Sanwo-Olu Takes a Cue from Boy in Viral Video, Asks Lagosians to ‘Calm Down’

Matilda Omonaiye/

Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in his Sallah message to Lagos residents took a cue from a viral video of an unidentified young boy who is seen telling his mum to “calm down” before punishing him for a wrongdoing.

The video has been trending on social media in the last three days.

In a message he shared via his social media handles, this afternoon, the governor said the video inspired his Sallah message to the people of Lagos State “because of the deeper meaning it conveys”.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the message in the video underscored the need for residents of the state “to ‘calm down’ as we enjoy the coming holiday and festivity”, in view of the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor also expressed the desire to meet with the young boy in the video, since they both “now have exclusive rights to the phrasal verb ‘calm down’”.

Read Sanwo-Olu’s message below:

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 in 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.

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 #COVID19.

We need to be moderate in our celebration 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. 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!

As an aside, I would like to meet the young boy since we both now have exclusive rights to the phrasal verb ‘calm down’.

See video:

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