Will Lagos ever have a civilian Christian governor again?
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Posted by Felix Okoli on Thursday December 5, 2013 at 15:37:52:
Since the creation of Lagos state, the state has never had a Christian governor who was civilian other than in 1992 when Sir Michael Otedola was elected on the platform of the National Republican Congress(NRC). The unfortunate thing for the only civilian Christian governor Lagos has ever had was that his tenure was cut short just after 1 year in office by a Muslim General took office as head of state and replaced him with a military administrator. The removal of the only civilian Christian governor of Lagos state then was done by General Sani Abacha when he became the commander in chief of the Armed Forces and hence head of the Nigerian state.When we take a look at the history of the civilian governors of Lagos state, one would see from the available facts that Lagos state, a state in the South Western region and former Federal Capital of Nigeria, has actually had more Muslim governors than Christian governors.One would even thing that Lagos state was actually more of a Muslim than a Christian state even though there are no statistics to justify that thought.So, when it comes to Lagos state politics, the Muslims have always had an advantage when it comes to top political post/s.It would seem too easy to consider Lagos state a Muslim dominated state given that most of her leaders and governors had been Muslims and so Christians are beginning to get worried that they may get more oppressed as they keep on getting sidelined from power.The first governor of Lagos state was a military administrator and this was during the time when Military rule was in fashion in many African countries such as Nigeria. Since that first governor, Lagos had 3 more military governors who were mostly Muslim and appointed by the military head of state who was also mostly a Muslim.Since the creation of Lagos state, there had been up to 4 civilian governors and out of that number, only one of them was had been a Christian. This somehow goes to prove that when it comes to politics, the Muslims have had more control of political power than the Christians.Given that Lagos state has a high number of churches and hence Christians, why then does it seem like Muslims are way ahead in the majority? Well there seem to be 2 schools of though on that issue.One school of thought believes that the military head of states contributed to it since they gave more political power and preference to Muslims than Christians when it has to do with politics. Due to the advantage Muslim politicians received from the military, it helped them grow politically and financially and this has carried on for many years.The second school of though believes that Muslim leaders had had more advantage in Lagos state due to the fact that Christians are not really interested in politics. Some Christians believe that politics is a dirty and dangerous game and so would prefer avoiding playing dirty or risking their lives. There are many Christians who have a solid financial and education base that can do well in politics but would prefer to stay out of the picture just because they are not that interested in political power.However, more Christians are beginning to see the importance of controlling political power since it could also affect their businesses and way of life. In fact, more Christian pastors have been inspired to preach to their followers of the importance of engaging in politics.Many Christians believe that Lagos would have had its second civilian Christian governor if Engineer Funsho Williams had not been killed during the peak of his political career in July 27, 2006. He died as politics was heating up and as he was working to get nominated as the PDP flag bearer. Funsho Williams had all the basic requirements to become governor and has had an extensive career as a leader in manufacturing companies. After the death of Funsho Williams, the only other major candidates were Muslims and so the race became a win-win for Muslim candidates in the April 2007 elections. Would Funsho Williams had been a better candidate than Musiliu Obanikoro? Well it would have at least divided the votes between 2 religious sides.It has been over 14 years of unbroken civilian rule. Will Lagos ever have a Christian governor again now that democracy is getting strengthened? The Christians may have to do something extra to take over office from an incumbent Muslim government which is already winning the hearts of the people.
Comments:
Since the creation of Lagos state, the state has never had a Christian governor who was civilian other than in 1992 when Sir Michael Otedola was elected on the platform of the National Republican Congress(NRC). The unfortunate thing for the only civilian Christian governor Lagos has ever had was that his tenure was cut short just after 1 year in office by a Muslim General took office as head of state and replaced him with a military administrator. The removal of the only civilian Christian governor of Lagos state then was done by General Sani Abacha when he became the commander in chief of the Armed Forces and hence head of the Nigerian state.When we take a look at the history of the civilian governors of Lagos state, one would see from the available facts that Lagos state, a state in the South Western region and former Federal Capital of Nigeria, has actually had more Muslim governors than Christian governors.One would even thing that Lagos state was actually more of a Muslim than a Christian state even though there are no statistics to justify that thought.So, when it comes to Lagos state politics, the Muslims have always had an advantage when it comes to top political post/s.It would seem too easy to consider Lagos state a Muslim dominated state given that most of her leaders and governors had been Muslims and so Christians are beginning to get worried that they may get more oppressed as they keep on getting sidelined from power.The first governor of Lagos state was a military administrator and this was during the time when Military rule was in fashion in many African countries such as Nigeria. Since that first governor, Lagos had 3 more military governors who were mostly Muslim and appointed by the military head of state who was also mostly a Muslim.Since the creation of Lagos state, there had been up to 4 civilian governors and out of that number, only one of them was had been a Christian. This somehow goes to prove that when it comes to politics, the Muslims have had more control of political power than the Christians.Given that Lagos state has a high number of churches and hence Christians, why then does it seem like Muslims are way ahead in the majority? Well there seem to be 2 schools of though on that issue.One school of thought believes that the military head of states contributed to it since they gave more political power and preference to Muslims than Christians when it has to do with politics. Due to the advantage Muslim politicians received from the military, it helped them grow politically and financially and this has carried on for many years.The second school of though believes that Muslim leaders had had more advantage in Lagos state due to the fact that Christians are not really interested in politics. Some Christians believe that politics is a dirty and dangerous game and so would prefer avoiding playing dirty or risking their lives. There are many Christians who have a solid financial and education base that can do well in politics but would prefer to stay out of the picture just because they are not that interested in political power.However, more Christians are beginning to see the importance of controlling political power since it could also affect their businesses and way of life. In fact, more Christian pastors have been inspired to preach to their followers of the importance of engaging in politics.Many Christians believe that Lagos would have had its second civilian Christian governor if Engineer Funsho Williams had not been killed during the peak of his political career in July 27, 2006. He died as politics was heating up and as he was working to get nominated as the PDP flag bearer. Funsho Williams had all the basic requirements to become governor and has had an extensive career as a leader in manufacturing companies. After the death of Funsho Williams, the only other major candidates were Muslims and so the race became a win-win for Muslim candidates in the April 2007 elections. Would Funsho Williams had been a better candidate than Musiliu Obanikoro? Well it would have at least divided the votes between 2 religious sides.It has been over 14 years of unbroken civilian rule. Will Lagos ever have a Christian governor again now that democracy is getting strengthened? The Christians may have to do something extra to take over office from an incumbent Muslim government which is already winning the hearts of the people.
Comments: