Enitan Olukotun and His Convoluted Poster Boy Story-story

Enitan Olukotun’s feeble attempt to whitewash the image of his Principal Mr. Babatunde Fashola appears to only compound his problem. If the former Lagos State Governor seeks forgiveness for his several misdeeds, he should come out frontally to plead for mercy instead of attempting to sneak in through the back door.

Enitan seeks to portray Fashola’s alleged snub at the recent Bola Tinubu colloquium as one snub too many and blames Vice-President Osibajo, Asiwaju Tinubu himself and Akinwunmi Ambode for his recent travails and diminishing reputation as a former poster boy for the All People’s Congress. The so- called article which was obviously concocted by a misguided and misinformed “palace scout” underscores the reasons why the janus nature of Enitan’s principal has unravelled in recent years.

Enitan chose to ignore the failures of his Principal at the federal level in handling his super portfolio but instead chose to allude to him as a star player who has been benched for a less skillful payer. A skillful player indeed who has been unable to score any significant goals in the there years of playing the federal match he has chosen to play in.

The fictional 100 day in office celebration mentioned in the “article” apparently never happened as the present Lagos Governor is known to use quarterly town hall meetings to give account of his stewardship. Furthermore, the same delusion appears to seize Enitan when he says his principal completed the LASEMA Emergency Centre in Cappa Oshodi. If he had bothered to check his facts he would have known that the location previously housed a moribund bus manufacturing joint venture for Marcopolo buses during his principal’s tenure.

The hatchet writer also alludes to the Fashola magic wand of governance and his failure to dismodge Asiwaju Tinubu when he had the chance to do so, as deserving of him being named a hero/messiah. The jury is still out on the so- called magic wand of governance especially with what is now known of the eight years of unbridled smoke and mirrors. The fact that his true story has not been told does not mean it does not exist. As for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, if Enitan revels in the fact that Fashola could have castrated and indeed almost castrated a man who blew away a crowded field of seasoned politicians for him – a political neophyte, then it is not surprising he is being snubbed and diminished today.

Enitan again delves into the mystery of self imposed amnesia when he attempts to make us forget that it was the same Fashola who sought to install Supo Shasore and Obafemi Hamzat as candidates of the APC but failed woefully. It was only then he reluctantly signed up to the Ambode project in a last-minute attempt to curry favor and return to a state of grace. His spirited campaigns were self serving and designed to only ensure that a rampaging PDP with their looted funds did not get a beach head in Lagos and unravel his 8 years.

Enitan further posits that Ambode is at the root of an insidious plot to diminish his principal by seeking to erase his legacies and give him land to build a housing estate. However, the misguided writer has forgotten that it was his Principal who was roundly honored like other governors during the Lagos at 50 celebrations but yet he still refused to be present at the State banquet where all former governors who had ever governed Lagos State and other state Governors were present, including Ayo Fayose of the PDP and his former opponent Jimi Agbaje. But it was this same Governor that story-teller Enitan seeks to demonise that received Fashola with pomp at his residence and visited him in his office to conclude the hand-over of the presidential lodge in Marina. That the word “KAI” with the throw-back to a military era is not relevant today should not be rocket science to even the likes of Enitan. A legacy of barracks -like low-income apartments on prime Ilubirin waterfront speaks volumes of the so- called vision and acumen of his principal, lionized by Olukotun in his hack piece of writing. In a city with the smallest land mass, space is usually in short supply and a State Government’s needs have preference over Federal needs; surely Enitan’s pay madters can understand this having exercised similar preferences during his own tenure.

Anyway, Enitan Olukotun or whatever his real name is must be reminded that just being loquacious does not automatically translate to performance. The ability to mesmerize is usually temporary and the true performance index of the 3–in-1 is ultimately unraveling itself. Enu o she (it’s not by mouth), as the Lagosians would say!

Bodunrin Awosanmi is a citizen journalist based in Lagos