Kaduna State Governor , Nasir El - Rufai, on
Friday, called on youths , corporate
professionals and religious leaders to join
active politics to contribute their quota and
make the country work.
The governor spoke in Victoria Island in Lagos
at ‘ Radio Now ’ s Urgent Conversation ’ with the
theme, ‘ The Fierce Urgency Of Now : Tactics
And Strategies To Pull Nigeria From The Brink ’ .
According to him , the country’ s best minds
must quit criticisms and come into mainstream
politics to drive Nigeria ’ s development journey .
That is the only way they can “ chase out old
men like me and take over , ” he said .
El - Rufai also said protests or activism will not
take anybody anywhere until “ good people ”
surrender themselves for public service and
endure the humiliation associated with serving
fatherland .

He said , “ Good people must offer themselves
for public service and suffer the indignity that
we all suffer every day , we get abused , we get
insulted, we get accused but we must have our
best people in public service , we must have our
best people in politics ; we should not have
them in banks , in telecom companies , in oil
companies , in civil societies protesting .
Protesting will take you nowhere unless you
have a seat at the table. The most important
table is that political table.
“ I got into government in a technocratic way , I
didn ’ t get into government to be appointed
minister because of politics . I was appointed
because the President liked me and thought I
could do the job . But I realised after that ,
politics trumps everything .

“ So, my call to Nigerians is if you want to see
better governance , be part of the selection
process of those that offer themselves for public
service and politics . And the only way to do so
is to join political parties and be active and
influence the leadership that emerges in the
political parties which usually influences the
leadership that are offered for election . There is
no other way , there is no shortcut to it .

“ I appeal to young Nigerians , comfortable
Nigerians – because public service pay is very
poor . So , comfortable Nigerians should leave
what they are doing; the pastors and imams
that have made money , the bankers , the
telecoms guys , leave that thing , come and make
Nigeria work , because if it doesn ’ t work, you
will not sleep at night no matter how much
money you have made .
“ I believe that there is hope , I believe if we
have more and more young people , we have
five million of them attaining the age of 18
every year , they can come and overwhelm the
parties and chase out old men like me and take
over but they must come ; they cannot stand by
the sidelines and keep criticising .
“ Solutions are what this country needs and you
can only propose this solution , fight for them in
the system . ”
https://punchng.com/how-youths-can-chase-old-men-like-me-out-of-politics-el-rufai/