A pro-Lagos right group, Epe Youth Forum (EYF), has criticised a cleric, Pastor Pastor Sam Ogedengbe, who said the next Lagos State Governor must be a Muslim, describing the statement as too early, unnecessary, diversionary and out of place for now.
Convener of the Forum, Comrade Adewale Oladipupo in a statement in Epe on Monday, 29 March, 2021 wondered why the man of God has decided to cross the bridge before reaching it, reminding that, any electioneering before the time stipulated by the Electoral ACT would amunt to jumping the gun.
Though the Forum gave to the cleric that he is entitled to his own opinion under democratic setting, it frowned at the time of the expression which was termed as premature and disturbing, insisting that, the people of the state and the political parties would decide the next line of action at the fullness of time.
According to the statement, what is expected to be on the front burner in the state now is how to assist and support the state governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu to concentrate on the good job he has been doing that has making his people happy, stating that, any attempt to distract him and derail his good work would not be welcome at this point in time.
The Forum pointed out that, in less than two years in office, Sanwo-Olu has further sanitised all the sectors in the state like Education, Security, Transportation, economy, health and maritime, saying, the number of busses on the road, the good road network, ferries on the state water ways and security apparatus on ground are so heart-warming that discussing 2023 which is far away would sound as cacophonic!
The Forum further reminded the Pastor that, Sanwo-Olu’s efforts at ridding the state of the deadly pandemic as well as his efforts at rebuilding the destruction visited on Lagos by the ill-fated #EndSARS protest should have put any discussionabout 2023 out of the way and give way to thinking about how to support the governor to succeed in the rebuilding of the state.
The Forum was reacting to a remark credited to one Pastor Sam Ogedengbe, the National President of the All Christian Leaders and Ministers Forum, who said that, “a Muslim should emerge as the Lagos State governor in 2023 to succeed Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu.”
Pastor Ogedengbe, spoke at the weekend at Abule-Egba, Lagos during his group’s annual convention, thanksgiving and graduation, when he made the remarks that, without doubt, he was sure the next governor would be a Muslim disclosing that, he was one of those who clamoured for a Christian governor after the end of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s tenure, which produced ex-Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
He insisted that, “without being economical with the truth,” he and other Christian ministers and leaders would not be ingrates, but would take the necessary line of action by supporting a Muslim governor.
But the statement reminded him that, politics is dynamic and not static lecturing the cleric that both Tinubu and Fashola spent four terms of 16 years and not eight years, warning that, “Our organization will vehemently resist any attempt by any individual or group of individuals to distract the present administration under the able leadership of Sanwo-Olu from the god work he and his team are doing.
“All idle minds should get themselves busy with some other productive ventures without disrupting the free flow of performance from the stable of Sanwo-Olu and his best eleven. The pre-occupation of the good people of Lagos now is more dividends of democracy on daily basis. Lagos are more exposed and more enlightened than stooping so low to the level of engaging in unproductive and retrogressive discussions that would do nobody any good,” the Forum submitted.
The statement therefore urged all the right thinking people of the state to toe the sensible line of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s Special Adviser on Christian Religion, Rev. Bukola Akindele, who advised that all hands should be on deck to further support the current administration in rebuilding the state, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and #EndSARS protest, reminding the needless havoc the exercise wrecked on the state that called for rebuilding.
Rev, Bukola Akindele represented Sanwo-Olu at the event where Pastor Ogedengbe was canvassing for 2023 election in 2021.