By Mixed reactions have been flying around over the mild face-off that ensued between the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) during his visit to Magodo Estate on Tuesday.
Wading into the argument amid differing views that trailed the ‘disrespectful’ encounter captured in a now-viral video, the Chief Press Secretary to the Lagos State governor, Gboyega Akosile has defended his principal, describing reports that Sanwo-Olu is weak as “laughable”.
The governor’s aide made this known in an article titled ‘Magodo fiasco, Governor Sanwo-Olu and genuine Leadership’, published on Thursday.
Akosile berated opinion writers who compared the Lagos governor to his Rivers counterpart, Nyesom Wike, asking if the latter would have handled the matter differently knowing fully that all security apparatus is controlled by the Federal Government and their officers are not answerable to State Governments.
“For emphasis, Governor Sanwo-Olu is not weak. He is a democrat, a gentleman, who will follow the due process in every situation and what happened between him and the CSP at Magodo should be a good reason why well-meaning Nigerians need to increase the tempo the call for true federalism, where all the Federating units will have their security arrangements and would not need the Federal Police to carry out a lot of duties in their domains,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Southwest Governors Forum, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo State, has condemned the “disgraceful” event, and described the video as “disconcerting”.
