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Godfatherism and the
future of Nigerian democracy
O. Akinola Adeoye
Department
of political science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife,
Osun State, Nigeria. E-mail:
aoakinola@oauife.edu.ng,
oyeakinola@yahoo.com
Accepted
15 June, 2009 |
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The study explores the relationship between godfathers and
godsons with a particular attention to its influence on the
development of Nigeria’s politics, and seeming demise of
resourceful governance in the country. The study adopts
unstructured interview to elicit the perception of actors’
involved and political elites, relying on qualitative and
content analyses of data. The study found that there was a
shift in the modus operandi of post independence
godfatherism, and what obtains in contemporary Nigeria was
violence-inspired godfatherism, which successfully replaced
politics of welfare by politics of warfare in the affected
areas. This acted as impediments to sustainable
democratization process in Nigeria. The study concludes by
recognizing the inevitability of godfathers in politics but
there was the need for proper management of godfather/godson
relationship.
Key
words:
Godfatherism, patron-client politics, mafianism. |
