Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated- Lamido Sanusi

You know, by the time the announcement was made that I had been removed for insubordination—you know, that is the word, insubordination—you would think that somebody who says you are subordinate to him is somebody who is superior to you.

You know, like I said in Abuja, I have my records of service, my father has his record of service, and my grandfather’s record of service. We cannot be intimidated by somebody because you’re president or you’re a governor, and we cannot tell you that you’re wrong.

We’ve chosen different paths, and I said yesterday, and I’ll say it again: if I had gone into politics, at least given the people who have succeeded in becoming president in Nigeria, I could have been president or could be governor. So, choosing not to go into politics doesn’t make me a subordinate human being. This is what we all have to learn as Nigerians. We take too much rubbish and we’re all too afraid, too much in our comfort zones. By the time these guys finish with us, our children will not have a nation.

And this is the real challenge that we face. How do we stand up? How do we retrieve our nation? How do we go back to that vision that we had? How do we give our children the opportunities that we have had and even better? This is the question that each of us must take with us, and the only way to do it is, if you’re not in politics, you must hold those in politics to account.

It’s not a comfortable situation to be in, but believe me, you know when people are incompetent and they don’t like you, you wear their dislike as a badge of honor.

You can’t be comfortable; you can’t be normal in a dysfunctional environment, so we must get outside our comfort zones, and that is the only way we can change this country.

For the young people: do not fear, this is your country, this is your future. Take hold of it, work for it, and build it. Don’t let anyone tell you to run away because you have a degree. Go to England, go to America, go to France. This is your country. You’re coming back here, so let’s work to build one for you and you help us build this country for you.”