No one knew when and how it crept upon the
populace, but as at Ocober 2012, almost everyone that was anyone was referred
to with a three-letter shrinking of their actual names. Perhaps it was a
reflection of a society more in haste than ever. Perhaps it was a reflection of
how social media and its restriction of space for the written word were
beginning to constrict the robustness of speech. Perhaps society has never
been lazier than it is now. Perhaps names are just too long nowadays. Therefore,
the Tottenham Hotspurs coach is simply known as AVB; one-time minister and
current religious crackpot as FFK; the Chelsea FC coach as RDM; one-time
Nigerian military ruler as GMB and current Nigerian president as GEJ. But all
these men are not relevant in the unfolding events. Only one is, and his
sobriquet is BRF.
In 2011, BRF, otherwise known as Babatunde Raji
Fashola, won a second term as governor of Nigeria’s most important state –
Lagos. To a foreigner or one who has only merely heard the word “Lagos” from a
distance and never been in it, the election would appear keenly contested as
the candidates campaigned. But to Lagos itself, BRF was the undisputed choice,
given the turn-around Lagos had undergone in the previous four years. Now, on an
October day when Nature was snivelly in most parts of Lagos, BRF sat at the
head of a long table, the only long table in the Governor’s Situation
Room. This room, except for where Asiwaju was concerned, is where all
the decisions that the Lagos State Government make is arrived at. Where Asiwaju
is concerned, BRF is simply summoned to Asiwaju Lodge in Ikoyi, one of
Asiwaju’s many homes around the world, and after a few hours of sometimes
frantic jaw-jawing, Asiwaju’s word became law. Asiwaju was not involved today,
and the decision-making had been left entirely to the State Executive
Committee. The State Executive Committee consisted of BRF himself, as Governor,
Madam Kuforiji Williams, as Deputy Governor, and all the commissioners in
charge of ministries in the state. Of those 23, men and women, only six, all
seated facing one another in front of the governor, three on each side of the
table, were here today. Five Commissioners – the