On May 29, the day Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu was sworn in and inaugurated as Lagos state governor for a second term in office, the Tafawa Balewa Square venue of the event witnessed a spectacular display of support and loyalty when a group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), stormed the city with coordinated rally that attracted a huge crowd along their route.
Leading the CSOs was a Chartered Public Administrator (CPA), member, Nigeria Institute of Management (MNIM), renowned activist and National President of the Campaign for Dignity in Governance, Comrade Razaq Olokoba.
Giving reasons for his group’s spectacular display of loyalty, support and excitement for Governor Sanwo-Olu, the right activist said, “though Sanwo-Olu has learnt the political rope and mastered it, the challenge of surpassing his first term performance is uppermost on our mind,” reminding that, “now that he has become the Land lord to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his responsibilities now would be more than double and so he would need more than double support from all of us.”
He however expressed the confidence that Sanwo-Olu is equal to the task in all ramifications but added that, “the type of support he needs now is the kind that would serve as tonic for encouragement because to surpass his last achievement and add being Mr President’s Land Lord to it would require more push for support from all angles because the end result would be for the benefit of the people.”
Speaking further the youthful youth leader reminded that, for somebody, who has won several awards of excellence home and abroad, somebody who wrestled the COVID-19 that wanted to wipe the whole world out of existence to the ground and earned international accolade from the United Nation (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO), somebody who is the darling of the media institutions that have showered him with Awards of recognition and for somebody who tackles seeming difficult tasks with the ease the fish swims in the ocean to do more during his second term, the populace, most especially, we of the CSOs need to come out vigorously to convince him that his popularity is intact in the mind of the people so he should not relax.”
The CSOs, according to Olokoba are the mirrors through which those in power gauge the mood and perception of the populace about them, stating that, “since we will be the first set of people to hit the street in protest if any government is not doing the right thing, principle of fair play therefore demands that when a government is toeing the right path, we should commend and encourage it to carry on.”
In the case of Sanwo-Olu, Olokoba asserted that, “as a silent achiever and humble performer, it’s our duty to let him know that people are appreciating the way he is building Lagos to the next level, citing example of how he was voted for overwhelmingly on March 8 for his second term mandate.
His performance in all sectors of the economy, which Olokoba said is concrete and visible so much that even the blind can see is a clarion call for him to roll up his sleeves to answer the Oliver Twist call of the people of Lagos who he said are always in love with more good things, expressing the delights that, “This Sanwo-Olu that we know will provide more electric trains, will construct more roads, will build more rice mills, will develop more youths, will build and equip more hospitals and guarantee security of lives and properties of both the people and residents of Lagos.”
Waxing rhetorical, Olokoba asked his distinguished audience, “Can we be wrong if we hit the town celebrating this rare and unique achiever with a view to encouraging him to do more to which the ecstatic crowd yelled in unison, noooo!”
Concluding, the CSOs leader reminded that, the same day was the inauguration period of “our father and father of the nation, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Abuja and we are seizing the opportunity of the double joy to pledge our support and loyalty to him also as the newly inaugurated President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of the armed forces.
Olokoba, said the rally was imperative to galvanize support of the populace around the new President with a view to letting him be comfortable that his people, who gave him their mandate freely are still very much behind him, stressing the need to often sensitize the populace about the need to give the new President support for the required confidence to hit the ground running.
“There is no iota of doubt in our mind that Tinubu has again found himself in a familiar terrain where he has traversed and left success stories behind in the past. And as a tested and trusted performer, we are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that he will not disappoint but rather surpass his known past achievement.
“Against this background, we are of the conviction that, with solid support and unflinching loyalty, the entire Nigerians will be better for it at the end of the day,” Olokoba concluded saying, “this renewed hope will be a success story at the end of the day for all of us.”
