YOU CAN DO THE SAME Going back in time, followers of partisan politics should remember that the first

tenure of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola fueled enormous criticism by His decisions. He made more enemies than friends in his early days in office. The decisions he made was hated and a subject for debate on every opinion poll on radio and television stations. Every of his steps were criticized and misinterpreted from the demolition of several illegal structures, to countless arrest of street traders and hawkers, prohibition of Okada on designated roads, enforcement of all tax laws, the advent of BRT buses and lanes, the restructuring of various markets in the state and the list is endless. There is hardly any lagosian who has not been touched by his administration in one way or another. He stood by his decisions despite the pain and the anguish the change he sought for had caused the people. His vision of Lagos as a mega city was a picture he painted to the people of the state through the media, but his approach and the execution of his plans were not as smooth as the eloquence of his speeches. Based on his legal background, he engineered his actions with the tools of the law and applied force where necessary. A vivid illustration of this took place on Sunday January 4, 2009, when a demolition squad descended on the popular Oshodi market bulldozing everything including goods and properties. This action came to the citizens of the state as a big choke as many of his decisions do. The criticism was that traders were just resuming for the New Year with enormous responsibilities on their shoulders. The timing and the manner with which the government went about its execution was said to be wrong. Today, the story is different; Oshodi is now a beautiful place to behold among the remarkable works done by the government of BRF. The acronym, BRF, is on the lips of almost every lagosian for good. He has redesigned and redefined Lagos to a role model state and the bar of qualitative leadership has been raised by his administration. Citizens of several states admire and envy Lagos, and are willing to trade their governors for BRF. But the truth must be told that the new look Lagos did not come without a price. Many lost their source of livelihood, some their houses and the list goes on. BRF never waited for lagosians to jump into his train; he compelled us through his style of leadership to dance to his music. A recent scenario similar to that of the action of BRF in oshodi on Sunday January 4, 2009 is the decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to remove fuel subsidy on Sunday January 1, 2012. The decision aggravated tension all

across the nation leading to civil unrest and a nationwide strike. His decision has come under very serious scrutiny from every strata of our society. Each view expressed by these quarters gave reasons for their conclusions, while some individuals canvas for their own political interest. Although, normalcy has been restored to the running of the economy, Mr. President upheld his decision not to revert to the old pump price of #65. Despite the timing and Mr. Presidents approach, it should be noted that for a leader, the best time to make a decision is now. What will it have looked like if Mr. President were to be from another political divide, will the increase in pump price raise the same level of tension? Will the people react differently, if he had a personality of President Obama or Governor Fashola who can easily influence the media and also convince their people on their decisions? His style of leadership seems unpopular but he has asked for time to be able execute His plan and patience on the part of Nigerians. Mr. President, the position of Nigerians will change if you are able to transform the power sector and make it effective and efficiency. You have shown that you are a man of few words, slow to act but can stand his ground where necessary. Lagos is not yet perfect, all that Governor Fashola did at first was to attack the seemly untouchable areas and transform them. This I know you can achieve if you are able to make power outage a thing of the past in our nation. Mr. President do not keep the blueprint of your action plan away from Nigerians, they need to know the path you are going. Paint the picture of the future you have for us, and then our journey as a nation will be smoother. God bless Nigeria.

Written by ANEYO oyekola, 08052177759, kolyjayjay@gmail.com, I am a creative writer.