Sanwo-olu renounces ‘Excellency’ title adopts ‘Mr. Governor’
…Says, ‘title undemocratic, impedes good governance’
Babajide SanwoOlu, governor of Lagos State, has renounced the title of “His Excellency”, saying that the title was undemocratic, while preferring to be addressed as “Mr. Governor”.
Sanwo- Olu, who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said that the title had affected the disposition of leaders over the years, which makes people tend to see them as dictators, which also distracts them from their primary responsibility to the citizenry and the electorate.
He stressed that his position as governor required upmost trust, humility and sacrifice to the citizenry, which the title would not allow him to do.
Sanwo- Olu, however, hoped that the measure would lead to a renewed vigour and sense of responsibility among leaders and public office holders in the state on the need to be more responsive and accountable to the electorate.
The governor said that the measure was intended to sanitise government, while promising to issue an executive order that will formally ensure full compliance with the new policy.
According to him, “In the last five months that I have been privileged to exercise the mandate freely given to me by the great and hardworking people of Lagos State, it has come to my consciousness to review certain features of citizengovernment relations which impede the genuine expression of the democratic spirit of our society and the meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people.
“The office of the governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity. This demigod mystique spreads over the entire machinery of the executive arm of the government, symbolising an authoritarian disposition on the governed.
“It has deformed the orientation of elected and appointed persons who are paid from the taxes of the people to see themselves as oppressors who can do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people.
“Whatever might have been the reason for this myth, let us be honest, the office is occupied by a mortal who has been called upon to serve the electorate with humility and sincerity. The office of governor is a public trust that calls for sacrifice, modesty and willingness to add value to the lives of the people.”
In a statement he personally signed Wednesday, a copy of which was sent to Businessday, Sanwo-olu said: “Fellow Lagosians, I have come to the conclusion that for us to change the narrative of governance, we have to strike down this seeming symbol of executive arrogance that commands popular obeisance and undermines the democratic role of citizens as the masters of those they have elected and appointed to serve.
“It is a conviction that I believe will send the right signals to all politicians and civil servants that service to the people has brought us here. It is the duty we are obliged to do. It is the responsibility that we bear wherever we find ourselves; whenever we are called to serve.”
According to him, “Only God, the Almighty, the Creator, the Protector is the Most Excellent. No man can share His eternal qualities.
“Thenceforth, I wish to be addressed simply as Mr. Governor, a title that will constantly remind me that I have been chosen out of so many fellow compatriots to lead a collective salvage of our political economy.
“A salutation that sanitises the paraphernalia of office and reminds us all of our imperfections and mortality. To give official effect to this announcement, I shall issue tomorrow an executive order that will formally ensure full compliance with this new policy.”