By Mobolaji Sanusi
Ingratitude is a crime that is more despicable than revenge that is only returning evil for evil. Sadly, ingratitude returns evil for good.”
—William George Jordan In: The Power Of Truth: Individual Problems And Possibilities(1902).
Psychological torture can sometimes be worse than physical torture. The former is what the results of February 25 presidential election in Lagos State has inflicted on the psyche of genuine Yoruba free-born. I am one and so, l am deeply concerned.
One is more particularly perturbed by Igbo indigenes living in Lagos and enjoying the benevolence of their Yoruba host communities but now threatening to take over the state by voting for one Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour because of his Igbo blood affiliation.
Sad also is that no one has necessarily bothered to beam deserved searchlight on Chinedu Rhodes-Vivour’s competence or prior sterling leadership virtues displayed in any previously held leadership position. All that we have been overwhelmed with are his being an architect and being an ENDSARS protagonist and shameless promoter of outlawed irredentist IPOB philosophy. Whoever in his right frame of mind, should perish such abysmally detrimental thoughts of Chinedu ever presiding over the affairs of the Centre of Excellence.
That is a joke taken too far because the exalted position of Lagos Number One citizen is not for every Tom, Dick and Harry. Not the least, a Chinedu whose political activism has been riddled with unabashed failures and irredeemable opportunism.
Democracy is a game of numbers but more importantly, a game of plausible options as well. At the Federal level, Nigerians in their teeming numbers, despite the Lagos setback in the presidential election, voted en masse for Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is now the President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
What the generality of Nigerians had done was to say that among the options made available by the various political parties, Tinubu is the most preferred. That is the majesty of democracy. Not an Atiku Abubakar or a Peter Obi can, in all honesty , be argued to match the institutional track records of Tinubu in the public service of this country.
The same logic applies to Sanwo-Olu when compared to Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Jide Adediran, aka Jandor and laughably Chinedu Rhodes-Vivor of the Labour Party(LP). In all honesty, he (Sanwo-Olu) is the best option of the trio, and more importantly, the one with the best leadership cum institutional track records. And because this is sincerely so, Lagosians, especially people of my ethic stock and friends from other ethnic groups, peaceably living in Lagos, should turn out en masse to vote for Sanwo-Olu/Hamzat ticket on March 11.
Sanwo-Olu deserved being governor almost four years ago, having passed through the hot crucible of leadership process since 2002, and deserves a re-election because he has done well, sitting on the state’s topmost seat.
Whether from Akure, Owo, Ekiti, Ilorin, Oyo, Osun, Abeokuta, Ijebu, Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry, Ibeju-Lekki or Lagos Island, for as long as you live in Lagos, speak Yoruba language, what happened on February 25 should be of major concern to you. What Yoruba cannot attempt in other ethnic parts of the country must never be allowed to repeat itself in Lagos.
To the Oluomos of Lagos, please come out and prove to us that the five-million-Man-Marches that you all organised were no fluke; by inspiring your people/marchers to come out on March 11 to vote for Sanwo-Olu.
Please come out in thousands and vote for Sanwo-Olu because doing so is rescuing our land from ethnic jingoists/invaders; and also to ensure an inexorable transformation of Lagos State.
To the Igbo that have shown ingratitude to the Yoruba on their land in Lagos-including those clung to their evil plans in other parts of Yoruba land, the words of William George Jordan in his 1902 book, ‘The Power of Truth:: Individual Problems And Possibilities’, suffices; to wit: “Ingratitude is a crime that is more despicable than revenge that is only returning evil for evil. Sadly, ingratitude returns evil for good.”
What the Igbo did by repaying Yoruba’s accommodating disposition with ingratitude on February 25 will never be allowed to repeat itself on March 11 or at any other time in future. Let’s all come out and outvote some ingrates among our Igbo friends, next Saturday.
This is not to say that all Igbo people are no good neighbours, but those who have given vent to bad influences should be told the hard truth as all pretensions, according to time-tested wisecracks, will ultimately collapse.
Therefore, we all owe it a responsibility to our generation, and Posterity, not to derail the good works of the Progressives that encapsulates good governance and giant strides, in Lagos, our Lagos.
*Sanusi, a journalist/corporate legal consultant was immediate past MD/CEO of LASAA.