COVID-19 makes. COVID-19 breaks. That could be a tad sweeping. But it might also be the tale of two governors, truly told.
The one, pre-COVID-19, was building castles in the air; and charming anyone to come see the happy swindle. Enter, Oyo Governor, Seyi Makinde, aka GSM.
Indeed, at Oyo’s zenith of the governor as shaman (dubbed “audio governorship” by his no less harsh critics), GSM was “threatening” to surpass, in six months, whatever Abiola Ajimobi, his predecessor, had achieved in eight years!
But then came COVID-19 which, with a fearful burst, flattened everything. At first, GSM made a partisan jeer at it all. Then, he allegedly cropped the virus — allegedly, because not a few of his partisan traducers claim even that was another “audio” stunt.
Then, one year after, COVID-19 offered the craven apologia: the virus and its ruthless disruptions, had accounted for Makinde’s rather slim report card.
To boot, COVID-19 has provided, to date, the most devastating anti-Makinde quip! Olodo, Ibadan, harbours Oyo’s biggest COVID-19 isolation and treatment facility. Accented one way, Olodo could mean “owner of mortar and pestle”, which really is the correct name of that settlement. But otherwise, it could also mean Olodo: blockhead!
So, the governor’s cyber-foes have adopted the more irreverent slant, in a savage pun of a photo capturing the governor’s official COVID-19 activity at that facility, courtesy of the governor’s own avid cyber-warriors.
Enter, the iconic (turned iconoclastic) photo: GSM as “Olodo Ibadan” (Ibadan gubernatorial blockhead)! Propaganda gives, propaganda takes!
So early, Makinde’s restless propaganda chicken is coming home to roost! Still, he has his job cut out, now that one out of a four-year term is gone!
Well, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (BOS), Makinde’s Lagos counterpart, has taken a less upbeat route, with diametrically opposite, startling results.
Whereas COVID-19 has, well, crippled GSM, it has given BOS rare wings to soar; not by jingling propaganda, but by trackable deeds. COVID-19 makes, COVID-19 breaks!
Yet, BOS was a victim of an often fickle electorate, that yearns for the governor as shaman; failing which they push a democratic right to, no end, traduce and abuse.
BOS took over at the nadir of the Akinwunmi Ambode collapse; and the urban decay that held much of Lagos in thrall.
Lagos was an extensive and oppressive garbage dump, no thanks to Ambode’s failed bid at refuse-clearing reforms, a chore that gobbled his second term, but which not a few claimed equated fixing what wasn’t broken.
To be fair though, that could just be glib counter-jive by party powers and principalities, who wrestled Ambode to a vicious pin-fall.
Then the roads! They were in a complete shambles, no thanks to Ambode’s loud dissonance, from a hurried retreat from power, leaving a long trail of dead dreams.
To make matters worse, it was the height of the rainy season, hopeless for road repairs. But who cares? If BOS couldn’t face the heat, he had better get the hell out of the kitchen! Still, a governor is no shaman.
Then came the brutal taunts: Atoka of Lagos, Point-and-kill Governor, et al, all in saucy mirth, at poor BOS’s expense! That chilled the zippy, zap-py, zealous photos of his earliest gubernatorial days!
But then, came COVID-19, and BOS came onto his own — dramatically for the better, unlike GSM’s, whose story changed for the worse.
Before then, however, Lagos was becoming progressively cleaner, but hardly anyone noticed. No, not as clean as at the apex of the Babatunde Fashola sanitation reforms; but far cleaner than at the Ambode collapse.
In truth, BOS would have to ruthlessly deal with that era’s lingering decadence — Lagos denizens turning high road medians into refuse dumps; and waste-clearing trucks forced to work by this absurd “new normal”.
Until the governor clamps down on those involved, Lagos might not achieve the relative cleanliness of the Fashola days. On that, BOS can use Neighbourhood Watch/Amotekun secret cells to nab and make big scapegoats, of these environmental criminals.
Still, the real deal was dealing with COVID-19! It earned BOS soaring respect.
Yes, Lagos remains the national epicentre. As at May 30, Lagos lugs 4, 755, out of the national COVID-19 burden of 9, 855 (48 per cent).
Prof. Akinlola Abayomi, the Lagos Health commissioner and “field commander” of the fierce Lagos anti-Coronavirus campaign, says that might be because Lagos had done more tests than any other state, including the FCT, and its federal might.
Yet, there is hardly any panic, matching the local scale of the pandemic — or any visible panic at all.
On the contrary, thanks to BOS (“Incident Commander”, in Lagos COVID-19 lingo) and his able cabinet’s deft response to the virus, many Lagosians thumb their nose at the pandemic, with their seeming near-contempt for COVID-19 safety protocols, in their daily hustle.
As Fashola did with Ebola in 2014, a sure-footed BOS is leading Nigeria’s gubernatorial challenge against COVID-19, in concert with the corresponding federal agencies.
The real good news, however, is systemic: Lagos has, from 1999, continued to hone its civil service and political bureaucracies, for quality service delivery, in good and bad seasons.
No, Lagos is no utopia — far from it. There are still a whole lot to be done. But with Ebola and COVID-19 handling, it is moving in directions not a few would wish the Federal Government had moved, since 1999. Had that been, Nigeria could have been far better prepared for this COVID-19 blitz. But it could have been worse!
Still, there is life after COVID-19, which suggests other areas BOS should face, as he goes full blast into his second year.
The Okada-Keke Marwa (indeed, general yellow buses) menace isn’t done and dusted. Fredrick Oladehinde, the Lagos Transport commissioner, has revealed the roadmap to shutting, for good, Okada and Keke Marwa from Lagos roads.
That is welcome — and should be vigorously pursued. Too many Okada and Keke Marwa rascals still ply major highways, even belting against the traffic.
The strategic solution, however, would be to take the market away. That would be by rail, which can, at a burst, move thousands, particularly at the busy opening and closing business hours.
With rail sweeping away the commuter market, no one would tell these ultra-micro shuttle players the market had closed.
Which is why BOS should ensure the 2021 completion and operation deadline, of the Lagos rail Blue Line. Then, quick work should follow on the proposed Red Line and others, aside from the Mile 2-Badagry end of the Blue Line, all by PPP funding.
Talking of deadlines, BOS should also complete the Epe-Odo Ajogun road project, halted at Mojoda, though Odo-Ajogun, border town with Ogun State, is only the next town, in concert with the laudable philosophy of completing all Ambode-era projects.
Has COVID-19 made BOS and sunk GSM? No. For both, one year is gone, out of four. So, it’s time to rally: either to consolidate winking success, or fob off looming failure.
BOS should be especially careful. At this stage of own tenure, Ambode was near-cruising, having fobbed off his initial challenges. But that didn’t stop his miserable crumble, no thanks to avoidable hubris.
BOS can’t afford such miserable encore — at least for the sake of his Lagos electors.

@The Nation