Magodo Fiasco and Genuine Leadership

Notes for File

A lot of was last week said about the engagement between the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the residents/property owners in Magodo Phase II Estate and a certain Chief Superintendent of Police, who was sent from Abuja to lead the supposed execution/enforcement of the Supreme Court Judgment on the embattled plots of land.

A majority had argued that the governor should not necessarily have visited Magodo but worked behind the scenes. This line of thought is at its best funny. How do they want the governor to sleep when his roof is on fire? Will any leader honestly do that?

Refer to the “invasion” of Magodo by mean-looking, gun-wielding police officers in large numbers, who laid siege to the estate on December 21, creating chaos in the area and fear among the landlords and residents.

It took the intervention of the governor for those police officers to stand down the following day. He did not have to visit Magodo before the situation was brought under control. He had continued to engage with the law enforcers in Abuja over the matter up till last Tuesday morning when another round of crisis occurred.

This time, the governor could not and would not sit back in his office and watch some persons disturb the peace that is being enjoyed in his state to be threatened.

At the end of the day, did his presence not yield result? Has the matter not been resolved and tension calmed? Is that not leadership?

It is really sad for those who shared the above opinions especially those who feel strongly about the governor’s engagement with the police officer. To them, Nigerians are not used to civil engagements between elected officials, who are usually Lords and their citizens. The governor simply did well for disappointing them, and living up to his promise to continue to engage the citizens, who he considers as the major stakeholders in his bid to take Lagos to her Eldorado.