Godfather Politics and Democratic Sustenance in Nigeria

Abstract

An emergent feature of the Nigerian democracy is the politics of godfatherism in the electoral process. In Nigeria today, one can hardly win an election without a godfather. Godfathers see politics as an opportunity to invest in their Godsons, with the aim of getting not only their money back but also making profits; it has now become a source of business. Politics has been monetized in Nigeria, credibility no longer counts, citizens with the highest bids gets party nominations, secure tickets and win elections. Most of the credible candidates do not have huge amount of money to purchase party nomination forms. This links us to Godfatherism where those who are financially handicapped are sponsored by some people called the Godfathers to clinch electoral victory. The paper gives an overview of godfather politics and democratic sustenance in Nigeria. The paper examined the activities of godfathers in Nigeria and the effects associated with them. The study adopted the secondary sources of data collection while the elite theory was utilized as the theoretical underpinning. The findings of the study reveal that godfathers truncate democracy as they deprive the people from voting for credible and competent candidates. The paper among others, recommends that there should be orientation and enlightenment by government agencies saddled with the mandate such as National Orientation Agency (NOA) on the dangers and consequences of political godfatherism.