POLITICAL GODFATHERISM, ELECTORAL POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

[the agent of change]

An emergent feature of politics in Nigeria is the phenomenon of godfatherism
in the leadership of political parties. As a result of the political class’s corruption of the
electoral process and governmental structures, electoral politics and state power are
skewed towards satisfying the self-regarding interests of the dominant political mentors
otherwise known as ‘political godfathers’. Relying on their wealth, they secure party
nomination for candidates of their choice, sponsor their election, including manipulating
the electoral process. This paper is intended to examine critically the phenomenon of
political godfatherism in Nigeria and its implications for the people’s clamour for
democracy. It is also intended to proffer logically derived solutions to the problem of
godfatherism and democracy in Nigeria and other developing countries.Introduction
In most countries of the world, the clamour for democracy is prevalent.
Furthermore, almost all regime types claim to be democratic. Thus, the
political class, especially in the developing countries, often exploit the
woolliness in the definition of democracy to consolidate, and socially
reproduce undemocratic political activities in the name of democracy. In that
consideration, Bernard Crick (1983) opines that ‘it is perhaps the most
promiscuous word in the world of public affairs.’ The subject of this paper, political godfatherism, is not a new phenomenon
in politics. It is as old as competitive struggle for power and governance in
all polities. However, it has different names in different political cultures.
Differences also abound in terms of its characteristics and implications in
society. Nevertheless, the concept of political godfatherism in Nigeria is a
recent development. It has, however, gained prominence in Nigeria’s
political lexicon as a result of the fact that the phenomenon it refers to has
become a dominant feature of electoral politics and governance in the
country.We need a working definition of democracy as our first step towards a
critical discourse of godfathersim as a feature of electoral politics and
governance in Nigeria, or in any other polity.