Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has shared with a Former National Legal Adviser of the All Progressive Congress, and Chairman of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigerian, Dr Muiz Banire, on how to end godfatherism in Lagos state.
El-Rufai while responding to a comment from Dr Muiz Banire that ”godfathers were one of the drawbacks for professionals and businessmen who might want to go into politics” said:
“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.
He added that he retired these four politicians because he chose to be close to the people.
His words:
“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.”
On how to end godfatherism in Lagos 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.”
He made this known during at an event organized by the Bridge Club tagged, “An evening with His Excellency Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State” yesterday, 4th May.
