That is how my brother Owoja called me that he was contesting the vacant senate seat.
The one Senator Pepe left behind after losing the fight against COVID-19. I was happy o but my joy was short-lived because I quickly did small research and saw that it was the same post the Polaris Bank MD just resigned for. Knowing the way Lagos politics is played, I just knew that Owoja didn’t stand a chance. For that Baba to resign from the bank and also learning that he was Commissioner of Finance in Lagos, then it is very clear that the establishment has spoken. So young reform-minded people like Owoja with the energy and verve to attempt structural change can only just wait until this baba receives the call from our lord almighty. But wait again, Owoja calls back that he is doing his photo shoot and that he was off to Abuja to collect the form, I come dey fear.
Is something about to change in APC? Are they going to move away from their traditional ‘selection’ process and engender true democracy where the former Polaris MD and the young entrepreneur and visionary Owoja will square off? That will be the day, when the people of Lagos will be allowed to listen to both parties, ask them desirable questions and format a performance and monitoring matrix that will keep the people they voted for beholden to them as against a tiny cabal.
I was truly dreaming, for Owoja called back the next day to say, he could not get the form. So, it is looking like once again, we would be saddled with a ‘selected’ candidate who will not owe us any answers and will be running with the master plan that has been written for him by those who have made him. People like Owoja will have to wait and continue to wait until only God knows. That is life in Lagos.
