 Tonight we assess the Godfather General's power play in Nigeria ahead of the 2020 elections and also 447 of 5,000 nominees selected for national awards, says Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs George Akume. This is Laws Politics, I'm Emmanuel Ulububukum. Glad to have you back. The 2020 elections can be likened to a race of the fittest by fitness, it means that every political party must ensure to erode the best candidate for winning the race. The behind-the-scenes efforts of Niger's former military leaders, according to reports, was a salient feature of the last presidential primary of the main opposition people's Democratic Party, PDP. When parties did not follow the democratic processes to present a candidate for the general elections, the obvious result is the Anakin Nigerian's experience during elections as a tuggery and all the forms of violence have been truncated in the process. During this life, all to discuss this is up now in Kotaire at the civil rights advocate and as an executive in the Etok governorship candidate of the EDC, River State. Glad to have you on the programme. Yes, good evening my brother and good evening my dear friends. Yes, now I was looking at what is on the ground in terms of Godfatherism, in terms of looking at Godfatherism in the country. What can you say first is this manner of Godfatherism, you know, wanting to look after to get re-addicted from a particular person before I can run for any position in the country? Well, Godfatherism is a function of certain very large appetite to dominate the political space. And so what they do is to ensure that they get into positions of authority, their fish and addles, their lackeys, and those that they believe are loyal to them. With the primary aim of controlling them. So when they are even out of office, I'm talking of the Godfatherism, they have got some to do their bidding. And this is just the genesis of Godfatherism. There is this natural tendency for certain persons to control the will of power. And unfortunately, these Godfathers are the ones with the financial watchers, are the ones who have the clouds, are the ones with the clouds to enjoy. I mean, not just the clouds, if I say clouds, I will go up. If it's a cloud, then you are talking of mobilizing. But these are the ones who are in charge of mechanism that leads out in the country. So they decide not to expand them, the competence of whoever they want to put in there, what is primary to the Godfatherism is loyalty. Mr. Ezekiel, are you with us? Hello, can you hear me? Yes, Walden Clay, can you? Yes, I can. Okay, now looking at the topic, we have before us assessing the Godfather general powers in play in Nigeria, head of the fourth government entry general elections. I was asking, looking at that Godfatherism, what can you say it's ease? You see, the concept of Godfatherism is getting a little bit redefined to be like political sponsors, because it's getting a little more dynamic. In the past couple of weeks, as it were, I've been running, as it were, public enlightenment on funding for elections. It is within the context of looking for funds, because now we don't have electoral processes where one man can sit and detect, unlike before, where he had the power to do and undo. These days, with the innovations from INEC, you discover that if you have funds, you can do, you can run a solo, you can have a solo run. So right now, we are looking more into the Godfathers being replaced by the funders of your campaign. It's become a lot more complicated, and I was able to outline five funders of campaigns. The first are just run very quickly, because of time. The first is what I call personal funds, the money that you've been able to put together yourself, and then you look at your worth and you can maybe bring out 300, 400, 500 million of your money, and put that up and believe that your people will run with you, because your intention is to serve. So you make that, make that personal sacrifice, personal funds and your friends. Then the second one is a loan, a political loan. Political loan is the one that you just put down a major property and it is a do or die affair, and somewhere along the line, you can very easily get to endorse another person, so it's like sell out towards the end. The third is what we call the political funders. That is where you now call the Godfather kind of stuff. Three, four friends come together and they say, we want to take off the government of a quiet state. Let's recruit a willing hand that can run the campaign with fund, but then we become the owners of the government. You don't need to have your money, you just do your bidding. This is what we want every month, and this is what we want to decide on things and that. Then the fourth one is gov, you just dip your hand into the seal of government, and then take the money and run the election. Now these two are related in the sense that except you're a second-term governor, you get a first-term governor, you have to depend on somebody, dips his hand into the seal and funds your election, and then you become the boy of that person until you gain your freedom as it were. The last one is about the most dangerous, which is the ritual. You go to the devil, let me put it up bluntly, and you get a deal with him. Every billion has five, ten heads to go. One must be a child that is not more than seven days old, and you have to come and kill that child by pounding in front of you, and the others have to be giving somebody must be an albino on one month after a hunchback. Know those things. For each billion, there's a package of ten heads, and they give that to you, rituals. So by coming back to your question, the man who brings out money from his pocket, like me, I took to run for the governorship of a state, he doesn't need any government or nothing. And the man who takes his money based on his property doesn't need it. It is between these two, the one who goes to political funders, they do the business of politics, the old states, between that and those who dip their hands into the government seal to bring money to run election. So that is becoming a little different from what we used to have before where we had this strong man of the bad on politics, and then he will say, this one goes, that one stays. Now, it's becoming a little more dynamic, and a little different from what was in the past. Okay. Yes. Now, still on that now, you know, it has been said that over years, you know, we have the Godfatherism being the plane in terms of owning the country, per se, like Nigeria as it is. And but now, you know, people are still saying that it seems that even the so Godfathers are the ones now wanting to, you know, be at the forefront of this election, not looking at the force coming to enter in general elections. Now, what can you say to this? Because in terms of ownership, now you said they do the funding. But some say that some that don't actually do the funding, according to some that have gotten that they actually do the funding, they actually stand and say, okay, this must not work without my knowledge. What can you say to this? No, no, you see, there are two processes. The first process is inter-party within the party. They can, they still call the shots, they still own the party. They can say, I want this person, I don't want this person. But when you move to the next phase where you've gotten the ticket, you're not a candidate, you know, these are two different fields of play, and the models operandi are different. Within the parties, the party, you know, internal party mechanisms are still not tight, not, they still, isn't that independence, so to speak. You know, there's still a good amount of ownership of the party. For instance, if you want to get a ticket, the governor of that state is going to determine whether you get a ticket or not to a very great extent. You know, the governor is like the godfather in the party, in the state. But like I said, you can be your godfather, you can be the governor, you can give the ticket, but that guy's going to leave and face the general public. And with the introductions of INEC right now. So we need to know where we are talking. We are talking about, you know, getting the ticket, you know, becoming a candidate. Then we can say that there's still a lot of godfathersism, which is like owners of the party. When you come into general election, no, that's a lot of things are changing right now. I can tell you that for free. Okay, now we have open a ball on standby now. So what can you say about this? You've had Mr. Ezekiel talk about the godfathersism now. What can you say in terms of how it has played a part in Nigerian politics, you know, for its inception, you know, to date? And it's actually playing, because some say it will still continue to play. What can you say to this? Well, actually your question is how the rule of godfathers Yes, yes, in terms of looking at politics in Nigeria. No, like I said, I was saying this for the third time. Yes. I just said it's to remove control, the machinery of godfathers, the rules of godfathers. So they are outside and they plan their promise and not necessary plans of competence, but those that are loyal to them and not necessarily loyal to the constitution or loyal to the people that supported me put them in there, but those that will give their own building while they're in office. And most of the teachings, they are so complex. And that's why in fact, you have all kinds of characters that are not qualified in government, in positions of authority. Because if they know that you're competent and eminently qualified and you have a mind of your own, because they know that you're competent and eminently qualified, and you have a mind of your own, because they know that you're competent and eminently qualified. So they believe that you will go in there, hello? Yes, I can hear you. Hello? Yes. Yes, they will never want you to get into office. They want those that millions that they can control. And it started with the generals, because they were in office. Apologize. Hello? Yes, I can hear you. Now, go ahead. Go ahead, sir. Yes. And most of them have finished the tragedy, right? So they had enough money to control, to control the public and to control the system. And they were in charge. So they detested the base, and that was why the generals that they got from them. But they are far away, because now you have civilians in positions of authority, and these civilians that have been in office and have also finished the tragedy drive. So they believe, like governments, they have to ensure that those that will cover their tracks, those that will be loyal to them, even when they are out of office, are the ones that are being planted. And this is what you will require to have got Fadarizim in politics. So now, are we not saying now, this I'm going to be asking Mr. Ezekiel, sir. Now I'm going to say this. Are we not saying that now, looking at it as God Fadarizim now, played a huge part in terms of Nigerian politics. What I'm trying to imply in terms of fact that now over time, looking at the economy, looking at how far the Nigerians have gone for the 62 years, since we just since independence. How has God Fadarizim been so far? And should we still allow this to still play out? Okay, like what my brother has said, is very, very likely true. You know, there was always been money in politics, and money was in the hands of a few people. Okay, prior to 1999. And even the first set of people that came in, but when you had the first set of governors that had two terms, they had enough money. And then you had the second set from 2007. They had a lot more people that had a lot more money. By the time you came to the next set of 2015, we don't have people who can like run elections independent of the Godfathers. And as a result of that, the influence that these people wielded, which had to do with money, is not as strong as it was. And there's something that he said, which is very fundamentally true. The so-called sponsorship of Godfadarizim concept thrives on one thing, what they call loyalty, their concept of loyalty, which is becoming their boy, feeling their greed, and being held hostage almost throughout. So, but I would like, I think these sort of discussions are relevant to the extent that they extract the future. I think that what I would like to put forward to our people today is that, we've passed the era of getting tickets, everybody has had today. I hope you know that today, that the campaigning for the governors and the state have assembly officially took off. And as from today, we are not talking of aspirants, how you get the ticket, we are talking of candidates, how you get the ballot. And within that concept, I need the people to understand that the power now comes back to them, no matter who was the Godfather, who was in the Godfather. It is now in the hands of Nigerians to decide who they want to have as their next president or as the next governor. If we are able to enlighten the people enough for them to realize that the power of the Godfather is only to the extent where they use their resources to influence you. Because now there isn't that thongry anymore, there isn't that violence anymore, not as preponderance as before. But now it is the people deciding and what place next is the vote buying. And it's a choice of the people who say, I'm going to sell my future for this, my four years for this 2009 era, but we are going to do massive work. And it started, I just came from a local community where I had what I could call my takeoff in a community that we had less than 500 people, so to speak, where we sat down and what happened there was phenomenal. It was fire because I was able to sit with the people and for over an hour, drill down how the power beckoned me in their hands now. So now the more we are able to enlighten the people, the more they realize that the Godfathers would lose their hold on the people for as long as the people realize that they would rather choose a better future than a present, you know? It's like stripping your future to enhance your present. We are going to enlighten the people and they are buying it. From what I saw today, it was awesome and we need to do a lot more to enlighten the people and by so doing we would have finally broken the backs of these so-called Godfathers. Of course, we need to do a lot more enlightening people in the area of Godfathers. But because of our time, we will be able to take much out. We thank you very much, and Mr Apunavore, in Kothari and Ursu, Mr Zikil, who happens to be the ADC Governorship Candidate for the United States. Can I take your act? Okay, just a few minutes, sir. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We have an act which I wanted to talk about. So, I'm looking for my next one just a nice one. I'm looking for my next one. I'm looking for my next one. And I would like to add a lot of things that I do here. So, we're going to have to conform to the principles. There should be four types in use values. In other words, I, for example, I'm not a member of any political party. Okay. So, we'll be finished on the candidates. I will vote across party lines. My Ask My Assembly member might be a member of a different political party. My look, my chairman might be a member of a different party. A member of a different party. I don't give a damn. What matters is the deliverance of democracy and good governance. And so, we need a lot of enlightenment and I'll join Nigeria to also count their votes in that line. Of course. That's a big plea. You know, looking at the fact that many Nigerians now are turning out in masses, are turning out in masses to get their votes to start. Many thanks for joining us on the program, Mr. Ziko and also Mr. Opinabu. God bless you. Thank you very much. And now, while doing the stubbornness, we will take a short break now and when we get back, we will be discussing the National Honours Award given by the federal government. Mr. Widaz.