Top Secrets Why Sanwo-Olu Should Be Re-Elected – Lagos Commissioner

The campaign train of Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, kicked off major activities as the 2023 general election drew near.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, spoke on why Governor Babaijde Sanwo-Olu deserves re-election in 2023.

EDITOR’S PICKS

• Anxiety As Report Reveals How Price Of Kerosene Increased By 9.90%

• Osinbajo To Youths: You Must Join The Army To Fight Corrupt Office Holders

• Lagos State Govt Joins TikTok For Campaign (See Details)

He disclosed this at the unveiling of campaigns for the 2023 elections.

Read Full Text Below:

At 12 midnight today, we deployed an array of our campaign assets, comprising digital banners, A-Frames, Static Billboards, Digital Billboards, Gantries, Branded BRT Buses, and Venticulars, in strategic locations in the State. At 4am, to underscore our place as the State of Aquatic Splendour, we embarked on a Laser Branding of the Lagos Lagoon along the 3rd Mainland Bridge – to the delight of many Lagosians who ply that route in the early hours of the morning.

Others have not been left out as the Laser Branding Campaign is being well amplified on the social media to reach millions of Lagosians in the nooks and crannies of the State. By 4:30am, one thousand young Lagosians took strategic locations in the State, cladded as Campaign Mascots to alert Lagosians that the official campaign of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat starts today.

They were also on the 3rd Mainland Bridge, Oshodi, Lekki, Ikorodu, Ojota and Abule Egba.  At 6:30am, hundreds of our citizens in the riverine communities also rolled out branded canoes in a special Sea Show to commemorate the start of the re-election campaign of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy. At 9am today, a multi-dimensional Road Show comprising Power Bikers, Activation Rigs and Mobile Advertising Vans also commenced from Ikeja through Ikorodu Road to Lagos Island.

As from 1pm, our campaign jingles will also hit the airwaves. By 7pm, our first set of TV campaigns will also be deployed. Get ready for an exciting campaign season like never seen before! A government that has delivered on its promises, we have many reasons to campaign boldly. With all sense of humility, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has sent us here to say, “I am running on records. Get ready for more!”.

The context

You would recall that the journey of Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration has been a storied journey of the triumph of the human spirit over challenges. Just a month after his assumption of office, the state witnessed torrential rainfall which impacted negatively on the state of our roads, causing traffic snarls.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu rallied his team and launched the #FixingLagosRoads Campaign, an intensive road rehabilitation move aimed at bringing succor to Lagosians. Between October and December 2019, respite came to the good people of Lagos because of the responsive action launched by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his team.

By the morning of July 4, 2019, the city also woke up to the tragic incident of an NNPC pipeline explosion in Ijagemo, a suburb of Ijegun due to the activities of pipeline vandals.  Again, the ever-empathetic Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu rallied his team to restore hope to the helpless.

In a few months again, Lagos witnessed an upsurge in crime due to the activities of commercial motorcycle operators, popularly referred to as Okada. The Sanwo-Olu administration again rose to the challenge and restricted the activities of all commercial motorcycle and tricycle operators to a number of roads within the State. The move was a containment strategy to keep their activities manageable for the already over-stretched security agencies. Again, respite came the way of the citizens who applauded the bold move by the Sanwo-Olu administration.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in China in January 2020, Lagos recorded the index case of the dreaded virus on 27th of February 2020. Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, in a rare display of  bravery and courageous leadership in adversity, assumed the role of the Incident Commander. With Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, his Deputy, he rallied the best brains of the Nigerian health sector to confront the dangers the pandemic posed to millions Lagosians. In no time, Lagos indeed became a global example for the medical world on how to fight the pandemic. As the pandemic was on, the tragic episode of #ENDSARS came.

Taking advantage of the restraint the protest had brought on the law enforcement agents,  okada and tricycle operators became laws onto themselves, riding mindlessly against the traffic, with consequential killing and maiming of innocent citizens. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu again rose to the challenge and extended the ban on Okada and Tricycles to more local government council areas.

As each of this challenge attempted to bring Lagos State on her knees, like a tested General in a war with fierce and phased battles, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu tapped into the indomitable Spirit of Lagos. He reminded us of the capability of the human spirit to rise and triumph over every adversity. Rather than these challenges causing the sprawling Mega City to lie prostrate on her belly, we see the evidential signs of a City rising with best-in-class infrastructure from the ashes of her yesterday just like the proverbial phoenix.

Even where dilapidated infrastructure once stood as public schools or health facilities, we see new ones rising. While the financial storms are raging elsewhere, hey, it is sunny in Lagos. What do we see? We see the finances of Lagos rising to enable the government embark on landmark projects such as the Blue and Red Rail Projects which are the first by any sub-national in our clime.

The message

It is for these reasons we have come to the incontrovertible conclusion that the fitting theme of the 2023 re-election campaign for Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat shall be, A GREATER LAGOS RISING! It is a thematic continuum of what we promised in 2019. We promised our people A GREATER LAGOS.

What do we see around us? Abundant evidence of a new city rising from the womb of time. We do not make a false claim of having reached the zenith of our journey. Our contextual usage of the word is as an adjective that suggests an upward swing, an increase and an upward movement. These are the signs Lagosians can see all around the state.

From the social motivational perspective, the idea of rising captures the essentialism of the Spirit of thousands of “creative and tech rebels” who call Lagos a home and who are changing the false narratives about Nigeria with music, movies, fashion, sports and technological innovations. They are the heroic souls putting Lagos on the global map. They are the ones helping to announce the rising of our City in distant shores. They are the Made-In-Lagos brands to whom this campaign is also dedicated.

Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has himself given this dedication the finest expressions in a TV commercial and two theme songs that will be released across traditional and social media platforms in the course of this campaign. All of our campaign assets capture the place of the audacity of the Spirit of Lagos in the rising of the City. The campaign assets are not some forms of self-adulation but fitting credit to the contributions of Lagosians, especially the youth, to the height Lagos has attained today. This campaign is not about Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and his team alone. It is a tribute to all our youths who are putting Lagos on the global map. This campaign is a celebration of the collective progress we have made in the last three and half years – against all odds.

It is, also, a vivid reflection of what to expect in the coming days. Mr Sanwo-Olu started on August 15, last year, the Red Line rail that will run from Oyingbo to Agbado; passenger operation will begin first quarter of next year. The Blue Line will also start commercial services. We are building a new Massey Street Hospital, which will be the biggest pediatrichospital in West Africa.

A new General Hospital is springing up in Ojo, the first to be built in years. Your Lagos has an approval to build an airport. The 500-bed mental health hospital and rehabilitation centre is getting set in Ketu-Ejinrin. The food hub is also being built. We are building an infectious diseases centre in Yaba. A tech hub is also set to rise in Yaba. The Fourth Mainland Bridge will soon get off the drawing board, with the selection of a contractor to handle the important project. The Opebi-Ojota bridge is making progress to ease traffic on that corridor. These are a just a few of the pointers to A  Greater Lagos that is RISING.

The Choice of Colour and Font

Every time you see our official campaign assets on the streets or in the media, you will see them rendered in brilliant yellow. In branding, brilliant yellow is associated with the sun. It symbolizes energy, youthfulness, enthusiasm, optimism and happiness. It is called an attention-grabbing colour in branding. The brand colour of our campaign comes with a little mix of foggy orange which signifies warmth, transformation, freedom and fun, which are all the hallmarks of the Lagos we see today.

These colours are representative of the atmosphere in the City today, despite the fact that Lagos as a State has gone through a furnace of fire, from Covid-19 and the #ENDSARS protest, all during the first term of this administration in office. The Black in our brand campaign symbolizes power, class and prestige and luxury. It  evokes a feeling of modernity, all of which you see in Lagos.

Our campaign theme has been rendered in a font known as Chalkboard. This font captures the unique dynamic spirit of the everyday Lagosians. Rendered in a brush-stroke style, it is clearly drawn by humans, not a machine.  It is not the commonplace font often used for Political Campaigns in this clime. It typifies the animating energy…. remarkable audacity…. unbroken resilience of our people.

These are qualities embedded in the Spirit of Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, his deputy and the Cabinet in envisioning the scale of the on-going transformation projects being delivered across Lagos. These are also the qualities engrained in the DNA of every true Lagosian.

In closing, let me remind us all of this truth. “RISING” is the proof of DOING. “RISING” moves us from our initial statement of intent, “For A Greater Lagos” to  a city that is rising and transforming before our very eyes. When we say, a greater Lagos rising, we are drawing the attention of citizens to the positive changes taking place all over Lagos.

We are making an affirmative statement about the growth of our economy, the breath-taking rebuilding of Lagos and the fresh hope of citizens following the reopening of the economy after Covid-19. A new chapter in the development of our State just flipped open before our very eyes. Let’s write a new history. Let’s rise to a new phase of our history as we collectively affirm that, a greater Lagos is rising.

Click to watch our video of the week

---

Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:

Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.

Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.

Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611