By Gbolahan Dimeji
As Governor Raji Fashola takes his exit from power it is necessary to ask him why he was not able to allow the state electoral commission to conduct elections into the state local governments before leaving office . In January, the 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 a misuse of power and authority. An announcement in the media 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.
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. This is because, by simply not allowing the elections to take place at the local government level which is the grassroots of our democracy, he has done worse than even a military dictatorship. So how can he claim excellence at the point of exit as a true democrat .? Certainly on the local government elections, the governor is leaving office as a dictator rather than a promoter and lover of democracy. That is the truth and that is his legacy .
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 election for governorship which his party won, the state government 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 Okada, a feat that drew tremendous applause and admiration from the Lagos electorate whose sympathy was with the Okada people because of their functionality and convenience in making people move around the state in 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 riders 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.
Whether the outgoing governor likes it or not, he is postponing the evil day for his party as Lagos 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 election. 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.
- Dimeji, a public affairs commentator, is based in Lagos.
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