As Sanwo-Olu drops ‘His Excellency’

LAST week, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stunned not a few   persons when he dropped the prefix, ‘His Excellency.’ The action came 11 days after he declared at an event that the title made him uncomfortable and promised to jettison it. Speaking at the King’s Court Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos, on Sunday, October 27, the governor had said: “I don’t want a title in front of my name. I am actually going to come up with an executive order. This Excellency thing, I think it is when you have finished and if you earn it, then you should be called Excellency. If you haven’t earned it, if you haven’t delivered, there is nothing excellent in the Excellency. You are just Mr. Governor for crying out loud and it is only when you have finished the kingdom assignment, when you have finished God’s work in the chosen place that you have been called to do, that people can say, in truth, that you are a good representative and you deserve to be called excellency.”

In the statement formally announcing his decision, Sanwo-Olu, now to be addressed as Mr. Governor, said: “In the last five months that I have been privileged to exercise the mandate freely given to me by the great and hard-working people of Lagos State, it has come to my consciousness to review certain features of citizen-government relations which impede the genuine expression of the democratic spirit of our society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people. Fellow Lagosians, I have come to the conclusion that for us to change the narrative of governance, we have to strike down this seeming symbol of executive arrogance that commands popular obeisance and undermines the democratic role of citizens as the masters of those they have elected and appointed to serve. It is a conviction that I believe will send the right signals to all politicians and civil servants that service to the people has brought us here.”

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Truth be told, the Lagos governor’s decision is the right one. Perhaps as a result of cultural practices dating back to pre-colonial times, the vestiges of military rule and the continuing arrogance and hollowness of the political class, the country’s political landscape is suffused with despots masquerading as democrats. Regardless of their preachments, elected politicians carry on as lords over the people, treating them with a veneer of respect and consideration only during campaign seasons. Thus, even if in the positive symbolism that it conveys, Mr. Sanwo-Olu’s decision to drop the honorific, “His Excellency’’, is worthy of applause.

This step is, of course, not novel. As governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko insisted on being addressed simply as Mr. Governor, pointing out that he did not expect any form of worship from the people on whose behalf he occupied Government House. His successor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, has also cast off the Excellency title, preferring to be addressed simply as Arakunrin (Mr). In Niger State during his tenure as governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu referred to himself as Chief Servant. What these examples show is that  the political class in the country has not been in want of a few individuals for whom the title, “His Excellency/Your Excellency”was simply an aberration, and rightly so. We welcome the symbolism: governors need to be told that they are not overlords. As a matter of fact, only people of low esteem prefer the Excellency title. Sadly, such people are clearly in the majority, and it is no surprise that governance at all levels in the country has continued to suffer from the tyranny of moral and intellectual dwarfs.

A caveat must be sounded, however. It is one thing to drop an unnecessary title, and it is quite another to conduct oneself in ways that show a deep appreciation of the significance of such a step. After all, a tyrant and misfit may refer to himself as “Your Houseboy,” toying with the people’s emotions. In other words, regardless of the title by which they are addressed, politicians in the country need to demonstrate humility and respect for the people at all times. They need to descend from the Olympian heights of ignorance which they currently inhabit, perpetually disconnected from the agonies and pains of the vast majority of the populace. Admittedly, though, placing this expectation in the context of the warped leadership recruitment process currently operative in the country is bound to present a dilemma.

Nigerian Tribune