Getting back to work after the holidays has been like no other as the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been found correcting traffic offenders riding in motorcycles, by extension, okadas, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway right there on the spot.

But that wasn’t all that happened in an X-based video post shared by his aide on Tuesday, 2 January 2024 – the governor who was heading to the Lagos State University to commission a conference centre was shown scolding a man reportedly a Lance Corporal in the Nigerian Army.

The pair were captured in exchanges as security officers travelling with the chief executive took the soldier to a truck.

His destination from there due to the traffic infringement will be jail according to Mr Sanwo-olu who was heard telling the officers to “lock him up”. This seemed to be in response to the corporal’s justification of his action, by claiming that he is a member of the army. The soldier hoped that would save him from arrest but his situation only worsened.

Governor Sanwo-Olu effecting the arrest of the offending officer… pic.twitter.com/LBXMNZIhgV

— AJE (@Riddwane) January 2, 2024

Other people along the highway scene also found themselves being confronted by the governor although some were mute. A woman whom Governor Sanwo-olu pictured as a graduate simply by her appearance was standing by the roadside in a different video patch also shared by his aide.

The governor underneath the public display of annoyance and ear-twisting had a pitch fixed around the desire to save lives.

Recently in Lagos, three persons riding on motorcycles were killed when their vehicles made a head-on collision with the state-owned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicle. This tragedy happened last October with the deceased reported to be heading to a destination in Mile 2 where there is access to the Blue Line Rail corridor.

Reimagining megacity transportation

The Lagos State Government have struggled to deter motorcycles on the highways although it has been making efforts since February 2020.

Last-mile delivery services suffered the closure of their businesses when bans were imposed in 15 local government areas including Apapa, Apapa Iganmu, Lagos Mainland, Yaba, Surulere, Itire Ikate, Coker Aguda, Eti-Osa, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Onigbongo, Ojodu, Ikoyi-Obalende, Iru Ikoyi-Obalande and Lagos Island East.

These bans have been wrapped under the cover of beefing up security in Lagos where the crime rates were rising post-COVID, but there have been more to the moves than meets the eye.

ALSO READ: Travel around Lagos via the Blue Line Rail

Already the megacity has a multi-modal way of moving Lagosians around for their daily errands, which relies on water, rail and road transportation. It sends a message that the window is closing for risky motorcycles to continue operating.

The needless deaths resulting from motorbike accidents are the precedence that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu would hold as moral justification to explain what social media commenters are imagining as scolding taking too far. But you won’t get a sense that the governor cares because he is ready to defend his actions it seems, no matter the backlash.

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.