In a few days’ time, Lagosians are going to the polls to elect their next governor. The March 11 elections would be Nigeria’s 7th governorship election cycle since 1999 and while 28 out of Nigeria’s 36 states will be electing their next governors, the pre-election conversation has been dominated by only one state- Lagos.
“In a more homogenous Osun, Governor Ademola Adeleke whose mother is Igbo and who actually speaks fluent Igbo was elected governor without his mixed ethnicity being a problem for voters. Not even his opponents made a big deal out of it…The concept of “pure blood” is a racist idea that’s alien to us as a people. The Alaafin of Oyo used to marry wives from neighbouring ethnic groups. Alaafin Sango’s mother was a Nupe woman according to some historical narration”.
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The election in Lagos is pitting the incumbent, Governor Jide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the Labour Party’s candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV) and Peoples’ Democratic Party’s Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran (Jandor). However, if the results of the February 25 presidential elections in the state is any indication, the PDP and its candidates are mere spectators in this governorship election. In that election, the Labour Party won Lagos, scoring 582,454 votes while the APC came second with 572, 606 votes, despite the fact that the APC presidential candidate is from Lagos.
There is no doubt that GRV has a good chance to win the governorship. He’s the closest anyone in the opposition has ever been since 1999. And this fact has changed the tempo of the campaign, for the worse. Reminiscent of the ethnic-based conversation that surrounded the 2015 election in the state, GRV has been a victim of vicious yet strange ethnic-based attacks. Many supporters of the incumbent are portraying GRV candidacy as an attempt by non-Yorùbá (read Igbo) people in the state to take over the state. This was exactly what was done to Jimi Agbaje of the PDP in 2015 to the extent that the Oba of Lagos Rilwan Akinolu threatened Igbo voters with serious repercussions if they voted for the PDP.
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GRV’s situation seems to have been worsened by the fact both his mother and wife are Igbo, so his portrayal as an Igbo candidate is likely to stick. However, GRV’s situation is not unique in Yorùbáland and many Yorùbá over the last century have intermarried with Igbo. In a cosmopolitan state like Lagos this should even be a plus and not a handicap. In a more homogenous Osun, Governor Ademola Adeleke whose mother is Igbo and who actually speaks fluent Igbo was elected governor without his mixed ethnicity being a problem for voters. Not even his opponents made a big deal out of it. A Yorùbá is not any less Yorùbá because of the ethnicity of his mother and wife. The concept of “pure blood” is a racist idea that’s alien to us as a people. The Alaafin of Oyo used to marry wives from neighbouring ethnic groups. Alaafin Sango’s mother was a Nupe woman according to some historical narration.
It is crucial at this stage of the campaign for Governor Sanwo-Olu to weigh in and ask the few supporters of his who are perpetuating this ethnic nonsense to stop. Something like what John McCain did when some racist Americans were questioning Barack Obama‘s Americanness during the 2008 presidential election in the United States. When one of his supporters said to McCain that she couldn’t trust Obama because he was an Arab and wasn’t eligible to run for president, McCain replied, at a great risk to his chances at the polls, “No ma’am, (Obama) is a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about.” Sanwo-Olu should do something like this. GRV is Yorùbá, no questions.
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On the other hand, GRV himself needs to do away with the whole “I’m actually more Lagosian than all of you because my great-grandparents came to Lagos in the 19th century.” His twitter thread taunting Lagos APC chieftains for being non-indigenes does not help him at all. He should be emphasizing that all Lagosians are equal regardless of when their family moved to Lagos. The whole “no Lagos indigene has ever been governor” is nonsense. Fashola’s family has been in Lagos for a century or more. It’s not only the descendants of Saro or Aguda (returning freed Afro-Brazilian slaves) like GRV that are Lagos indigenes. They came to Lagos from Oyo and elsewhere in Yorùbáland via South America; others came to Lagos directly from Yorùbáland. Both have legitimate claims to Lagos.
The focus on ethnicity during this debate has meant that we are not even talking about policies and capacity. Besides his good educational background and a few years working for midsized architecture firms in England and Lagos, what else qualifies GRV for the governorship of Nigeria’s largest economy? What are his leadership and project management experience like? What is the feasibility and appropriateness of the policies he is proposing? On the other hand, how has Governor Sanwo-Olu delivered on his 2019 campaign promises? Is Lagos better today than it was in 2019? What are the governor’s new plans for Lagos? How prudent and transparent has he been with managing Lagos resources? These and other similar questions are what we should be asking. These are the issues we should be discussing.
