
Pardon me for quoting myself, but that statement
had not received the attention that it needs from
Christians living in this state. And, the sooner we
got to discussing the critical numbers the better for
all of us.
For what you are about to read, I owe a great deal
of debt to late Mr Udoh, our Standard Four class
teacher at St Peter’s (Faji) Primary School, Ajele
Street, Lagos Island. Mr Udoh was perhaps the
most passionate teacher I ever had; but, he was
most passionate about arithmetic which he
drummed into our skulls in 1956 with cane and love
in equal measures. His favourite statement was: “If
you know arithmetic, nobody can cheat you”.
To our tender ears that appeared like esoteric
philosophy. What has arithmetic got to do with
cheating? Politicians eventually provided the
answer to the puzzle when they started shouting
that politics is a game of numbers. So, this struggle
for equity by Christians is based on numbers that
prove conclusively that there is inequity in the
political system in Lagos State. Whether it has
become institutionalized or was inadvertent will be
determined by the outcome of the struggle for 2015.
Let me run some numbers around which we can
conduct this discussion, which hopefully will not
degenerate into an argument or even a quarrel. All
those reading this article must bear in mind that
Christians in Lagos State had from the time party
politics started with Herbert Macaulay, in the 1940s,
supported the progressive agenda. The election for
Mayor of Lagos was won by Alhaji Olorunimbe, who
won even in Popo Aguda (Catholic Section) in Lagos
Island.
However, the periods which concern us the most
start from the start of the Second Republic,
1979-1983. We went out and together elected a
Muslim/Muslim ticket for Governor and Deputy
Governor – Alhaji Jakande and Alhaji Jafojo
respectively. They were elected for the two terms
and would have ruled for eight years – if the
military had not terminated civilian rule after four
years and four months. That means fifty-two (52)
months. Keep that figure in mind.
The Third Republic started on positive notes but
ended in another military government. Because the
leaders of the Progressive movement, in the Social
Democratic Party, SDP, in Lagos, could not agree
on which of two Muslims, late Professor Agbalajobi
or Dapo Sarumi, should be the candidate, one
faction called on us to cast our votes for the
“conservative” party candidate – Sir Michael
Otedola of the National Republican Congress, NRC.
He lasted approximately fourteen months. But,
please note, Otedola would never have made it if
Sarumi had stepped down for Agbalajobi, as he was
asked to do.
The Fourth Republic, which started in 1999,
presented the Progressives with another
opportunity to call us out, like the reliable cattle we
Christians have always been. The Alliance for
Democracy, AD, (remember them?), led by the
remnants of people going by the badly battered title
of Awoists, organized a primary and the first results
indicated that, for once, Funso Williams, a Christian,
won the election.
But, the fathers of the Progressive movement,
which most of us had equated with equity and fair
play, had other ideas. I don’t blame the eventual
winner for one minute. I would have accepted the
tainted mandate too since every politician is in the
race to win – fair or foul. It was perhaps
providential justice that all those who were
responsible for that travesty were later rubbished
and sent into retirement in less than four years.
Eight years (96 months) of Muslim Governor
followed. Please bear that second figure in mind
also.
The 2007 selection was a foregone conclusion,
even before the primaries started. Before that the
“Progressive” party had changed its name to Action
Congress of Nigeria, ACN for the 2003 elections. By
then, however, it had become clear that primaries
had been discarded for a selection process under
which no Christian was part of the inner caucus. At
any rate, the choice was made months in advance
of the period INEC stipulated for primaries.
Even a fool knew it would be Fashola – another
Muslim. With his first term, he added four years (48
months) to Muslim occupation of the Governor’s
Mansion in Lagos State. Only a major catastrophe,
hard to imagine, can prevent him from adding four
more years, or another 48 months to the tally. As Mr
Udoh would have asked, let us add up the figures.
Unless my arithmetic has gone as old as I am, what
stares us in the face is a situation in Lagos State in
which Christians constitute half of the population in
which by 2015, Muslims would have spent 244
months as governors of OUR (it belongs to all of us,
Christians and Muslims, as well as non-believers),
and a Christian only 14. To expect us to go to the
polls in 2015 and grant four/eight more years to
Muslim candidates, bringing the totals to 292 or 340
months to 14 months, is the greatest sort of
injustice anybody or group can ask another group to
endure.
We will not accept it and we shall organize
ourselves to fight this creeping institutionalization of
inequity. This is not an anti-Muslim struggle; we
appreciate the achievements credited to Governor
Fashola. But, let nobody insult us by saying to us
that we cannot find one Christian who can perform
as well. What a man has done, another man can do
or even better. Only God’s work cannot be
surpassed.
ADVICE TO CANDIDATES FOR 2015 ELECTIONS
“The future does not belong to those who are
content with today…timid and fearful in the face of
new ideas and projects”, Robert Kennedy, 1968.
(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 71).
If you plan to be a candidate for the 2015 elections,
then, remember this. The 2015 is closer than you
think. For a start, by the time you read this article,
there will be only seventeen and a half months left
to convince the electorate that you deserve their
votes. For all candidate, but new ones especially,
this is not a lot of time. However, you can pack a lot
of work into the time available.
Increasingly, the media will play a major role in the
coming elections. There are two major things you
must attend to immediately. They are: write a
biography (even if you wrote one more than four
years ago, write another one) focus on those
aspects of your life history that are relevant to the
position you seek; get a good Media Adviser/
Consultant to drive your media strategy and
operations and talk to him/her everyday.
In everything you do or say, avoid telling absolute
lies. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get away
with total falsehood about ones past in the world of
ICT. Information which you left on record
somewhere and with an organization might
resurface to haunt you.
Most importantly, start now to build your campaign
team and determine your approach to the coming
campaign. Incidentally, while INEC regulations forbid
campaigning now, it does not preclude organizing
and grassroots activities aimed at getting positive
recognition by the electorate in your constituency.
I wish you luck.
Vanguard
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