By joshua 
godfatherism as a setback to true democracy.
By Emman Gwatana
“THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HAS A DUTY TO CRITICALLY LOOK INTO THE ISSUE OF POLITICAL GODFATHERISM AND ELIMINATE IT FROM THE NATION’S BODY POLITY.”
If the words of a one time America President, Abraham Lincoln is anything to go by, then his candid postulations that “Democracy is a government of the people by the people and for the people” should be sacred among the nations practicing democracy.
Inventors of democracy have a good idea of what it should entail for the good of the people. The fathers of democracy had a master plan which is to ensure the participation of the citizenry on how they should be governed.
The master plan of democracy is entrenched on its roots which has its offshoots on the formation of political parties. As a matter of fact political parties are formed by individuals or people with the same political ideologies in order to form a government for the people.
Democracy across the globe is driven by political parties whose ideologies are clearly stated in their manifesto. The drive for membership of any political party is easily promoted through the statements of its manifesto.
In developed and developing democracies of the world, parties compete with others to win an election in order to form a popular government for the people. As is often seen, the competition among party members to pick the ticket and become the flag bearer is often fierce. Stronger parties are in most cases enmeshed in serious political wits among members competing for positions.
In every nation that democracy is being practiced, stronger parties are often in dilemma of the fierce competition among members to win its ticket. In the United States of America for instance, aspirants gunning for elective positions in either the Democratic or the Republican party often see themselves in duel battle for the primary elections. This is so as the two parties among other parties in the country have always had the edge in winning elections in that country.
In Britain, France and the United States of America, democratic practices are ran through the wishes of the masses. There might be some electoral infractions during the general elections of these countries but definitely not in a large scale.
Suffice to note here that, Nigeria as a country has in the past practiced the British parliamentary system of government and the America Presidential system of government. What might be missing however is the question of wether our nation has actually imbibed the true tenets of democracy as practiced by both the Great Britain and the United States of America.
What we have today as democracy evolved simultaneously with Nigeria’s independence as a nation in 1960. The colonial masters organized the first general elections in 1960 and the result produced Alhaji Tafawa Balewa as the first Prime Minister with Nnamdi Azikwe as the President. By the time Nigeria shifted to become a Republic in 1963, the conduct of the election ignited sectionalism and manipulation. The resultant effect was the political crisis which started in the Western part of the country and spread to other regions. The political unrest and series of economic sabotage led to the unfortunate coup led by Major Kaduna Nzeogu in 1966.
From 1966, the Nigeria military held to power for close to three decades untill it decided to relinquish it to the civilians in 1979. Prior to this, the military had put in place a constitution which ushered in the American presidential system of government with which it organized a general elections in 1979.
The Presidential system of government put in place by the military paved way for deep competition among the political gladiators in the country. While Nigerians welcomed the country’s return to democracy in 1979 it only lasted for four years as the military took over power again in 1983. For over two decades the military strongly held to power and in 1999 decided to return the country to a civilian rule.
Since 1999 the country has been practicing democracy. It is worthy to state here that the joy with which Nigerians celebrated the return to democracy in 1999 is gaining ground but not without its challenges. One of this challenge that is facing the nation’s democracy is the emergence of political godfatherism. It’s apt to state here that political godfatherism is not peculiar to Nigeria except for the fear of its possible deep entrenchment in the country if nothing is done about it.
Political godfatherism has its roots in the primary elections of various political parties which usually preceeds the general elections. It is good to note that primary elections of political parties goes a very long way in paving way for the victory of candidates contesting the general elections.
In Nigeria for instance two to three parties have dominated the nation’s political terrain. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Progressives Congress (APC) and of late, the Labour Party (LP) among others have dominated the nation’s political scene. The larger number of politicians preparing to contest general elections had often congregated on these three major political parties during party primary elections. The reason is that there is always this believe that picking a ticket from any of these parties is a sort of getting closer to winning an election.
The competition to win elections in the country by politicians is largely concentrated among the leading political parties in the country. These intense competition has led to the emergence of political godfatherism.
Political godfatherism in Nigeria appeared to have entrenched its tentacles among the former elected political office holders especially the former governors, National, State Assembly members and Local Government Chairmen. There is always the fear among past political office holders that should the fail to install their successor, their past in office could be exposed to the public. The second aspect is the greed by past political office holders to continue to hold to power by proxy to enable them to continue to amass inordinate wealth.
At the time Nigeria returned to the fourth Republic in 1999 people paid little attention to political godfatherism. In an irony of faith however, political godfatherism is now gaining ground in the nation’s polity. It is interesting to note that the aftermath of political godfatherism is today ravaging the political landscape of Rivers, Kano, Kaduna, Akwa-Ibom and some few other states in the country. Most of the former governors in these states in the last general elections hijacked the primary elections of their parties thereby paving way for them to install their puppets as governors, National, State Assembly members and Local Government Chairmen of their various states.
In Rivers State what appeared in the early part of 2024 as a mere disagreement between former governor Nyesom Wike and his successor Siminlaye Fubara has snowball into full blown “political war” in the better part of 2025. The political differences between the duo later led to a state of emergency in the state for six months. While recovering from the expiration of the six months state of emergency the state again was thrown into an impeachment saga but for the quick intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In Kano state, the Kwankwansiya movement is currently thrown to shreds as governor Abba Yusuf has allienated himself from Rabiu Musa Kwankwoso who was hitherto his political godfather. As a matter of fact, governor Yusuf has since defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), an action that has infrutiated Kwankwoso and has set Kano state for a political battle come 2027.
In Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai has since part ways with his political godson, governor Uba Sani who is currently the governor of the state. In Akwa-Ibom state all is not well with former governor Emmanuel Udom and his successor Governor Umo Eno. As a matter of fact these are not the best of times for political godfathers in the country.
While the nation is currently preparing for the conduct of the 2027 general elections, the activities of political godfathers to a large extent is drawing the attention of the electorates from the germane issues they had to contend with in future general elections.
A situation were political godfathers with stupendous resources buy election intent forms for governorship, National, State Assembly and Local Government Chairmen and sponsors their election, leaves much to be desired in the nation’s polity.
If the nation’s democracy is to thrive according to its rules, the nation’s National Assembly need to critically look into the issue of the rising cases of political godfatherism and provide a way out. If this is done, Nigeria democracy will thrive in a peaceful atmosphere and become a beacon of hope for democracies in Africa.
And it is only then the nation will become the true giant of Africa democratically.