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From the beginning of the 1950s, the year 1951 to be precise, the people of
Lagos
have always demonstrated their resolute independence. They did that yet again. Even the prowess of the highly imaginative Awolowo did not convince the people of
Lagos
to join the bandwagon at a time when the West was riding the wave. They did not join the Western Region and were lucky to have their own State in May 1967. Forty years on to the date of the birth of
Lagos
State
,
Lagos
still maintained its independence. As the hegemony of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) swept across the nation in recent elections,
Lagos
remained firm in opposition. If the political parties in
Nigeria
represent ideologies, then the battle for the minds of the people of
Nigeria
will be between the PDP ideology and that that
Lagos
exemplifies.
Elections could be rigged but the migration of people necessitated by the search for better opportunity in life cannot be camouflaged. The ruling party in
Nigeria
(the PDP) ought to be embarrassed by the continuous migration of Nigerians, seeking better life, from other parts of the country particularly from the PDP controlled states, to
Lagos
State
. First, the PDP federal-might withheld the statutory funds meant for development in
Lagos
under a pretext - its purpose was a transposition. Even the government of the intransigent Bola Tinubu seemed to have initially welcomed it as a way of decongesting
Lagos
. The
Lagos
State
government played along; hoping also that the reduction in earning by
Lagos
State
would occasion those that came to
Lagos
seeking economic opportunities to migrate back to their respective States – particularly PDP controlled States. That, however, did not happen.
It was not the first time
Lagos
State
was punished for not falling in line with the main stream. Shagari did the same – his government refused to complete the
Third
Mainland
Bridge
. In the first six years of the outgoing federal administration, the maintenance of federal roads and federal properties within
Lagos
State
were deliberately neglected by the Federal Government to make Tinubu administration look bad. They did not even allow
Lagos
State
to touch federal roads, when the later volunteered to repair the federal roads. Yet, people from the other States, including those controlled by the central ruling party (PDP), kept trooping to Lagos seeking better life than what they were experiencing in their own States. It goes without saying that what
Lagos
has to offer is a viable option. It appears the mentality of those that dominate the largest party in Africa has become an irritation to the sensibilities of those that have chosen
Lagos
as home. A supposition as an academic exercise is that their idea cannot be superior to that of the people that live in
Lagos
.
It was impossible initially to understand the real reasons behind the federal government, controlled by the PDP, withholding the funds meant for the development of
Lagos
that has every corner of
Nigeria
represented. It only became clearer when the population figure of
Lagos
was deliberately reduced by half on paper. Figures, as we all know, do not lie but it does not stop people from lying about figures. A fellow native of
Lagos
State
wanted, badly, PDP to win in
Lagos
for a deferent reason. His reason, to me, however was untenable. According to him, a PDP controlled
Lagos
will force a levelling of the playing field so that people will no longer imagine
Lagos
State
as the land of opportunity – a way to decongest
Lagos
. That could dent the claims of PDP as a viable option. PDP, however, has an opportunity to debunk such a claim in the next four years; by making just one of the many States controlled by them to compete with the nonconforming
Lagos
in terms of opportunities.
Is
Lagos
the bastion of hope for Nigerians? A fellow from the South East wants
Ogun
State
as the showcase for the People Democratic Party to prove to Nigerians that their economic ideology is superior. One,
Ogun
State
is next to
Lagos
.
Ogun
State
has always prided itself as the Gateway. Somebody asked, ‘Is Ogun State the gateway to
Nigeria
or the gateway to Nigerians? There is no opportunity seeker that ever gets to
Lagos
that did not come through
Ogun
State
. Instead of trying to stifle development in
Lagos
, the PDP who have the “mandate” in
Ogun
State
should first make
Ogun
State
competitive; so that people do not need to bother to get to
Lagos
to actualise their dreams. If in real sense the people of
Ogun
State
voted overwhelmingly for PDP, the State should be transformed into the beacon of PDP beliefs. Mind you, the engines of progress in
Lagos
are not even
Lagos
indigenes but hard working people from other parts of
Nigeria
with compatible dream. They were the ones that shut PDP out of
Lagos
in that election.
According to Japanese proverb, ‘One can stand still in a flowing stream, but not in the world of men.’
After the long awaited election result that confirmed that the Action Congress (Alternative Course) won in Lagos, a tiny few of those that lost - ganged up to oppose the result. Looking at them on Television, I did not see anyone of them as a PDP compatible in any sense. It was obvious they were all progressive minds; whose translocation, surely, were necessitated by perceived injustices and unfairness within their original party. Even the PDP flag bearer in
Lagos
State
, Obanikoro, looked like a strange PDP-bedfellow at the press conference. Come to think of it, he was a former stalwart of the
Lagos
traditional thinking. I am sure, politics aside; he is still a believer of the
Lagos
dream – the dream that allows everybody, irrespective of tribe or colour or creed, to be what he or she wishes to be. That has come to symbolise the alternative Nigerian dream. Many thanks to the founding fathers of
Lagos
!
I did cast my votes on 14 April 2007. Though, I did not vote for the eventual governorship winner in
Lagos
State
. All the governorship candidates in
Lagos
were credible people who believed in the
Lagos
dream and I could have voted for anyone of them. The run-up to this election was characterised by the most fundamental element in human interaction – fairness or lack of it. Fairness governs our response and tolerance of each other. In politics as indeed in our daily activities, the most used word is either the word “fair” or its antonym - unfair. When we perceive that a situation or somebody has been unfair to us, we often rush to the courts to get an acceptable alternative called justice. That, however, has made those in the law profession very rich because of increased business.
Interestingly, it is not the unfairness of a situation that bothers mankind, but the perception of unfairness of those responsible. The omission of Jimi Agbaje’s photograph and those of three others, from the ballot papers by INEC while others were included, was unfair. It almost disenfranchised somebody I know, who could not remember Agbaje’s political party. Nonetheless, he used Agbaje’s name as a guideline. I wonder how many people were misled. INEC was arrogant about the omission, which somewhat strengthened the perception of unfairness of INEC, but that is where we always get it wrong. The real issue is not that INEC by omission or commission has to be fair; but as the umpire, it must be seen to be fair. It must avoid anything that would paint it as biased.
Could this be what is missing in our match towards civilisation? Is our inability to care about how others perceive us as fair individual or institution, a drag to that match? The insistence of being-seen-as-fair is very important. The reason being that mankind does not really respond to fairness or unfairness of situations in the actual sense, but to the perception of - fairness or unfairness or justice or injustice of those in position of responsibility. We have witnessed on several occasions, for example, how an obvious wrong decision by a referee in a football match is acceptable to opposing fans if the referee is not perceived as unfair. Conversely, we have witnessed violent reactions from fans following an identical decision made by a perceived unfair umpire.
In the two instances, the real intent of the referee was of less consequence; only the perception of fairness or unfairness of the referee. An umpire, therefore, must try ever so hard to remove any doubt of unfairness in his conduct. Similarly, a leader has to work so hard to be seen as fair. As a matter of fact, it is the only thing the leader has to work at and thereafter, every thing the leader asks for will be done. Human responses are based on perception, particularly the sense of fairness or unfairness of those responsible and not the reality of the situation. It is not an easy concept to understand but that is how it works.
We all know that life itself is unfair, but we readily accept the situation because our maker that is responsible is deemed as fair. If only we can sit back and recollect our responses to situations at all times, we would discover that we always reacted to the fairness or unfairness of those responsible and not the justice or injustice of the situation. Holding dear the concept of being seen as fair is the most important thing to work at in our society. Somebody may say that being seen as fair when one is not really fair is deceitful. Only God can judge that. The advantage, however, is that in the effort of being seen as fair, there would be some degree of fairness and that is all that is needed to better the state of society.
Samuel Akinyele Caulcrick is the author of the book, The Devil Must Be Laughing.
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Posted by Robot| 18.04.2007 09:30