Kudos To Little Emmanuel Ambode -By Festus Adedayo

For believers in a proper mix of culture, language as vehicle for development, a deep sigh of relief must have come out of them last Thursday. Son of Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos State, Emmanuel, was pictured in a traditional prostrate for visiting President Muhammadu Buhari. He made us proud as Yoruba in a world where kids of his age thrust their hands forward to handshake their fathers’ age mates. You could see the raptness in the attention of the president who probably had lost links with such traditional greeting of the elderly, native only to the Yoruba. You will recall that Lagos had, before now, set the pace in the belief in the connect between this mix of culture and development, having, a couple of years back, legislated the teaching of Yoruba in all its schools. Even Oyo, where undiluted variant of Yoruba is spoken, is absent in this initiative.

Buhari had come to commission three world-class projects in Lagos. They are, the Murtala Muhammed Airport road, the Oshodi Transport Interchange and the 820 high and medium capacity buses for public transportation. He gave kudos to Ambode for a job well done. “Your governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has performed satisfactorily and we should all commend him for his contribution to the growth and development of Lagos State,” he had said.

So many other commentators have commended Ambode for significantly repositioning Lagos in four years. The questions that become germane from this flowing river of kudos for Ambode is, why then does a society throw its hot glaze by the wayside and electing to pick a fresh, mirthless charcoal from its antic? Anyway, this is Ambode’s sure attempt to immortalize himself in Lagos among the pantheon of imperishable leaders like Mobolaji Johnson and Lateef Jakande. By the way, was it that cameras’ lens didn’t pick Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presence at the commissioning or he was playing his own home game against President Buhari by being absent at the event? You will recall that Buhari was absent at a colloquium put together by the party leader specifically for the president’s attendance in Abuja during his birthday. Is the cookie crumbling so soon?    

Printer’s Devil

In my last week instalment entitled ,  Ajimobi and story of last-minute heists in Oyo Government House, the devil sneaked in and the dates therein were mixed up, resulting in my citing March dates as May. I apologise from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.