The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has urged Lagosians not to forget that the rampaging coronavirus pandemic is very much alive as they celebrate the Sallah festival.
But against the usual admonishing of asking citizens to maintain social distance and adhere to the use of facemasks, the governor took an unusual route in conveying his message.
Mummy, calm down is a viral video of a crying boy begging his mother to have a change of heart in punishing him for a misdemeanour.
The video made an impact on the hardworking governor and he analysed it.
“I saw a video of a charming young boy online asking his mom to ‘calm down’ as she was set to punish him for a misdemeanour. I was moved by his sobriety, which reflected in his promise of “last chance”, when confronted with the fact that he is a regular offender.
“The exchange was indeed funny, but it depicted the efforts parents put into moulding children into responsible adults. I want to assume that his mom indeed calmed down because the appeal was moving enough to make anyone change their mind,” Sanwo-Olu said.
Inspired, the governor decided to use the lessons of the video to pass a message to Lagosians.
“Interestingly, the video inspired this special message to the good people of Lagos State because of the deeper meaning it conveys.
“Fellow Lagosians, we need to ‘calm down’ as we enjoy the coming holiday and festivity.
“It is a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim’s heart of sacrifice and faith in Allah. We need to emulate and demonstrate his sense of self- restraint at this time the world is combating the scourge of COVID-19,” he wrote.
He advised that people should be moderate in their celebrations and observe prescribed protocols towards defeating the deadly coronavirus.
“The world needs the responsibility and commitment of its people to oust coronavirus.
“I urge every Lagosian to ‘calm down’ and not get carried away by the excitement of the moment. Like the rest of the world, we are still in the middle of a pandemic and need to remain extremely careful to keep the gains of the sacrifices we have all made in the past months.
“Let’s calm down!” Sanwo-Olu advised.
The Lagos State governor also made known his interest in meeting the boy in the video.
“As an aside, I would like to meet the young boy since we both now have exclusive right to the phrasal verb ‘calm down’,” he concluded.
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