I happened on this video yesterday (though it’s over a week old or so) and have watched it innumerable times with a smile-wide grin.
The two minutes-long video is that of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and budding Deejay Kulet, who became a social media sensation about two years ago with her deft mix of classic and contemporary Fuji sounds.
The venue was the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, where thousands of women had congregated after staging a rally for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress, APC, presidential candidate, and Governor Sanwo-Olu.
As Sanwo-Olu beelined for the microphone, he sighted and name-checked the DJ to her consternation and everybody around’s.
With eyes almost popping out of their sockets and arms wide open, she asked, ‘So, you know my name? The governor responded in the affirmative and hugged her as she genuflected.
Even from afar, you could tell that he meant the hug; and that it was not borne out of any official concordat or political affectation. That scene may not mean much to an average onlooker, but it must mean the world to DJ Kulet. That open recognition would remain with her indelibly.
That is why I feel that there are things about Governor Sanwo-Olu that draw you to him, suck you in, yet, make you feel comfy in his presence and earn your trust and friendship. It is his affability; that effortless disposition to make the prosperous and proletariat; the artist and the artisan; and the protester and the protestant, feel good and at par with him.
Despite the meter-is-running nature and demands of his job, the governor always shares nanoseconds of genuine affection with many he comes across. Also, he has a way of buttonholing and making the guest of the moment feel like the most fascinating human specimen imaginable.
Indeed, Governor Sanwo-Olu has evolved from that tentative politician of early 2019 to a political phenom, establishing himself as a cogent and less complex leader, earnestly and enthusiastically addressing urgent state priorities.
Just as he knows how to capture the zeitgeist of the times (remember his viral ‘Buga’ dance among others), he has also mastered the art of being in tune, in touch, and on top of the demands of Lagos as a mega city and the desires of an average Lagosian. Substantive evidence of this abounds all over Lagos, but the people want more, understandably.
The governor says his work is not done and that he is on a mission to enthrone and entrench a Greater Lagos, especially if given a second term in office.
Like the DJ Kulet scenario, the sincerity and believability that undergird Sanwo-Olu’s actions and assertions are the qualities that Lagosians should hold sacred as 2023 beckons beyond promises of utopia by opposition parties.