Perception is different from reality, my friend Mumuni Alao, the best selling Editor in Chief of Complete Sports told me thirteen years ago. All too often that statement plays itself out and I remember Mumuni’s famous words though we do not see frequently.
Lagos Speaker Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji ia a no nonsense, bulky tough looking dude who runs the state legislature with a firm grip knowing as he likes to say his place, his limitations and the place of the legislature in governance which he is trying to drum home to his colleagues.
Earlier that evening, I had asked the Speaker about his no nonsense posture and he had replied,
‘ I am confident in what I do and in my role in government. My background has also played a great role. I see myself as being put there to serve my people. I have been a benefit of government largese; I was trained on scholarship, because I came from a very humble background so I take my job very seriously and I do not fear anybody as long as I am on the right path’.
He is perceived to be Gov Raji Fashola’s #1 enemy, ever ready with a dagger to run through him…that is perception, but the truth is that despite their differences and this is no spin, he has a lot of respect for the Governor and they get along excellently well and this is the reality of the situation.
Last Thursday, I witnessed a humbling, history making event that changed my mind about just how tough and unfriendly the speaker really is. The background to this is the on going strike by resident doctors in Lagos. On that Thursday, I was with the speaker in his office upstairs while negotiations continued between the government team, law makers and the doctors union. At some point, the talks were deadlocked, the doctors wanted one of their dismissed colleague re- instated and they wanted it done in a jiffy, matter of fact, before the end of the session. It was a dicey situation which only the Governor could take a decision on.
A member of the negotiating team called the Speaker’s phone to demand his intervention with the Governor. He was equally frantic to reach the Governor on phone. The phones were jammed for over thirty minutes, when eventually he did and after the exchange of pleasantries he tables his dilemma. The governor thought it over for a minute and said he would like to speak with the doctors if they were close by and the Speaker said, Ok Sir, Hold On, I will take the phone to them.
The Speakers’ office is on the second floor of the State Assembly complex and the conference room where the horse trading was on going was in another wing on the ground floor. He did the unthinkable. He stood up, holding the phone , motioned for us to follow him and he strutted out of his office, with us behind and his security and police men following we all race down the staircase to the conference room were via speaker, the Governor assured the doctors he was favorably disposed towards re instating their dismissed colleague for peace to reign. There after, we walked back to the Speakers office to continue our chat.
The moral of this story? Do not believe all you read about the enmity between politicians. It might just be some bum causing trouble or as they say, heating the polity for some selfish gains.

Cop bashing is a favorite past time of most Nigerians. We all get off on it. Next to the economy and corrupt public office holders, the much trumpeted inefficiency of the Nigerian police and the sleazy tendencies of its men is a subject for ardent discourse, so much so that a five year old at a check point told his dad to give the police man N20 so he will let them be on their way.
No doubt some men in the Nigerian police force are bad, a reflective on the decadence in our society today and the tendency of our people to cut corners . if they indeed are so bad, how come they win laurels in international peace keeping exercises for good policing. There must be something wrong in our system that taints and corrupts.

People only think of the police when they are in trouble; their carry is stolen or their home bugled, that’s when you will hear them scream, ‘Get the police”, then they expect magic, they want the car- jackers apprehended and the guys who fleeced them of valuables caught and status quo maintained. Most often, in Lagos where I live, the police are living up to their responsibility of securing the state. On Sunday between 10.00 and 11.00pm, The publisher of FORTUNE & Niyi Akinsiju and his wife, Ebony, had first hand serving of police efficiency.
They were enroute the Maryland traffic light when they heard rapid gun fire; it turned out to be a shootout between a group of car robbers and the police at Maryland. The way I heard it , the police probably acting on a tip off had stopped the stolen jeep which had three armed guys, the owner was tucked somewhere in the trunk, in the ensuring shoot out, two of the robbers escaped while the third was not so lucky. He was hit by bullets and died as he attempted to jump and flee through the independence underpass at Maryland. He miscalculated the distance of the jump. What was instructive was that not two minutes after the robber jumped and died, another contingent of armed policemen arrived screaming ‘WEY THEM’. Oh yes, this is not how the NYPD, (men of the New York Police Department) will behave, this is for laughter only, but they are doing the job. The owner of that jeep will forever be thankful; he got his car back and in one piece. I commend the officers who engaged those robbers in a gun duel, they made us proud. Men like that have made the crime rate drop by 85 percent in Lagos state. These officers and men who continue to risk their lives standing on the road doing routine checks and patrol duty ensure that we sleep at night without bandits over running our city. They deserve a pat on the back. And one last word, when next you are at a check point and a policeman stops you for whatever, don’t be rude shout at him, he is only doing his job; open your booth if he needs to check, in so doing most often they have arrested robbers with concealed weapons.