Kaduna Gov. Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has rubbished the idea that godfathers are indefeasible, saying with the help of bankers, bright and educated Lagosians can go directly to the people toget rid of godfatherism in the state politics.
Responding to a question on godfatherism asked by Muiz Banire, a commissioner and governor-wannabe for years in Lagos, el-Rufai said he has so defeated and retired four political godfathers in Kaduna, and Lagosians can borrow his model.
“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,” said the APC governor in Ikoyi during the weekend.
He was delivering a keynote at an event organised by the Bridge Club tagged “An evening with His Excellency Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State”.
The president of the club A.U. Mustapha, a SAN, is el-Rufai ‘s lawyer.
“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,” the governor added.
Political upstarts in Lagos have been breaking ranks recently by kicking against the decision of the strongman of the state politics Bola Tinubu, the ruling party national leader.
Banire, who had been commissioner under Tinubu, and his cohort recently did a running battle with the former governor and APC national leader last year. The battle led to Banire’s suspension from the state’s APC. The professor of law and SAN also lost his post as the party’s legal adviser when the dust setted.
If that is the hard part, el-Rufai offered the solution: N2 billion.
“If you start, you see these guys with black ties, they will give you the N2bn,” he said.
The money will be spent amongst other things on a study of why five million of the six million registered voters in Lagos kept away on the election day.
That done, they will find out the Lagos political godfather is not invincible.
“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,”said the governor.
El-Rufai just won a second term as Kaduna governor. Many believe he piggybacked on President Muhammadu Buhari to win his first term in 2014. And the governor too has openly admitted he’s a Buharist. Even before Buhari, PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar brought el-Rufai under his wing between 1999 and 2003, in the glory day of the PDP.
His closeness to the president has made many concluded he’s gunning for Aso Rock in 2023, an ambition that might have pitted him against Tinubu. The APC national leader have been getting bad raps for his support of anything Buhari—a strategy for positioning himself for 2023 presidency that might be zoned to the south.