“Those who talk on the razor-edge of double-meanings pluck the rarest blooms from the precipice on either side.” —Logan Pearsall Smith
By Cosmas Omegoh
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola is a fine gentleman. He is someone who has paid his dues over time as a lawyer, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and politician.
For those who know Mr Fashola, there is this air of calmness that tends to envelop him. All around him one sees a certain saintly mien; he cuts the image of a man of humility and dignity. Fash, as many of his admires call him, is a jolly good fellow, one, some persons insist, whose cannel was cracked for him by a benevolent god, to borrow from the late venerable literary icon, Chinua Achebe.
Some days ago, Fashola found himself in a certain media mix, and has since been fighting hard to extricate himself.
At the All Progressives Congress (APC) conversation series in Kano on January 27, he allegedly said, among other things, that Nigeria had surpassed the United States of America in infrastructural development.
“From six years ago, this government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, as far as infrastructure is concerned, has been doing what the United States government is still trying to do; they are still trying to pass their infrastructure bill, and they are still fighting.
“I can assure you that the present APC administration of President Buhari has achieved what even the US Government is trying to do in terms of infrastructure.
“As at December 2021, we have completed 941 kilometers of roads across all states and geopolitical zones,” he reportedly said, adding that there were 850 ongoing projects under his ministry, including roads and bridges construction as well as houses in 34 states.
Perhaps, Fashola took it for granted that a comment like this will ignite passion. It did indeed, but also elicited a barrage of brick backs.
Many who had been ambushing Mr Fashola, quickly sprung from their hiding and went for his jugular, lacerating him and his words. They couldn’t understand what could trigger his excitement. Did anyone put a gun to his head? Or was he merely hallucinating?, many asked.
Nigerians who followed up on the trend could not understand the measurement Fashola used in comparing Nigeria with USA infrastructure-wise. It was like comparing a tortoise’s speed with the gazelle’s. Or the wren’s size and strength to the Eagle’s as many abandoned their day’s duties to dig into the records. They wanted to know how such miracle had happened, and how Nigeria caused such an upset.
Now, here is the record. In world’s infrastructure rating for 2021, USA is on No 13; Nigeria is on No 132. Singapore leads the pack.
Now, Fashola has stirred the hornet nest. Expectedly, in the hours that followed, the alleged Fashola miracle had already begun dominating discussion, refusing to leave the front burner. He literarily set the social media on fire, with many re-echoing legendary Afrobeat king Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s description of such feat as “Government magic.” They could not take it. Nigerians in their closets – most especially on the social media began interrogating Fashola for such recklessness. How did he get there?
There are also some people that went sulking over such a perceived misfire. They love Fashola and his politics, but not his gaff. The election season is far off, they reasoned. Was Fashola trying to blow his trumpet? Or is he gunning for president? But he hadn’t told anyone yet. Or was he campaigning for his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari? Buhari is not going for another term. He has said it for the umpteenth time that he is tired and begun counting downing to his exit. He wants to return to his native Daura to the embrace of his cattle loudly mooing for his return. And so, what manner of politicking did Fashola’s statement represent?
But inside those who know Fashola too well, something went wrong somewhere. The Fashola that allegedly spoke in Kano was not the one they knew. So, they remained calm. They saved their breath until they heard from him not minding how long it took them. They were not disappointed.
Then, two days after, Fashola emerged to clear the congested airwaves. He told the bewildered world that he spoke really. But his words were hijacked, twisted.
Now, here is what he said: “The first point to make is I didn’t say that Nigeria’s infrastructure is better than America’s infrastructure because certainly anybody who knows what he is doing will know that America is a much richer nation; their infrastructure is well ahead of Nigeria’s.
“What I was talking …was about the challenges of infrastructure, and that it is universal; every country commits to infrastructure as a legitimate way to create work, grow the economy and distribute wealth as we have seen here. That’s the first point I am making.
“And that in a democracy, you always need (the) parliament to authorise what you spend on infrastructure. So, I was making the comparison that Buhari has been able to get his parliament to authorise his spending….
“But that the American government is struggling to get authorisation from their own parliament to start what we are already doing. I didn’t say that their infrastructure is better than theirs.”
Then done with his explanation, he went for the opposition’s jugular, accusing them of mangling his words, and running a “campaign of lies and disinformation,” against him. He maintained they were “uncomfortable,” with the progress his party, the APC had made.
But another group of Nigerians is not interested in what Fashola claimed he said, and what he said he didn’t say. Its members were not amused by half. They went grubbing through Fashola’s lines for the truth, asking questions at every turn. “Who are the opposition that took Fashola’s words away from him – the media? Or hired men in the media? What does it take for a SAN to speak straight and spare a beleaguered nation the agony of breaking heads to get his drift? Or has Fashola joined the league of Nigerian politicians always reversing themselves once their words go viral?
Now wait for these. Fashola is being questioned for what has become of the Enugu-Onitsha highway under his command, six solid years down the road, while the APC government is busy approving N115.4b to dualise Kano-Katsina road? What happens to the controversial East-West road in the Niger Delta? And the Umuahia-Ikot-Ekpene-Itu-Calabar road which receives yearly budgetary allocation with nothing visible being done on it? What about the Lagos-Abeokuta road, the Ibadan-Ilorin road, the Warri-Benin-Abuja road rehabilitation? And several other federal highways particularly in the Southeast and elsewhere which the Federal Government promised it will complete?
For inviting the klieg light to himself, here are questions, questions and more questions for Minister Fashola a two-term governor of Lagos State (May 29, 2007 -May 29, 2015). Born on June 28, 1963, in Lagos, Fashola is married to Abimbola, and has been Minister of Works and Housing since 2015.