Lagos state governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday formally announced his decision to drop the title of “Your Excellency” with which governors all over the country were addressed, saying he should henceforth be addressed simply as “Mr Governor” as only God is the Most Excellent and no man can share His eternal qualities.
Sanwo-Olu made this known in a statement titled: “Announcing my decision to drop the title, “Your Excellency,” personally signed by him, copies of which was made by his office in Alausa, Ikeja, even as he promised to roll out an Executive Order, come Thursday to formally give official effect to the announcement in order to “ensure full compliance with this new policy”.
The governor said he came to this decision has been privileged to exercise, in the last five months, the mandate freely given to him by the great and hardworking people of Lagos state, and it came to his consciousness to review certain features of citizen-government relations which, he noted impeded the genuine expression of the democratic spirit of “our society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people.”
According to him, the office of the governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity, saying this “demi-god mystique” had spread over the entire machinery of the executive arm of the government in a way that it had symbolised an authoritarian disposition on the governed.
Governor Sanwo-Olu said based on the perception, it had equally deformed the orientation of elected and appointed persons who were paid from the taxes of the people to see themselves as oppressors who could do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people who elected or put them in office.
“Whatever might have been the reason for this myth, let us be honest, the office is occupied by a mortal who has been called upon to serve the electorate with humility and sincerity,” he said, arguing that the office of governor was a public trust that called for sacrifice, modesty and willingness to add value to the lives of the 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. It is the duty we are obliged to do. It is the responsibility that we bear wherever we find ourselves; whenever we are called to serve.
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“Only God, the Almighty, the Creator, the Protector is the Most Excellent. No man can share His eternal qualities.”
The governor, therefore, said pointedly that he should henceforth be addressed simply as ‘Mr Governor’ without the prefix, ‘His Excellency’, saying doing so with the simple title would constantly remind him that he had been chosen out of so many fellow compatriots to lead a collective salvage of “our political economy”.
Besides, he argued that it was a salutation that sanitises the paraphernalia of office and reminds one of “all of our imperfections and mortality”.
Text of the statement reads:
“In the last five months that I have been privileged to exercise the mandate freely given to me by the great and hardworking 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.
“The office of the Governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity. This demi-god mystique spreads over the entire machinery of the executive arm of the government, symbolising an authoritarian disposition on the governed. It has deformed the orientation of elected and appointed persons who are paid from the taxes of the people to see themselves as oppressors who can do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people.
“Whatever might have been the reason for this myth, let us be honest, the office is occupied by a mortal who has been called upon to serve the electorate with humility and sincerity. The office of the Governor is a public trust that calls for sacrifice, modesty and willingness to add value to the lives of the 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. It is the duty we are obliged to do. It is the responsibility that we bear wherever we find ourselves; whenever we are called to serve.
“Only God, the Almighty, the Creator, the Protector is the Most Excellent. No man can share His eternal qualities.
“Thenceforth, I wish to be addressed simply as Mr Governor, a title that will constantly remind me that I have been chosen out of so many fellow compatriots to lead a collective salvage of our political economy. A salutation that sanitises the paraphernalia of office and reminds us of all of our imperfections and mortality. To give official effect to this announcement, I shall issue tomorrow an executive order that will formally ensure full compliance with this new policy.”