The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, on Saturday said he defeated and retired four political godfathers in Kaduna State, saying the feat could be replicated anywhere, including Lagos State.
El-Rufai, who argued that godfathers existed only on paper or in the minds of the people, said the key to defeating them was in going directly to the people.
He, however, admitted that defeating godfathers required time and hard work.
The Kaduna State Governor spoke in Ikoyi, Lagos, at an event organised by the Bridge Club tagged, “An evening with His Excellency Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State.”
In his main speech, El-Rufai had encouraged the club members, who are businessmen, not to shy away from politics, saying it was more important than making money as bad politics could mess up their businesses.
El-Rufai said Nigeria had permanently remained a country of potential because good and competent people had distanced themselves from politics.
However, during the question and answer session, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and three-time commissioner in Lagos State, Dr Muiz Banire, noted that godfathership was one of the drawbacks for professionals and businessmen who might want to go into politics.
Banire then asked El-Rufai how godfathership could be dealt with.
Responding, El-Rufai said, “Godfatherism. This is Lagos. Let me tell you something sir; you know, Kaduna State used to be like that. There were three or four politicians in Kaduna that you could not become anything unless you had them on your side. Those were the godfathers of Kaduna politics and you had to carry them along and you know, the three words, ‘carry them along’ mean paying them regularly.
But we chose a different path and the long and short of it now is that after this election in 2019, we have retired all of them; we had to.”
El-Rufai added that the fact that only one million out of the six million registered voters in Lagos voted in the last general elections was an opportunity to end godfathership in the state.
He said, “Here in Lagos, you have over six million registered voters, only about a million voted (in 2019 general elections); five million did not vote. If I want to run for governor of Lagos, I will start now. I will commission a study to know why those five million registered voters did not vote; where do they go on election day? Then I will start visiting them for the next four years. I will try and get just two million of them to come and vote for me; I will defeat any godfather. The key is to go to the people. The card reader and the biometric register have given us the tools to connect directly with the people. I assure you if you do that for the next four years, connecting with the people; the tin godfather, you will retire him or her permanently. But it is hard work; it requires three to four years of hard work. So, if you want to run in 2023, you should start now.”
Source: Punch Newspaper
