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Godfatherism And Political Conflict In Nigeria: An Opinion Survey Of Voters
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The human race will
never see the end of troubles until political power is entrusted to the
lover of wisdom “Plato Republicâ€. My first approach to the challenge of
this topic, is that we have no choice but to seed to return to the basic
context in which Nigerians see the godfather or the conflicts as a
segment of the political process as well as the figure, standing against
the intellectual extrapolations originating in, and also sustained by,
the media.
Politics as a concept when considered against its
definition by David Easton, could be said to have been in existence as
early as any grouping or organization of people which is formal or
sometimes when informal. The Eastonian definition posits that politics
is the “authoritative allocation of scare valuesâ€. This definition could
also be viewed from the point of struggle for the political power will
to authoritatively allocates these values through the point of
influencing the decisions of who gets what, when and how and finally
climaxing at the contestation for the voice of veto on the
implementation of the decisions taken.
However, from the
above brief overview of the concept of politics would reveal some key
factors, the values of resources available to be shared amongst members
of the scarce and cannot sufficiently satisfy the needs of every member
of the group. This is why there is need for an authority which will
decide on the allocation of these scarce resources supposedly in
accordance with priority of importance. Another factor to be printed out
is that since the decision of ‘what’ anyone would get from the system
resides at the points of who makes up the authority of allocation, there
is therefore clashes and disagreements at these decisions points.
If the two above factors are aggregated, it would become clear that the
political process is one that can be figuratively termed, WAR. And if
all these conflicts cannot be amicably resolved by way of resolutions,
then the system is at a point of crisis.
The trend of
‘political godfatherism’ which in turn is derived from the maker or
sustainers of an aspect of reality, a people to whom great importance is
attached. We can then see that there is a relationship between
godfather and god-child; godchild being a child for whom one takes
responsibility by making promises to help grow in a sphere of life, and
god-fatherism has become one of the greatest problem facing the Nigerian
political system. It leads to corruption because you have to make
returns (he that soweth bountifully, reapeth bountifully). The holder of
the political position becomes a stooge to his godfather because he
that pays the piper dictates the tune. By the time the godson refuse to
meet their (godfathers) demand, it is eventually impeachment from
political offices (what a man soweth, that he reap).
In the
Nigeria fourth republic dispensation (1999 till date) in question,
Anenih – Igbinedion, the Sariki – Lawal face-off, Nwobodo –Nnamani
quagmire, Adebibu – Ladoja crisis, Uba – Ngige sage and all other
godfather – protégé crisis in Nigeria do not only portend great danger
to our democratic experiment, but also on the very essence and validity
of our existence as a nation. The billions of naira expended by Nigerian
godfathers for bankrolling the elections of their godsons, have totally
monetized elections in Nigeria, which automatically disqualifies men of
honour, character and integrity from holding elected public positions.
Without doubt, the phenomenon has assumed this bizarre from since the
enthronement of Nigeria civil rule on May 29, 1999. it started with the
acrimony that existed between chief Anthony Anenih (godfather) and Lucky
Igbinedion (protégé), the governor of Edo State between May 1999, to
May 2003. Chief A. Anenih was purported to have endorsed the candidate
of Lucky Igbinedion against other contenders as the governor of the
state and also bankrolled his campaign expenses. But Lucky Igbinedion
failed to reciprocate the gesture of Anenih by not giving him adequate
government patronage and by acting in ways as loyal ‘godson’. The
episode unfolded itself between Dr. Jim Nwobodo (godfather) and Dr.
Chimaroke Nnamani (protégé), of Enugu State. Though the godson
eventually subdued the godfather after a fierce struggle for the soul of
the state. (Essence Library, Godfatherism in Nigeria Politics, 2004, p.
64).
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Godfatherism has become an attribute in modern day Nigerian politics which could either foster democratic stability or retard democratic progress. This study hopes to bring to a clearer understanding, the nature and prevailing characteristics of godfather/godson relationship, the dimension it has assumed in recent times and how it has shaped and influenced the adult citizenry in the country. In order to achieve this objective, secondary data was applied to get a concr ... Continue reading---
