Jide Sanwo-Olu the governor of Lagos State and puppet of the President Bola Tinubu has developed a taste for flaunting expensive watches at the people he is meant to govern, as well as flouncing off to London to watch Arsenal.
The governor has been spotted blinging with a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch that retails for $350,000.
Some of his supporters are likely to claim that the governor was “rich” before his time in public office, but they are unlikely to find any evidence of him sporting a watch in this price range before he became governor.
This is a governor that spent his first term in office enacting policies that disadvantage the poor like banning motorbike taxis (okadas), demolishing alleged illegal structures to make way for property developments for the rich, hiked refuse disposal bills, increased Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) fares, and kept extorting all manner of fines and taxes from ordinary Lagosians.
There is an Afghan proverb: “You have the watches, we have the time”. In all likelihood, Sanwo-Olu lost his re-election bid on 18 March, despite being declared the winner in typical electoral commission (s)election style. Lagos residents must hoping that the long wait for the election tribunal’s “reserved judgment” on the petition against Sanwo-Olu’s (s)election will call time on the governor’s tenure, putting an end to his obscene and ostentatious display of stolen wealth in the midst of misery for the majority.
