A Governor With A Large Heart —Tayo Ogunbiyi

The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), is different thing to different people. Professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, sees him as one who diagnoses a problem and goes at it like a skilled professional who wants to know what will work and what will not work he sets out to eliminate. Mr. Jack Warner, the Trinidad and Tobago-born former FIFA Vice President, simply described the governor as an incredible performer who does incredible things. With specific reference to the transformation of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, Mr. Warner said: ‘Never in my numerous years of traveling around the world have I witnessed the speed at which Lagos completed the stadium for FIFA assessment’. Whichever way you choose to place the man Fashola, one thing that is sure is that he is a conscientious planner. As far as he is concerned, nothing happens by chance. To him the word chance is for those who plan to fail, hence his only path to success is deliberate planning.

However, one side of the governor that needs to be properly highlighted is his humanitarian aspect. Here is a man through whom milk of human kindness has been flowing ceaselessly to diverse classes of people across the country and indeed the world. Recuperating former Coach of Nigeria’s U-23 Eagles that won soccer gold at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics is one man who cannot forget governor Fashola in a hurry. Having received special medical attention, which was sponsored by the governor. Bazuaye was bed-ridden for years having suffered stroke that led to partial paralysis. Expressing his gratitude first and foremost to God for his wonderful work in his life, Bazuaye gives special thanks to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola for coming to his aid when he needed help most. In his words: “Fashola has done what Napoleon could not do for me. I hold my being alive today to the Grace of God and the humanitarian gesture of Fashola, who came to my aid at a point I thought all hope was lost”. Speaking further Bazuaye said: “the Governor read about my condition and called to confirm if I was truly down. He then ordered that I should relocate to Lagos, where I was given a first class medical treatment at a hospital in Victoria Island. My family and I will forever thank Fashola for this huge favour. I could have been dead by now if not for the assistance I received from Governor Fashola. After the treatment, he also gave me recuperating equipment that has been helping my fitness. Fashola has done a lot for Nigerian sportsmen and women and I think he deserves to be the President of this great nation, Nigeria someday. Lagos State has done what my state, Edo state cannot do for me…’

An elated and obviously healthier Bazuaye who cannot stop singing the praises of Fashola revealed that the governor assigned the Chief of Staff, Mr. Lanre Babalola to take charge of his case. He said: “Babalola took care of me. He used to get constant report from the doctor who was treating me. I was given a first class treatment in the hospital. It is wonderful that we have a governor like Fashola, who cares about the welfare of his people at all time. He is a great man and I thank God for him and his family. The good people of Lagos State are lucky to have him as governor and I believe his re-election will bring in more good things to the state.”

Like the Good Samaritan who is going about doing good and changing people’s lives for good, Governor Fashola equally lifted the living standard of the Igbokwes while commissioning an 80-unit Hon Olaitan Mustapha and Mrs. Adetoun Mustapha Millennium Housing Estate, Ojokoro Phase II, Lagos, on Tuesday September 26, 2011. On that occasion, Governor Fashola presented keys to one of the flats at the housing estate to Mrs. Mary Igbokwe, whose husband, Mr. Benjamin Igbokwe, was killed in Lagos last year. Mary, the widow, couldn’t hold back tears of joy as she expressed her deep thanks to the governor who equally promised to assist in sponsoring the children’s education.

In same vein, Governor Fashola had once presented the sum of N1 million to Mrs. Jane Okwaraji, the mother of the late Super Eagles star, Samuel Okwaraji, who died on 12 August, 1989, while playing for Nigeria in a World Cup qualifier against Angola in 1989 at the National Stadium, Lagos. The presentation of the N1m bank daft was done at the late footballer’s home in Umudoka Village, Orlu, Imo State, by a representative of the Lagos State government. Mrs. Okwaraji expressed gratitude to Governor Fashola for remembering her late son and the family he left behind. She prayed for good health of the governor and a peaceful tenure in the state. The governor revealed that the state decided to honour the late Okwaraji in order to send the right signals to Nigerian youths that their efforts to bring honour to their fatherland will not be in vain.

Likewise, Governor Fashola put smiles on the faces of the family of Miss Toyin Adeosun, 2009 Lagos State ‘One Day Governor’. The story of the young girl reinforced the proverbial from grass to grace story. The family’s residence, an uncompleted one-storey building with a rented room-and parlour, with no television, furniture, and other basic necessities, was a manifestation of the poverty stricken state of the family. However, all that was to change when their daughter, Toyin, became the ‘One Day Governor’ and used the opportunity of a discussion with the governor to solicit for assistance for her poor family. The governor, in his characteristic scientific style of doing things, never uttered a word. However, weeks later the Adeosuns received a surprise visitor from the governor who came with a package that gave unlimited joy to the household. The package from the governor’s emissary contained the C of O of a government flat given to them by the state government. Toyin’s mother, 42 years old Mrs. Shakirat Ajoke Adeosun showered unending encomiums on Governor Fashola and prayed for him and the entire people of Lagos State.

It is, however, not only individuals that have been drinking from Governor Fashola’s milk of human kindness. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake the governor sought the approval of the State House of Assembly to donate the sum of $1m to victims of the Haitian earthquake. Having discussed the devastation occasioned by the catastrophic natural disaster in the Republic of Haiti with members of his Executive Council, it was decided that the best way to express the state’s heartfelt sympathy to the people and government of Haiti was to provide succour for the people.

Alexis de Tocqueville, in his immortal classic, Democracy in America (1885), insists that building the people is more important than creating wealth, for the value of the latter is tied to the existence of the earlier. As it is often said, great minds think alike. There is no doubt Governor Fashola was having Tocqueville in mind when he declared recently at a public function that “a society that cannot protect the underprivileged cannot protect the privileged. How apt!

•Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.