The Lagos State Governor, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu November 6, 2019 announced his desire to sign an Executive Order changing the salutation of Lagos State Governor from “His Excellency” to “simply… Mr. Governor”. As Mr. Sanwo-Olu argued, being addressed as “His Excellency” poorly reflects the fact that a governor is elected and a disservice to “citizen-government relations”, impedes “genuine expression of the democratic spirit of our society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people”.

Anyone who is familiar with post-military democratic dispensation in Nigeria will agree with me that this is not a new thing. Although he did not totally dispense with the title, ‘His Excellency’, former Governor of Osun State, His Excellency Rauf Aregebesola was addressed as ‘Ogbeni’ (a Yoruba equivalent of Mr.), throughout his 8-year rule in Osun State. In addition, Osun State was referred to as “the State of Osun” under Aregbesola.

Unlike Aregebesola, Mr. Sanwo-Olu argued that “the office of the Governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity. To him, this celebration and elevation promotes a “demi-god mystique” that “spreads over the entire machinery of the executive arm of the government”.

Any careful analysis of these claims shows a number of problems. On the one hand, it appears that Mr. Sanwo-Olu failed to understand the difference between the ‘Office of the Governor’ and ‘the person holding the office’–the Governor. The ‘Office of the Governor’, which is not the physical building (at Alausa), is an institution, the ideals and powers associated with the institution. It also includes the motivation or animus, to borrow from Carl Jung, that is driving the state itself. The ‘Governor’, which describes whoever occupies the position and whose mandates include satisfying the requirements and ethos of the office, is different from the office. In other words, while the Office of the Governor is abstract, the Governor is a person, a mortal human being.

The values of being a paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity are important to the survival of any institution, Lagos State included. These values ensure that office holders, including Mr. Sanwo-Olu, use resources of the state, including state powers, to promote the greater good of the entire society, as against partisan politics or parochial interests. To put it in another way, values such as being a ‘paragon of excellence’, ‘a temple of perfection’ and ‘a throne of purity’ as listed by Mr. Sanwo-Olu with respect to Lagos State are necessary in preventing Mr. Sanwo-Olu or any governor of Lagos State from using the powers, laws, resources, goodwill, etc. of Lagos State to profit himself, his cronies, party members, family members, etc. These values set him, the Governor, as the First Citizen of Lagos State whose decisions and acts, conducts and utterances, from of assumption of office to his last day in office, must serve all Lagosians and not himself and his cronies, party members and loved ones. These ideals are not peculiar to Lagos State or Nigeria alone, it is the very thing that is threatening Mr. Donald J. Trump’s continued existence as President of the United States of America.

Contrary to Mr. Sanwo-Olu’s claims, these values promote better “citizen-government relations” and ensure the “genuine expression of the democratic spirit of our society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people”. We know very well that standing between the promotion of a better citizen-government relations however are the parochial interests of governors. It is the acts of officeholders and not the values of the state that inhibit better “citizen-government relations”.

There is a clear distinction between the Office of the Governor, a set of abstract ideals, and the Governor, a human being occupying the office. While the Office embodies the ethos of the state, Mr. Sanwo-Olu, as a Governor, is expected to aspire to the values of being a paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity. If Mr. Sanwo-Olu is against any or all of these ideals, he could as well resign his position. Expecting “excellence”, “perfection” and “purity” from an Office is not peculiar to the Office of the Governor of Lagos State. It is similar to the blindfolded Lady Justice – an allegorical personification of the moral force behind a judicial system. Like the blindfold, judicial system must be impartial; hence the balance and the sword.

Are people wrong for demanding the highest standards of conducts from the Office of the Governor? By design, every public office is expected to be an epitome of the highest standard. As citizens, we expect no less from whoever holds the office. If the bar is not raised for the First Citizen of the State, the State – the Commonwealth – is ruined. The occupier of Office of the Governor, although a mortal human, like Lady Justice wearing a blindfold, must dispense state powers and resources without favoritism, partiality, biases, etc.

From 1960 till date, Nigerians have watched helplessly as officeholders – from politicians and military men and women to civil or public servants – used state powers and resources for personal gains. We have also witnessed different iterations of state-capture and tendencies toward authoritarianism. Notwithstanding these, our dispositions on the substance of governance remain firm. So, Mr. Sanwo-Olu is wrong to assume that the governed– Lagosians– have lost sight of the substance of governance. Mr. Sanwo-Olu was right on the fact that many politicians have ‘deformed… orientation’ of why they were ‘elected’ and the same is also true for many ‘appointed persons who are paid from the taxes of the people’. From Alausa to Ayinke House, we see every day how public servants turn and parade ‘themselves as oppressors who can do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people.’

From ‘Ogbeni’ of Osun State to ‘Mr. Governor’ of Lagos State and ‘Arakunrin’ of Ondo, we have watched men and women elected/appointed to serve the governed weave a ‘myth’ of feigned humility. Neither Chief Obafemi Awolowo nor Chief Bola Ige hid under a veneer of humility to win the governed – they bent their backs. Neither Alhaji Lateef Jakande nor Chief Adekunle Ajasin invented empty slogans as bandages to fix our societal problems – they worked their fingers to the bones. Like the current crops of charlatans in our different government houses, these past officeholders were also mere mortals who offered themselves to serve the electorate with humility and sincerity. No Nigerian will agree less with Mr. Sanwo-Olu that the Office of Governor is ‘a public trust’ that has its intrinsic values – the values of being a paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity for all. These values call, as Mr. Sanwo-Olu rightly noted, ‘for sacrifice, modesty and willingness to add value to the lives of the people.’

It is however shocking and sad that Mr. Sanwo-Olu openly admitted to Fellow Lagosians that he has come to the conclusion that ‘to change the narrative of governance’ he has to strike down the very values that made the Office of the Governor the symbol of Executive Power in Lagos State. There is no telling that this is a bold and unsavory admission of personal arrogance that ‘undermines … democratic role of citizens as the masters of those they have elected and appointed to serve.’

Lagos State, although one of the states in the Nigerian Federation, is the economic and political heartbeat of Nigeria. If a Governor is convinced of his own incompetence and boldly admitted to it, he or she should either be removed or denied re-election in the next election cycle. We need governors who respect the ethos and values associated with their offices, men and women fittest for the trust. We need men and women who will aspire to the preeminence associated with the Office of the Governor, not clowns and rabble-rousers.

Prior to his election as Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Sanwo-Olu needed no constant reminder of his human and fallible nature. He was working for his personal interests. Now, he works for us, Nigerians. We will not water-down the Office of the Governor just because His Excellency realized that he is not morally equipped to satisfy the demands of the Office. If the Lagos State House of Assembly sees nothing wrong in what Mr Sanwo-olu has done by pulling down the very ethos that stand as pillars holding up the Office of Governor in the state, Lagosians and Nigerians in general need to ‘send the right signals to all politicians and civil servants’ – including Mr. Sanwo-Olu ‘that service to the people’ is what office-holding is all about. There is a need to inform Mr. Sanwo-Olu and his fellow politicians in different parts of Nigeria that God, the Almighty, the Creator, will not construct roads and clear garbage, provide electricity and deliver health care, etc. Lagosians and Nigerians may be overtly religious people, they however will not accept a God-is-the-Protector argument, we want the State to protect us, provide better infrastructure, etc. This is not a Theocracy where ‘eternal qualities’ could be raised as a topic; this is a Democracy where we Excel and Exalt the Office of the Governor.