LAGOS - As 2015 Beckons…

Sayo Aluko

Come May 29, 2015, all things being equal, a new Governor will be sworn into office in the landmark state of Lagos. And, to say the least, the jostle for that mantle of service, has been massively intriguing, thanks and no-thanks to the many unnecessarily extensive, spurious and politically-motivated calculations and permutations going on in various coffers.

All of these enthusiastic speculations have been directed at wanting to preempt the candidate of choice of political platforms, especially of the APC's, and also to answer the question of who the cap fits. Unfortunately, it is a pity that most of these calculations, though terse, have wrongly veered off the real course due to their use of the same old retrogressive parameters of zoning, religion, biased credibility and the likes.

It is just saddening that so much useful energy is rather wasted on the use of these kinds of criteria, at a time when "competence" and/or "consummation" should be the sole criterion employed by all. For Lagosians, and even Nigerians at large, I believe it is high time we stopped allowing shallow parameters peg us back and blur our sense of judgment. One thing that is sure is that, when these bias-based parameters are embraced, they clearly expose the shallow-mindedness of the general Nigerian followership, and as a result, impede the process of getting consummated leadership.

Time is now to start focusing on the right question as touching thoughts about who should be elected as our leader(s). The question of "Who has the 'HEAD'?", should be our main focus, we shouldn't always be eternally stuck with the cliched "who does the cap fit?" notion. There's a massive difference between the two; while the former leans towards parameters such as competence/consummation, focus on the latter festers sentiments of religion and/or zoning.

Of a truth, in as much as there will always be some room for improvement, the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), deserves continuity at the helm. As a matter of necessity, the Lagos APC also know they must continue the good work that is being done in the state in order to keep up with or even exceed the good standards set by their previous administrations. To this end, they have brewed some quite notable names of persons they deem fit to carry on with their mandate.

As of this moment, eight (8) frontrunners have emerged in the race for a successor to Babatunde Fashola. This follows the decision recently, by the ruling party in the state, the APC, after a brainstorming session, to zone the governorship ticket to Lagos East senatorial district comprising Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, and Ikorodu. The decision was announced by APC National Leader, Senator Bola Tinubu.

A former Permanent Secretary/Accountant-General of the state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has been and remains the top favourite for the job. Other frontrunners include Senators Gbenga Ashafa and Ganiyu Solomon, former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan, incumbent Commissioner for Works, Obafemi Hamzat, a House of Representatives’ Member and Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, and Tayo Ayinde, a former aide to Tinubu.

Akinwunmi Ambode

abike dabiri

senator ganiyu solomon

obafemi hamzat

dr. leke pitan

senator gbenga ashafa

hon. adeyemi ikuforiji

The gospel for Lagosians far and near as said at the beginning of this article, is to sincerely and calmly vet the stances of these candidates themselves without prejudice, instead of being bamboozled by the whims of shallow-mindedness to offer their votes based solely on the meager parameter of zoning or religion.

Myself, together with some concerned colleagues have had to do this already. We found out that, truly, the APC has gotten it right (once again as they did with Fashola) by seemingly totally agreeing on the choice of Akinwunmi Ambode.

Apart from this man's exceptional intellect, revered level-headedness and broad depth, what clearly makes this Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode further stand out are his apolitical stance and time-tested administrative prowess; this also makes him rated highly among party bigwigs who embrace him as the virgin but astutely thorough professional that he is. The Public Finance management expert and accomplished administrator spent 27 years in the Lagos Civil Service, meritoriously rising to the position of Accountant-General of the state.

The 51 year old, who also attended Wharton Business School, Cranfield School of Management, the famous France-inspired business school, INSEAD and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, is the Founder La Roche, a non-profit organization focused on developing the next generation of leaders. Akinwunmi Ambode's full bio can be accessed HERE .

One other important thing that readily makes the cerebral Lagosian happy to firmly embrace the choice of Akinwunmi Ambode from the APC is that this choice isn't the needlessly overt and politically loud type, it's rather the bold, non-desperate and well-advised type, and as such paves the way to cement the prospect of having another sagacious leader at the helm come 2015.

Dear Lagosian, after all is said and done, the power belongs to you, so, as 2015 beckons, get ready to empower rightly.