By Chris Otaigbe
As Lagos battles to contain the spiraling cases of coronavirus infections in the state, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has adopted the slogan “calm down” to keep the over 20 million residents safe from the virus.
Taken from a viral video of a little boy begging his mother not to punish him for his misdemeanor, the video, which has gained so much currency on the social media space, has apparently inspired Sanwo-Olu to sell the underlying message and compelling metaphor of the boy’s promise to make it up to his mum.
“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 misdemeanor. 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.” Said Sanwo-Olu.
He urged every Lagosian to ‘calm down’ and not get carried away. Like the rest of the world, he reminded residents that the state is still steering its way through the storm of the pandemic.
“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!” he pleaded.
Having admitted to borrowing on and from the boy’s innocent but far reaching display of articulate remorse for his transgressions, the State Governor who has become the little boy’s fan, has asked to meet with the new social media sensation.
The less than three-minute attention-arresting video shows a little boy, crying and begging an adult, speaking to him behind the phone camera, that he will no longer engage in bad behaviour.
What is moving, is his unshaken confidence, even in his moment of punishment for his bad behaviour and his capacity there-in to push the pressure of punishment to his mother, his punisher.
He is the one crying, begging and the one who is supposed to be scared for the beating he is about to receive from his mother. But he is the one asking his mother to calm down, making her believe she is freaking out and needed to relax. With this, he aimed to project his pressure and possible pain to his mother’s mind.
The high point of this little real life drama, is when the smart boy, tears in his eyes and with his crying voice asked his mum “are you videoing me…?” a keen viewer would discover; that unsettled his mum’s composure for a bit before she quickly regained herself (all within seconds) and her confidence to renew her control of a situation that her less than seven year-old son has stolen even in his moment of weakness and punishment.
Clearly, the boy stole the show and almost stole his mother’s confidence and control in an event where he was expected to surrender with little or no question.
Now, those immortal words “calm down, please calm down…” have now endeared him to tens of millions of people all over the world.
All this breathtaking moment of raw display of exceptional calm, confidence and control from a little kid, may be what won the heart of the Governor of Nigeria’s economic capital and West Africa’s economic hub.
“As an aside, I would like to meet the young boy since we both now have exclusive rights to the phrasal verb ‘calm down’,” Requested the Governor.
