By Olabode George
It is rather sad and sickening, in this time of grave moral challenges, when the ordinary Lagosian can hardly find three square meals a day; when the commuters cannot afford the fare of transportation; when parents cannot afford the sky-rocketing school fees for their children; when the ordinary tenants can hardly pay their annual rent – Behold! Behold! Behold! this is the unsavoury time that the government of Lagos State has chosen to impose more burden on the average Lagosian. They want to bring the toll gates back!
It is cruel, insensitive, vicious, totally unacceptable. It is a misgovernance of the worst scale.
This action, which is obviously sanctioned by Bola Tinubu to source money for his moribund presidential ambition, does not portray an enlightened leadership. It does not exemplify a selfless shepherding. It does not equate an exemplary reference of salvaging truth.
It does not reflect a conscionable concern of an elected leadership. Tinubu and his cronies govern without the sobering tact and wisdom of genuine democrats.
Pray, is Tinubu conscionable? Pray, is he articulated in selfless embrace? Does he care about the masses? Does he care about the electorate? Is he halted in some sincere accommodating embrace of Lagosians? I don’t think so.
And yet this is the same character parading the nation, scheming for the presidency. It will never happen!
Tinubu’s surrogate government in Lagos appears to reflect a distant, alienated power, locked up in selfish devices, maneuvering in mercantilist greed, resolved on a rule by enforcement without the consultative truth of democratic enlargement. It is a leadership without the kind, pacific rudder.
This is hardly the kind of government we need in Nigeria.
If Tinubu’s surrogate had been properly elected; If he had been a proper emanation of the people’s voice, he would not turn his back on the Lagosian masses. He would be more discerning and contemplative of his actions.
What does it tell us? The state government does not really care about the average Lagosian. The Tinubu cabal does not really care about the Lagosian masses.
They are all fly-by-night allies. They seize the moment and disappear into the winds, leaving Lagosians with the baggage of their misrule. They treat Lagosians as the fools.
But Enough! Enough! Enough! We can see through these ephemeral characters. They merely serve the moment. They are not interested in the Lagosians’ tomorrow. Today! Today! Today! We must seize our destiny in our hands. We cannot continue like this. With all our growing problems, with all our deepening challenges, Tinubu and his acolytes still insist on imposing the toll gates on us. We say No! We say No! We say No! O to ge o! O to ge o! O to ge o!
Lagosians have awoken. Barely two years when they mowed down innocent youths at the Lekki Toll Gates, when innocent youths, young men and women, shed their blood for the unity of this nation. Tinubu through his surrogate and his illogic, has decided to bring back the toll gates. It is a bad hasty decision at a very bad time
We, at Omo Eko Pataki, will ensure, through all legitimate, legal and valid means, that the truth prevails; that righteousness is validated; and the majesty of the light is brightened across our state.
We seek no fight with anyone, but justice. We seek no quarrel with anyone, but the truth. We seek no engagement with anyone, but the accommodation of what is right, and what is just.
Our appeal is to the greater input of the human kind. We do not ask for mercy; we ask for justice. We do not ask for help; we ask for justice. We do not ask for beggarly pleas; we ask for what is right.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the cabal that put him into office as exemplified by Bola Tinubu have now showed greedy, avaricious intentions. The over 400 million naira that they collect daily from the toll gates is more important than the well being of our people.
And tragically enough, we do not know how this humongous amount is dispensed. It is never reflected in the Lagos State budget. It is never accounted for in the summative totality of the Lagosian treasury. This itself is a flagrant abuse of public office.
The dumb idea to bring back the toll gates on that very hallowed grounds where patriots fell is tantamount to an egregious provocation. It is a combustible material, a seed of discord that will bring nobody any good.
We remain non-partisan as Omo Eko Pataki. We hold adherence to no group or sectarian bias. We are free-born Lagosians, who hold the heritage of our state as sacrosanct and inviolable.
These are our resolutions: (1) the two toll gates should be scrapped, and dismantled outright; (2) a befitting memorial should be erected in lasting permanence about the patriots who lost their lives on October 20,2020; (3) the Lagos State government should pay necessary compensation to the families of the deceased; and (4) October 20, 2020 should henceforth be declared as patriot’s day in eternal remembrance of the #EndSARS heroes
Finally, we are not afraid of a good fight. We will not stop. We will never yield. We will never rest until justice prevails upon our ancestral soil. May the good Lord help us all . Amen.
•Chief George, CON, FNSE, MBA, the Atona Oodua of Yorubaland and Chairman of Omo Eko Pataki, a socio-political group, writes from Lagos.
