TO FASHOLA AT 59: The one who could have been

If Nigeria was on the right trajectory, Babatunde Raji Fashola should be contesting for the presidency of the country right now. He, along with Peter Obi, Yemi Osinbajo and to an extent,  Kayode Fayemi.

By the reckoning of this column, these four men are probably the most suitable public officials primed to lead the country today. But the old, decadent order has shoved them aside as usual.

However, Obi gatecrashed into the fray, through the backdoor, using a lesser known party  having had the door slammed in his face by PDP.

 Osinbajo, on the other hand, had a worse fate. Not even his being a sitting vice president stemmed his humiliation. The process was subverted ab initio and and he was shredded by the powers that be. Fayemi too, a sitting state governor, was also consumed by the raging inferno of the moment and he was left with no choice but to capitulate in a most ignominious manner.

It may be said that Fashola must have been clairvoyant to have read the mucky political scenario correctly. He didn’t venture unto the arena lest he would have been pulverised and left a political destitute.

Fashola chose to be president of his household for now.

Such is the political anomie in the land which often gobbles up the best men for the job while staid monoliths rule the stage. Fashola turned 59 a few days ago, but he packs the experience of an 89-year-old: two-term governor of Lagos State and a super federal minister in the last seven years.

But if it were merely about experience, several others would also be qualified. It’s  about perspicacity,  tenacity, infrared-focus and diligence. It’s also about character, carriage and good sense. One wagers without a fear of contradiction that hardly any public official today is as diligent. He remains the best governor to lead Lagos State after Lateef Jakande. He lifted the face of the city and for the first time, bequeathed her with first grade modern infrastructure.

President Buhari seeing the magic he had wrought in Lagos, couldn’t help but saddle him with three major portfolios: power, works and housing during his first term. In spite of a paucity of funds and bureaucratic bottlenecks, he laid important markers in all the sectors. He embarked on massive roads intervention across the 36 States of the federation at a scale never known before. Federal mass housing last seen in the time of Shehu Shagari sprung up once again across the country. And power infrastructure, especially transmission capacity, was on a steady increase. In the Buhari second term in 2019, the power portfolio was excised from his holdings. Observant Nigerians must have noticed that power supply which had improved incrementally to about 20 hours per day in many areas, has dropped miserably as grid collapses have become the order of the day.

The Fashola phenomenon may seem to have been diminished and his mystique  faded in the lacklustre Muhammadu Buhari administration, but he doesn’t only stand out from the pack, he’s the credence and signpost. He must have supervised the highest number of projects across the land – from Yenegoa to Damaturu. And he would visit each one personally. Even in terror-seized Northeast, Fashola is known to have traversed the terrain supervising his numerous roads, bridge and school-enhancement projects. 

In spite of its generally poor outing, the Buhari administration probably executed more infrastructure projects than any other time since Independence. Few around can match his capacity.

In ordered climes, he natural progression  would have been presidency for the one popularly called BRF. He is well imbued with all the attributes required for the job. Plus more. But the Yoruba politico willfully betrayed not just the likes of BRF and Osinbajo, but it betrayed itself and the nation generally. The Yoruba political elite shot itself in the crotch. It must be said that it is perverse that an ageing and evidently health-challenged Bola Ahmed Tinubu is contesting for the presidency of Nigeria while the duo of Fashola and Osinbajo are gawking forlornly from the sidelines. The Yoruba nation and indeed Nigeria may rue for a long time, the sidelining of among the ablest and most agile minds of this age. Again the politicos of the south of Nigeria generally couldn’t ensure that the two mega parties – APC and PDP produced  candidates fit for battle.

While we wait to see how the 2023 elections pan out, we say happy birthday BRF, the one who could have been president.