Jakande was Nigeria’s best ever governor, say Alaafin, Obanikoro
More encomiums came the way of the late first civilian Governor of Lagos State Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande as more prominent personalities, including the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, describing him as the best politician ever.
The Alaafin of Oyo said Jakande’s political ideology would be sorely missed.
He said Jakande, for all his accomplishments, deserved to be celebrated and not mourned.
The Alaafin in a personally signed statement on Monday, said: “LKJ belonged to the political school of the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo to whom politics is about service to the people where they served as servants rather than masters or overlords.
“He was a Governor who was not attracted by the luxury of Government House but preferred to remain in his private house at Ikeja.
“He never lived an ostentatious life as governor to which he could not adjust to after leaving office. Hence, he remained the same LKJ of the same profile after the military coup of 1983. He built so many Housing Estates of which he never named one after himself. “It is the people themselves who branded those housing estates after him with populist acclamation.
“In his creative thought to decongest the menacing traffic in Lagos, he initiated the famous Metroline which, however, the military did not allow to materialize.
Former Minister of State for Defence and Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro has described Jakande as a man who was accessible and worked for the good of all.
The former minister, in a statement, said Jakande was a man with an uncommon passion for the good of his people.
He lived a very ordinary life that made him accessible to all. He was blessed with patience and a great listening ear.
Obanikoro said: “We just lost the best governor to ever govern any state in Nigeria and Lagos in particular. His development programmes on education, housing, healthcare and road infrastructure have stood the test of time.
“His name became synonymous with the growth of the state of aquatic splendor.”
THE NATION
