How To End Godfatherism In Lagos Politics – El-rufai

[Edoman]

Oladimeji Ramon



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.”

On the question of money, El-Rufai said it would require about N2bn to do the job, which he said the businessmen could provide.

“With about N2bn; if you start, you see these guys with black ties, they will give you the N2bn. Many of the godfathers are either on paper or in the mind of people in politics. They are defeatable. We retired four of them in Kaduna State within a four-year time and they are gone. One of them boasted that he put me in the government house and he would take me out.”

Earlier in his lecture, El-Rufai said the difference between Nigeria and progressive nations of the world was because incompetent people were in charge in Nigeria.

He said, “In most of the developed worlds, the best and the brightest are in politics and public service. I urge you to google the profiles of the captains of the USA, UK, Japan, China and Singapore over the last 10 years and compare their educational and experience profile with ours, you will understand why we are where we are.

“The UK has been run by graduates of Oxford most of the time; the US has been run by graduates of Harvard and Yale most of the time in the last 100 years. You go to China, Singapore, similar profiles. In Nigeria, we have people that never went to school in our National Assembly. We have people with questionable qualifications as state governors. We will go nowhere as long as our best and brightest, people that sit in rooms like this are not in politics or public service.”

The President of Bridge Club, Mr A.U. Mustapha (SAN), who is El-Rufai’s private lawyer, described the governor as an upright and an intelligent person.

Mustapha said El-Rufai was invited so that he could tell the club members about himself, as opposed to the image being given him by the press.

Among the dignitaries at the event were the President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick; the Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Waheed Olagunju; and MD, First City Monument Bank, Adam Nuru.

https://punchng.com/how-to-end-godfatherism-in-lagos-politics-el-rufai/

[Edoman]

NEWS
Tinubu: Our godfather produced Buhari, show what you’ve done – Yoruba youths blast El-Rufai
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 May 8, 2019
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The Yoruba Council of Youths Worldwide has described remark by the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai that he would teach people of Lagos State how to end godfatherism as “abysmally insulting”.

The youths said El-Rufai lacked the credibility to utter such seditious statement in Yoruba land.
Addressing journalists yesterday in Lagos State, the council’s president, Aremo Oladotun Hassan warned El-Rufai to desist from acts that could earn him disgrace from Yoruba nation.

He challenged the Governor, who claimed to have ended godfatherism in his state, to tell the world how he has improved the lives of people in Kaduna State with evidence.
He also warned that youths in the South West would reject any attempt by any individual, to intrude or disrespect political leaders in the region.
Hassan wondered how someone, who ought to focus on how to end insecurity and abject poverty ravaging his state and region, would “come to the megacity, the Centre of Excellence and the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria and Africa’s emerging economic hub to claim he wants to end Godfatherism”.

He said: “Even as he claimed that he had ended Godfatherism in Kaduna, we are yet to see the benefits of his political victory in the lives of the people of Kaduna and the development of the state, unlike Lagos where our progressive leader of leaders has great successes to show.
“Our so-called ‘Godfatherism’ system helped in sustaining the struggle against opposition in Nigeria and led to the building of the strong political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), that made it possible for the enthronement of President Muhammadu Buhari, which also helped the same el-Rufai become the Kaduna State Governor.

“Our so-called ‘Godfatherism’ helped sustain Lagos as the commercial hub of Nigeria and the fifth largest economy in Africa.

“Our so-called ‘Godfatherism’ has produced some of the best brains, who are currently an integral part of Nigeria’s political base and socio-economic development today, thriving in all sectors of the economy, with succinct track records of excellence and landmarks achievements in the country.
“Our so-called ‘Godfatherism’ has put Lagos as the most viable self-sustaining state in Nigeria today.
“Our so-called ‘Godfatherism’ has made Lagos among states with the best infrastructure in Africa, leaving no stone unturned towards achieving greater heights as one of the world’s leading economies.

“Governor el-Rufai is renowned for being too overzealous for power. He is a harbinger of crises. Hence, his previous contemptuous stands on issues of national development, being override with his penchant for ethnic bigotry and indiscriminate devaluation of humanity. We condemned his crocodile tears in its entirety.

“Nigerians still kept fresh in their memories the hate speech and treasonable felonious statements credited to Governor el-Rufai on threats of mass genocide and killings in body bags he issued to international observers during the last 2019 election, a repetition of what is happening in Southern Kaduna, which almost caused the nation a huge embarrassment and a disaster, if not for our intervention as future heirs of Nigeria.

“Going back to memory lane, we cannot forget in a hurry the double jeopardy situation, where some traitors in Yoruba land collaborated with some hegemonic structures to betray the late sage of great memory, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and we will never allow history to repeat itself.”

[Edoman]

Northern Group Drums Support For El-rufai On Anti-godfatherism


Northern Group Drums Support For el-Rufai On Anti-godfatherismPublished 5 mins ago on 5 mins ago By AZA MSUE Kaduna A northern group under the auspices of Allied Vanguard for Defence of Democracy has thrown its weight behind governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state on his anti godfatherism comnent, describing the responses by former governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s royalists as unfortunate. 

The group’s leader, Mohammed Sabiu Turaki said Tinubu camp had carelessly jumped aboard a flight without actually knowing its destination. According to the group, the lame response by the Tinubu loyalists only goes to confirm the level at which Tinubu has manipulated the total available activity in the South West political environment. 

“The desperate response, though grossly inadequate, is a further testimony to Tinubu’s entrenched fear of an imminent loss of control of almost a decade old grip of the southwestern political space. “Tinubu is afraid that Elrufai’s comments could awaken the spirit of self-preservation in the younger generation of South Westerners signalling an early demise of an era of domination by Tinubu and his ilk,” Turaki said in the statement. 

The Group warned what it called Tinubu’s hired troubleshooters to respect democratically defined extents and limits as they attempt to protect the diminishing era of godfatherism. “Governor Elrufai was right to have suggested that a political space devoid of the undue dominance of godfathers is achievable in Nigeria including the Lagos axis where Tinubu holds sway. “It is also true that Governor Elrufai has uprooted the pillars of fascist godfatherism and flushed it out of the political system of Kaduna state. 

“The fear of the imminent reality of Elrufai exporting the ‘end of the godfathers syndrome to other places, must have informed Tinubu’s careless reaction that only exposed his desperation for the nation’s presidency in 2023. “It must also have informed his desperate move to disrupt the northern voter strength by attempting to dislocate the region’s political hub domiciled in Kano. 

“This follows his perception of an impending defeat in the battle for the control of the soul of the National Assembly after the North had seen through his antics and is poised to scuttle it,” Turaki said. Turaki reaffirmed his group’s commitment to the upcoming struggle for a genuinely new political order advocated by Elrufai. “For the avoidance of doubt, we are solidly behind Elrufai and his anti-godfatherism drive and shall spare no effort in promoting and protecting it,” he said.

https://leadership.ng/2019/05/20/northern-group-drums-support-for-el-rufai-on-anti-godfatherism/?fbclid=IwAR3GTTjVcEeyMIQtbwtj3UJoaZFx6GkDAEn3NEwbVKO1RDXkUTfApRucew8