By Tunde Odesola
It is not the red piece of cloth waved by the matador in
a bullfight that enrages the bull. Bulls are colourblind. The red
piece of cloth is to mask the blood of the gored bull.
Sheer animalistic instinct propels the bull to charge at one of
the three matadors, who rides a horse, taunting the brawny beast.
Bullfighting is common to Spain, Portugal, France and some Latin
America countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and
Peru. Basically, bullfighting is in three parts: The entry, the
planting of the banderillas, and the killing of the bull. The entry
sees the bull being released into the bullring with one of the
matadors approaching it. The planting of the banderillas is the
thrusting of wooden spikes into the bull’s neck muscle to weaken
it, and the third and final part is putting the bull to the sword.
After the bull is felled, harnessed horses come in and pull out the
unfortunate animal, which would be cut up and sold in the local
market. The head of the matadors that kill all six bulls could be
awarded one or the two ears of the bull. And if the spectators feel
he did the job with panache, they would root for him to be given
the tail of the bull. If the head matador is injured and leaves the
bullring to receive treatment, the remaining two matadors must kill
the bull. But if by fate and grit, the bull survives the fight,
which is a very rare occurrence, it would be granted a pardon
called ‘indulto’ in Spanish and returned to its home ranch to
become a stud for the rest of its life.
A few days ago, the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode,
and Lagosians were locked in a bullfight over the state’s
an-arm-and-a-leg Land Use Charge. The matador and the bull were in
the bullring – sizing, guesstimating, eyeballing and assessing each
other. Who will blink first? The matador did; he backtracked,
dropped his sword headlong into the sandy arena. He also dropped
the red cloth and sauntered out of the ring with a grim, sad frown
etched on his brow. But the bull will not be fooled. It continues
to watch intently, muscles taut, head lowered, body angled back
like a catapult ready to fly. Lagos is on the cross.
The contempt unfolding in Lagos today couldn’t happen over 2,000
years ago in the whole of Rome and Judea when Jesus Christ was
dragged before Pontius Pilate. The priests and the elders of the
time couldn’t unilaterally pronounce Jesus guilty; they had to take
him through the law of the land. And Pontius Pilate, who
represented the law, openly asked the traducers who they would love
to be released between Jesus, the Messiah and Barabbas, the
notorious criminal. The people shouted, ‘Jesus!’ Pilate tried all
he could to deliver Jesus Christ from the priests and the elders
because he knew they wanted to kill him out of envy. Pilate
stalled. The shouts of ‘Crucify him!’ became intense even as Pilate
inquired what Jesus’ offence was. Absolving himself of Jesus’
impending crucifixion, Pilate washed his hands off the case and
released Jesus to them. In a mutual respect move, one would have
expected the Lagos State Government to make wide consultations with
all the various segments of the Lagos economy before arriving at
the controversial Land Use Charge which saw rates increase by 400
per cent. Did the Lagos Sate House of Assembly meet with all
segments of the economy? If it did, did the opinions of the
segments reflect in the 400 per cent increase? How Ambode, a
chartered accountant, assented to the record-breaking increase in
an economy that just moved from recession to depression was an
ultimate betrayal of voters’ trust. Chinese philosopher, Confucius,
never lived in Lagos but in an enduring epigram, he says: “To see
and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of
wickedness.”
I had thought the governor was a different breed until this
shocking action that revealed his underbelly and disrespect for
Lagosians. To think that the state-in-council sat and approved the
increase showed that the political hegemony bequeathed by Governor
Emeritus, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Lagos State, is low on
benevolence and high on malevolence. To think that Ambode expects
Lagosians to applaud the reduction of the rate shows the hypocrisy
in the prebendal politics of ‘Baba so pe’ (Baba says), which is
always quick to describe the opposition Peoples Democratic Party as
wicked and greedy. Really, I don’t think there’s any difference
between the nest-of-killers’ politics and the politics of a
godhead, who determines who get into posts within vicious transport
unions, local government councils, state executives and
legislatures, federal parliaments, federal cabinet, churches,
mosques, banks and palm wine drinkers’ club. Ambode and his cabinet
must have thought that Lagosians remained the puppets which
subsequent administrations controlled on the strings of deceit and
coercion; bringing the word of promise to their ears and breaking
it to their hope. Methinks announcing a price increase and reducing
the same to gain cheap political popularity had faded out of
governmental fad. If any state was to return to that vomit, it
shouldn’t be our Almighty Lagos.
Not a few Lagosians saw through the politics of the rate
reduction. Many are still shocked as to why the government decided
to trifle with its immense goodwill earned on the platter of
non-lousy service delivery. They contend that if the governor
wasn’t playing politics and taking the masses for granted, he
shouldn’t have, in the first instance, assented to the unholy
increment. They’re also quick to note that the governor shouldn’t
have embarked on a superfluous reduction after all the hues and
cries, but should have returned the law to the assembly for a
proper amendment – when the spirit of the disturbing law still
lives. Some of the questions on the lips of Lagosians are: How
would the government check landlords who are sure to increase rents
astronomically? Is the new law not unfair to property owners whose
buildings or lands aren’t in use? Did the representatives of the
masses in the Lagos State House of Assembly truly enact a law that
stipulates 100 per cent increase in charge if payment was not made
between 75 and 105 days? Does the increase reflect the economic
realities of the citizenry? Defending the law, Lagos State
Commissioner for Finance, Akinyemi Ashade, said property of N10m
and below constituted 75 per cent of property owners in the state,
who were expected to pay N5, 000 per annum as land use charge. But
the commissioner failed to state how much the owners of property
above N10m were expected to pay.
The calibre of people Ambode is building his new Lagos for is
probably encrypted in the revelation by the senator representing
Kaduna-Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, that each of the
nation’s 109 senators monthly receives a running cost of N13.1m and
a consolidated salary of N750, 000, in addition to N200m for
constituency projects. The labourer, teacher, civil servant,
commercial motorcyclist, unemployed, petty trader, struggler appear
to have no place in the future Lagos. Aside from senators and
privileged members of the political class, other Nigerians whose
citizenships are guaranteed in the new Lagos, on account of their
earnings, include big-time kidnappers, big-time assassins such as
Ade Lawyer, transport union kingpins, herdsmen, sweepstake winners,
armed robbers, ‘pen robbers’, security chiefs, corrupt judges,
big-time prostitutes, rich clerics, successful sycophants, shylock
businessmen, smart blackmailers, foreign-based footballers,
expatriates, etc.
By Tunde Odesola
It is not the red piece of cloth waved by the matador in
a bullfight that enrages the bull. Bulls are colourblind. The red
piece of cloth is to mask the blood of the gored bull.
Sheer animalistic instinct propels the bull to charge at one of
the three matadors, who rides a horse, taunting the brawny beast.
Bullfighting is common to Spain, Portugal, France and some Latin
America countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and
Peru. Basically, bullfighting is in three parts: The entry, the
planting of the banderillas, and the killing of the bull. The entry
sees the bull being released into the bullring with one of the
matadors approaching it. The planting of the banderillas is the
thrusting of wooden spikes into the bull’s neck muscle to weaken
it, and the third and final part is putting the bull to the sword.
After the bull is felled, harnessed horses come in and pull out the
unfortunate animal, which would be cut up and sold in the local
market. The head of the matadors that kill all six bulls could be
awarded one or the two ears of the bull. And if the spectators feel
he did the job with panache, they would root for him to be given
the tail of the bull. If the head matador is injured and leaves the
bullring to receive treatment, the remaining two matadors must kill
the bull. But if by fate and grit, the bull survives the fight,
which is a very rare occurrence, it would be granted a pardon
called ‘indulto’ in Spanish and returned to its home ranch to
become a stud for the rest of its life.
A few days ago, the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode,
and Lagosians were locked in a bullfight over the state’s
an-arm-and-a-leg Land Use Charge. The matador and the bull were in
the bullring – sizing, guesstimating, eyeballing and assessing each
other. Who will blink first? The matador did; he backtracked,
dropped his sword headlong into the sandy arena. He also dropped
the red cloth and sauntered out of the ring with a grim, sad frown
etched on his brow. But the bull will not be fooled. It continues
to watch intently, muscles taut, head lowered, body angled back
like a catapult ready to fly. Lagos is on the cross.
The contempt unfolding in Lagos today couldn’t happen over 2,000
years ago in the whole of Rome and Judea when Jesus Christ was
dragged before Pontius Pilate. The priests and the elders of the
time couldn’t unilaterally pronounce Jesus guilty; they had to take
him through the law of the land. And Pontius Pilate, who
represented the law, openly asked the traducers who they would love
to be released between Jesus, the Messiah and Barabbas, the
notorious criminal. The people shouted, ‘Jesus!’ Pilate tried all
he could to deliver Jesus Christ from the priests and the elders
because he knew they wanted to kill him out of envy. Pilate
stalled. The shouts of ‘Crucify him!’ became intense even as Pilate
inquired what Jesus’ offence was. Absolving himself of Jesus’
impending crucifixion, Pilate washed his hands off the case and
released Jesus to them. In a mutual respect move, one would have
expected the Lagos State Government to make wide consultations with
all the various segments of the Lagos economy before arriving at
the controversial Land Use Charge which saw rates increase by 400
per cent. Did the Lagos Sate House of Assembly meet with all
segments of the economy? If it did, did the opinions of the
segments reflect in the 400 per cent increase? How Ambode, a
chartered accountant, assented to the record-breaking increase in
an economy that just moved from recession to depression was an
ultimate betrayal of voters’ trust. Chinese philosopher, Confucius,
never lived in Lagos but in an enduring epigram, he says: “To see
and listen to the wicked is already the beginning of
wickedness.”
I had thought the governor was a different breed until this
shocking action that revealed his underbelly and disrespect for
Lagosians. To think that the state-in-council sat and approved the
increase showed that the political hegemony bequeathed by Governor
Emeritus, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in Lagos State, is low on
benevolence and high on malevolence. To think that Ambode expects
Lagosians to applaud the reduction of the rate shows the hypocrisy
in the prebendal politics of ‘Baba so pe’ (Baba says), which is
always quick to describe the opposition Peoples Democratic Party as
wicked and greedy. Really, I don’t think there’s any difference
between the nest-of-killers’ politics and the politics of a
godhead, who determines who get into posts within vicious transport
unions, local government councils, state executives and
legislatures, federal parliaments, federal cabinet, churches,
mosques, banks and palm wine drinkers’ club. Ambode and his cabinet
must have thought that Lagosians remained the puppets which
subsequent administrations controlled on the strings of deceit and
coercion; bringing the word of promise to their ears and breaking
it to their hope. Methinks announcing a price increase and reducing
the same to gain cheap political popularity had faded out of
governmental fad. If any state was to return to that vomit, it
shouldn’t be our Almighty Lagos.
Not a few Lagosians saw through the politics of the rate
reduction. Many are still shocked as to why the government decided
to trifle with its immense goodwill earned on the platter of
non-lousy service delivery. They contend that if the governor
wasn’t playing politics and taking the masses for granted, he
shouldn’t have, in the first instance, assented to the unholy
increment. They’re also quick to note that the governor shouldn’t
have embarked on a superfluous reduction after all the hues and
cries, but should have returned the law to the assembly for a
proper amendment – when the spirit of the disturbing law still
lives. Some of the questions on the lips of Lagosians are: How
would the government check landlords who are sure to increase rents
astronomically? Is the new law not unfair to property owners whose
buildings or lands aren’t in use? Did the representatives of the
masses in the Lagos State House of Assembly truly enact a law that
stipulates 100 per cent increase in charge if payment was not made
between 75 and 105 days? Does the increase reflect the economic
realities of the citizenry? Defending the law, Lagos State
Commissioner for Finance, Akinyemi Ashade, said property of N10m
and below constituted 75 per cent of property owners in the state,
who were expected to pay N5, 000 per annum as land use charge. But
the commissioner failed to state how much the owners of property
above N10m were expected to pay.
The calibre of people Ambode is building his new Lagos for is
probably encrypted in the revelation by the senator representing
Kaduna-Central senatorial district, Shehu Sani, that each of the
nation’s 109 senators monthly receives a running cost of N13.1m and
a consolidated salary of N750, 000, in addition to N200m for
constituency projects. The labourer, teacher, civil servant,
commercial motorcyclist, unemployed, petty trader, struggler appear
to have no place in the future Lagos. Aside from senators and
privileged members of the political class, other Nigerians whose
citizenships are guaranteed in the new Lagos, on account of their
earnings, include big-time kidnappers, big-time assassins such as
Ade Lawyer, transport union kingpins, herdsmen, sweepstake winners,
armed robbers, ‘pen robbers’, security chiefs, corrupt judges,
big-time prostitutes, rich clerics, successful sycophants, shylock
businessmen, smart blackmailers, foreign-based footballers,
expatriates, etc.
Read more https://nairalaw.com/if-youre-not-a-senator-leave-ambodes-lagos-now/