Mobolaji Sanusi, a first grade sycophant who is referred in certain quarters as Almajiri Journalist must be a sad man today. Sanusi who was redundant in The Nation’s newspaper newsroom was always quick to drive wedge between prominent figures for pecuniary gains and to obtain unmerited favour.
Sanusi, sometime in 2015 wrote in his hollowed column in the Nation Newspaper an article titled, “Fashola’s Signal of Ingratitude”.
In his usual sycophantic manner, Sanusi in his bid to impress the National leader and godfather, Bola Tinubu unleashed misguided attack on Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN , a former Lagos State Governor for not expressly mentioning Tinubu’s name in his salutation.
To a little mind like Sanusi, such oversight meant ingratitude on the part of Fashola. That was low. He vainly struggled in the jaundiced write-up to drag Fashola in the mud to impress his sponsors.
He was later compensented by the Fashola’s successor, Akinwunmi Ambode who was battle-ready to crush Fashola at all cost and all that he represented.
Sanusi was made the Managing Director, Lagos State Advertisement And Signage Agency, LASAA, the position he least qualified. Sanusi’s poor stewardship at LASAA will be visited.
Fashola who vowed not to wrestle with pig in the mud in his scholalrly rebuttal to the hullabaloo that was contrived by his detractors has continued to wax stronger by the day. God is not unjust. He knows how to fight for his people.
The evergreen legacies of Fashola that Sanusi and his co-travelers sought to supplant shone again when the chips were down in the build ups to the 2019 governorship election in Lagos.
Fashola became the poster boy again while the Sanusi’s boss , the vindinctive incumbent governor, Ambode was buried politically even before vacating the governorship seat. That is the work of God. Providence has a way of recompensating scorners and evil men.
Kudos to Vice-president Prof Yemi Osinbajo who showed real leadership by beckoning on the minister and the Chairman Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, Dr Muiz Banire, SAN to save the day as anti-establishment campaigners grew in popularity.
These are credible men whom majority of the people believe in their leadership. Since last weekend when the pictures of strategic session comprising Banire, Fashola, Osinbajo, Ipaye and others went viral, the sagging popularity and support of APC has been beefed up.
Sanusi and other sycophants in his mould should have advocated Tinubu to join the duo of Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Obafemi Hamzat on TVC’s flagship show, This Morning and see the results on Saturday. Tinubu’s high-handedness and avarice is nauseating to the masses which fuels the Otogee movement.
Fashola, the rejected stone has now become the chief cornerstone in Lagos. The minister gave convincing reasons why Lagos is safe in the hands of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat. He was a powerful endorser! The Fashola brand confers great credility on the project.
The singular gesture of Fashola to be on air with Lagos APC gubernatorial candidate and his deputy quashed the unfounded, puerile accusation of Sanusi. It is very clear that Fashola is not and can never be an ingrate. He stood to be counted when it matter most!
Back to the uninspiring public service record of Sanusi at LASAA, his performance is adjudged worst ever in the history of agency . Sanusi should quit with Ambode on May 29 or face the ignominy of being kicked out. He lacks the experience and temperament to head such a critical agency in Lagos.
Under his watch, local operators in the outdoor advertising agency are groaning as he lacks the understanding of the workings of advertising industry. All his life, he has been a third-class rated writer hibernating in The Nation Newspaper before he was rehabilitated by Ambode.
Sanusi is weak intellectually and does not have the will to resist pecuniary inducements. JC Decaux Lake Grace, a franchise of the Paris-based advertising firm has been operating illegally with impunity in Lagos and Sanusi as a regulator cannot save the local players and their investments.
The incompetent Sanusi has been revoking sites given to local investors who laboured to build outdoor advertising industry in Lagos to its enviable height without recourse to extant laws.
He revoked a site at Oworonsoki end of Thrid Mainland Bridge which was under construction by a local player, Media Worth and gave it to JC Decaux Grace Lake to build a gantry.
The compromised regulator does not see anything wrong in the way and manner JC Decaux has been hijacking local operators’ sites and other infringements because he has been compromised.
Today, the irresponsible firm, JC Decaux is operating without proper registration with relevant government agencies. The foreign firm is not a registered member of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN). The firm has multiple court cases bordering on illegal acquisition of sites and other criminal infractions.
The outdoor advertising industry which was booming and thriving during the reign of George Noah is now in deep crisis courtesy of Sanusi gross incompetence and greed.
Adeoba Michaels, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Lagos
