Does it? Fluency in a language doesn’t build hospitals, reduce school fees, or create jobs. Lagos has a serious poverty problem and a rising cost of living, and neither responds to anyone’s dialect. What residents need from a leader is governance, data-driven policy, and accountability, not performative optics.
Language and culture matter for connecting with people, and that’s a fair point. But connecting with people and delivering for them are different skills, and only one of them fixes Lagos.
So what should we be judging candidates on? Their plans and track record, or how well they perform cultural identity on camera?
Why does MIT educated GRVLagos have to go through all this scrutiny?
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I hate to admit it, but identity politics is a reality in every society. Pretending otherwise is dishonest.
Language, culture, and identity naturally influence how people choose their leaders. In many places, a politician who cannot speak the dominant local language would struggle to build enough trust to win an election.
But there is an important distinction. Language can influence a voter’s choice without being a legal requirement for public office. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour being unable to speak Yoruba may have affected how some Lagos voters perceived him, but that is different from saying he should be disqualified from governing.
The real issue is that identity is only one part of politics. People should also be asking whether the candidate is competent, experienced, and capable of delivering results.
We have a long way to go as a country.
Speaking the dominant local language is an aadvantage [undeniably], but it's not a qualification.
But people are not a monolith and lagos itself is a cosmopolitan city with peopl from all over Nigeria and more broadly, West Africa.
I also think political contenders who prioritise issues-based politics do stand a solid chance [as evident in Peter Obi winning more votes in Lagos against an entrenched godfather (—the godfather of Lagos )
At the end of the day it's about tipping the scales just enough for it to make a difference.