The excitement in the air since the entry of Olasupo Shasore into the political space of Lagos State has been so thick and palpable that it could be grabbed with hands.
The added fireworks and intrigues surrounding his declaration for the Lagos gubernatorial contest are indications that Lagosians will be witnessing one of the fiercest gubernatorial contests in decades.
Quite a large number of people have applauded Shasore for throwing his hat into the ring. But who is this man whose entry has been causing seismic eruption in the Lagos political landscape?
Many have described Olasupo Shasore, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), as Governor Babatunde Fashola’s anointed and protégé, groomed to take over the reins of political leadership of the State of Aquatic Splendour. But beyond this attribution, Shasore has behind him years of sterling performances in public administration.
Fashola’s success as governor is rooted in the constitution of a team peopled with efficient technocrats and administrators who shared similar vision and passion for a New Lagos; a team of which Shasore was a prominent member. The bespectacled legal luminary and erudite author was a very important figure in the Fashola Government from 2007 to 2011.
Shasore served as a commissioner in Fashola’s first cabinet in 2007. After playing a key role in the government, where he initiated numerous legal reforms, Shasore left the cabinet in 2011, a move which many considered as strategic by Fashola to get him ready for the job in 2015. As chairman of the Lagos Home Ownership Scheme (Lagos HOMS) committee, Shasore was saddled with the responsibility of delivering home ownership to Lagosians. This was seen as part of Fashola’s plan to get the Lagos Island-born lawyer to familiarise himself with the key constituencies in the state.
The 2014 National Conference threw up many villains; it was a veritable platform for Shasore where he exhibited heroic exploits as a seasoned nationalist and a repository of knowledge brimming with practical solutions to the country hydra-headed problems.
His voice was one of the loudest and most respected on revenue re-allocation, youth employment, local government administration and legal reforms, about which the committee came up with recommendations in its final report.
Shasore is an accomplished lawyer like the incumbent governor, a scholar of note with published books and journals (international and local) to his credits. The historian and a well-documented writer recently wrote and launched a book on Lagos, titled ‘Possessed: A History of Law and Justice in the Crown Colony of Lagos 1861-1906.
The energetic, go-getting and charismatic Shasore embarked on a three year research journey across the trans-Atlantic to come up with the book which major aim is to remind both residents and indigenes of Lagos alike of the glorious past that the city was known for and the exciting history of the state which is fast moving into the arcade of oblivion. The book has continued to receive rave reviews from the reading pubic and scholars. Its timeliness has been appraised as auspicious and its expansive details adjudged apt.
The launch of the book drew the who-is-who in Lagos political and socio-economic establishment from their different abodes to the City Hall where Governor Fashola and Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos led dignitaries to grace the epoch-making event.
The reform of the Criminal Law, the Administration of Criminal Justice and the Magistrate Courts framework, are all to the credit of the leadership of Shasore when he held sway as Attorney-General of Lagos State.
His passion for social welfare was on display as the head of the Lagos HOMS. With the scheme, through which LASG seeks to address the lack of adequate housing opportunities for the citizens of Lagos State, he has been able to deliver 200 homes per month for mortgage-assisted purchase by the people of Lagos.
With resounding success in the HOMS scheme, Shasore’s focus has turned to the Rent-to-Own programme. This programme allows an individual to enter into a contract with the LMB which provides that individual with the option of buying the property they rent and reside in, at any point during the rental period. The only precondition is that such individual must be a tax payer in Lagos State for a period of five years.
With the intellectual profundity and managerial capacity Shasore is endowed with, the affairs of Lagos State can be said to be in a safe hand.
‘A lover of Lagos’ as he is popularly called, the incontrovertibly factual Lagos born and bred exudes unparalleled passion for the state.
His desire to occupy the exalted post of Lagos State governor, no doubt, can only take Lagos to a state of near utopia if he eventually succeeds, as the foundation has been well laid by his predecessors whose efforts have turned the state around.
Shasore was born in Lagos Island, Lagos, 50 years ago to Taoheed Shasore, a diplomat, and Bilkis Oladoyinbo Adufe, a civil servant and businesswoman. He attended Christ Church Cathedral Primary School, Federal Government College, and Igbobi College, Yaba ─ all in Lagos. He earned a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, in 1986 and a Master of Law degree from the University of Lagos in 1990.
