“You Were Not Re-Elected,” Falz Blast Sanwo-Olu

Following the Independent National Election Commission’s announcement that the incumbent governor; Babajide Sanwo-Olu will be serving a second term as governor of Lagos State, well-known Nigerian rapper Folarin “Falz” Falana took aim at Sanwo-Olu, who had just won the state’s recent governorship election.

After winning 19 of the state’s 20 local government areas and being proclaimed the winner of the governorship election by INEC early on Monday, Prof. Adenike Oladeji, the returning officer for the governorship and state assembly elections, announced Sanwo-Olu as the winner.

The governor took to Twitter on Monday morning to thank the people of Lagos state for giving him the opportunity to serve as governor for another term.

Sanwo-Olu wrote, “Thank you Lagosians! I am deeply humbled and grateful for the overwhelming support and trust of the good people of Lagos State. I am honored to be re-elected as your Governor and pledge to continue to work tirelessly to deliver a better Lagos for all. Thank you for believing in me.

“These elections have deeply tested us as a people. This victory is not just mine, but it belongs to every Lagosian.

“I have worked hard to live up to this responsibility of governing the most important subnational economy in Africa. We certainly could not have done this by ourselves. Thank you to the Almighty God and all of Lagos. Immense gratitude goes to our great party, APC, and our President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“During the course of the campaign, we sadly saw a lot of divisive rhetoric used. Elections should be about capacity, competence, and experience, not ethnicity or religion. I salute those who refused to be divided by hateful and hurtful ethnic profiling.”

Addressing violence that occurred in some parts of the state during the election, Sanwo-Olu said, “Recent skirmishes in some LGAs resulting in injuries are reprehensible and not reflective of who we are. Law enforcement and security agencies have been directed to ensure that those found culpable face the full wrath of the law.

“Very importantly, and this cannot be overemphasised: What unites us as Lagosians is far more important and substantial than whatever differences exist among us.

“As your Governor, I will do everything in my power to ensure that genuine healing takes place. We will continue to run an inclusive government, that delivers for all the people of Lagos, wherever in the State they may be living.”

Responding to the governor’s ‘Thank you’ message to Lagosians following his victory at the polls, Falz said, “You were not re-elected. You selected yourself. Everybody saw it unfold. You are only deceiving yourselves.”

When a Twitter user asked Falz if he was “pained” over Sanwo-Olu’s victory he said, “Yes it is  (pain) actually. The pain of knowing that brothers and sisters are being turned against each other in a bid to ‘win’ an election.

“Also the pain of seeing our democratic process rubbished before our very eyes.”

With a total of 762,134 votes, Sanwo-Olu defeated Abdulazeez Adediran of the People’s Democratic Party and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party, who each received 312,329 and 62,449 votes.