By – Olukayode Salako.
“Democracy is about interest and passion to run it and build it in public life. When they were spending their money, building it for themselves, many of us were calling politics a dirty and stupid games. They spent their money to woo us to their parties; donate their properties; risk the lives of their children and family members; spend their times; used their intellectual endowments to build the political parties all of us are calling our own today.
But, stupidity is it, when it is time to reap the fruits of their labours; exercise the influence of their involvements and promote their founding interests, we start calling them ugly and unprintable names. If they were our fathers, would we say the same things?! If we were their children, would we hate them for building a strong political future and structures for us to stand and run on?! That is the big questions?! Those people we call ‘godfathers’ today, are the same people, who risked everything to build it for themselves in our public governance space, when our own fathers were busy doing their own private businesses.
Some of them have been attacked and have died in it. Many of them were hounded in prison like common criminals by the military of yesteryears. Some them ran into exile, when the heat was too much. We should let them enjoy the fruits of their hard earned labours. The most important thing is that we must continue to use the democracy to build a good society for the benefits of all of us. We must continue to call on them to be incorruptible with our common wealth and do what is right for Nigeria.
We deserve a good Nigeria that works for the good life of every Nigerian. That is what we must all be interested in and keep calling on them to achieve for the good of our dear country. Godfathers in politics are everywhere all over the world.
Nigeria is not an exception and cannot be an exception. It is an integral parts of any democratic syetem. Little wonder, political parties without the elements and influence of the founding fathers or godfatherism as we call it, hardly thrive in our own society. Who is going to spend the money?! Who is going to spend all the time?! Who is going to spend the risk, without benefiting anything from it at the end of the day?! It is good we also know that President Muhammadu Buhari too was a godfather in his ANNP and CPC days, before he stood his ground to become the president of Nigeria”
