PERILS OF THE PATRIARCH:
…Godfather Politics in Nigeria

by Tatalo Alamu

The godfather never sleeps indeed. If he ever does, particularly in the political jungle of post-colonial Nigeria, it must be with both eyes wide-opened. With the duel between Adams Oshiomhole and Godwin Obaseki, the Governor of Edo State and erstwhile political godson, now assuming an ominous and tragic dimension, perhaps the time has come to beam a searchlight on the phenomenon of godfatherism in contemporary Nigerian politics and how it impacts on the tortuous transition to democracy in the country.

Last week we noted that in Nigeria as well as most African nations, the transition to political modernity is often hobbled by the residual accretions of traditional authoritarian societies as they confront and clash with the imperatives and demands of modern nationhood as well as the fundamental cannons of liberal democracy. In the push and pull of contrasting values and countervailing notions of the nation, foundational rules of liberal democracy often give way to frank autocracy or sometimes the insurmountable contradictions prove fatal to the nation itself.

When Charles de Gaulle observed that the graveyard is filled with the bones of indispensable men, he could have had Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in mind. De Gaulle was a military genius, exemplary political strategist and master prose stylist of the modern French language. The great French soldier was also a profound observer of human frailties.

Matching De Gaulle genius for genius, wit for wit and epigrammatic brilliance for epigrammatic brilliance is Enoch Powell, the late British politician, who mournfully observed that all political careers end in failure. Powell was a full professor of Classics at the age of twenty four, a brigadier general during the Second World War and a major political star in British politics before his own career succumbed to his dyspeptic dictum. Between the two titans lies some home truth.

It is to be noted that with the possible exception of Lagos state where the most proactive and potent political machine for mass mobilization and elite containment is in place, virtually all the violent contestations between godfathers and their estranged political godsons in the Fourth Republic have ended in defeat, disgrace and defenestration for the godfathers.

Yet godfatherism is a human phenomenon, taking its particular colouration from epoch and society. In its manifestation in post-military Nigeria, an influential and powerful political Capone takes a younger colleague under his wings and whose career he or she proceeds to guide, protect and nurture to full stardom. If he ever rises to the pinnacle of power, he is expected, all things being equal, to be full of gratitude and reverence for the person who has put him there, in short he is expected to become his alter ego.

But this is where the immutable law of the political jungle kicks in. According to the famous logic of Catch 22, one’s concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers real and immediate is the product of a rational mind. There is no paddy for jungle.

Godfatherism exists in all the professions, particularly in academics, military and business. But in almost all of them, there are unspoken rules and codified regulations guiding operational procedures. As ruthless and lawless as mafia clans may appear, they have a stringent code of conduct. One of which is the Law of omerta, or code of absolute silence. But in the corruption-driven, ego-fuelled politics of post-military Nigeria marked by sheer lack of ideological commonality and shared political values, lawlessness is the guiding law.

In what would have been otherwise unthinkable in normal, conventional and organic political parties, Oshiomhole traversed and scoured the length and breadth of the country in search of a durable, worthy and dependable successor; a safe pair hands that could sustain and safeguard his legacy while protecting his political base.

When eventually the wily tactician and combat-ready master of agitation politics appeared in public with the dour, sober and durable-looking technocrat and scion of Benin aristocracy, it was hailed by many as a political master-stroke and game-changer. Oshiomhole, himself a notorious slayer of hapless godfathers, appeared to have leapfrogged the banana peels that have seen his victims mumbling from the political graveyard.

Read Also: BREAKING: Obaseki, Oba of Lagos attacked at Oshiomhole’s residence
Yet despite resounding electoral victory, it has all ended in tears and nasty public recrimination. It was too good to be true. There have even been allegations of assault and political burglary. It would seem that the original curse of monarchical and dynastic succession politics in what is supposed to be a “free democracy” is yet to run its full course and be fully expiated. Otherwise, how else can one explain the ugly spectacle of father and political son publicly duelling unto death in what can only end in the mutual ruination of the contending parties, the one his throne and the other his base?

But rather than relying on metaphysical explanations for a concrete and physical political conundrum, it may be useful at this point to deepen the analysis by borrowing countervailing insights from Literary Theory and Literature itself.

In his famous theory of the anxiety of influence, Harold Bloom, himself borrowing from Freud, has advanced the thesis that in literature and criticism –and perhaps in life—the prime psychological preoccupation of the godson is to slay his godfather in order to gain access to his wealth, fame and influence. In this oedipal maelstrom, nothing can be taken for granted. The godfather must kill off the godson or the godson will kill the father eventually.

In a countervailing proposition, Henrik Ibsen, the great Nordic playwright, takes an intriguing perspective. In the play, The Master Builder, we behold a great architect whose sole psychological preoccupation is to thwart his gifted godsons at all costs and all means possible and to prevent them from reaching maturity and full stardom so as not to rival or threaten his pole position. Is there a master builder in every great professional?

It is this titanic struggle between destructive master-builders and their equally volatile and predatory godsons driven by oedipal animus that shape and define the contour of politics in the post-colonial coliseum. Taken together, the two contrasting insights present an engrossing parable for contemporary political developments in post-military Nigeria.

In more evolved societies and democratised nations that have moved away from the politics of patrimony and primitive accumulation, the destructive impact of the struggle is lessened and absorbed by the impersonal rigour of the system in all its stern impartiality. For example, it is implausible for a modern British prime minister or even less so a contemporary American president to insist on determining their successor or to ride roughshod over established guidelines for smooth succession.

And to think that things were not always like this. The current situation is an acute and accurate reflection of the balances of forces and the political powers at play. You cannot crash the gear of history except through revolution. Where we are coming from eventually determines and condition where we are going.

In the First Republic, the main parties were better organized and far more organic than what currently subsists. It would be quite a stretch for anybody to imagine that Chief S.L Akintola was Obafemi Awolowo’s political godson. They were both equal founders and joiners of the Action Group.

Neither can the thought be entertained that Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa was Ahmadu Bello’s political poodle. As a matter of fact at the first ever organised convention of what eventually transformed to the NPC in Jos at the end of the forties, Balewa, a better known entity and widely recognized leader in his own right, was already coasting to victory when the feudal rally intervened and secured victory for the scion of the Othman Dan Fodio oligarchy.

We must note for the sake of historical illumination that Akintola was not Awolowo’s first choice to succeed him as premier of the old Western Region. He was prevailed upon by royalist and right-wing forces that formed a vital component of the Action Group. Right from inception, the Action Group was an unstable congruence of left-wing progressive elements and right-wing, royalist and conservative entities.

When the inevitable split came, it was purely on ideological and political grounds and not personality tussles. In his bid to confront feudalism which he fingered as the bane of Nigeria’s political and economic development, Awolowo took a sharp lurch to the left by embracing the principles of democratic socialism.

To the pragmatic, right-wing conservative elements in the party that favoured accommodation and engagement with the northern oligarchy, this open declaration of warfare was nothing but political suicide and they accordingly demurred opening the door to external manipulation of the fault line and the eventual disintegration of the party.

Needless to add that the ensuing bitter tussle ended in mutual political ruination of the contending classes and the collapse of the First Republic which opened the door to the long night of military despotism whose ripple effects and post-traumatic stress are still being felt in the current republic.

All over the world, the military, particularly its uppermost caste, is an essentially conservative organization which privileges order and stability over political, economic and social justice. When a Nigerian military leader infamously declared that he did not know who would succeed him but he knew who would not, he was flying the kite for the politics of godfatherism and of deliberate and systematic exclusion.

The military insistence on having its way led to the collapse of the Third Republic in vitro and the tragic demystification of the army as a national institution. But the army quickly gathered its wits and was able to impose its will on the nation through more covert and insidious means in the Fourth Republic.

Yet as soon as General Obasanjo became the official candidate of the PDP, he roundly ignored the frontrunners for the Vice Presidential slot and went for a lowly Atiku Abubakar with a paramilitary background whom he famously asked whether he could obey simple instructions. Thus the foundation of the politics of godfatherism and deliberate exclusion was laid for the Fourth Republic.

The whole thing ended in nasty public recrimination and a protracted grudge match which affected the ability of the Obasanjo presidency to discharge its obligation in its last three years. Yet as a parting gift to the nation, Obasanjo, again out of turn and against the run of play, imposed Umaru Yar’Adua, a man with a tamer temperament and better credentials as a democrat with whom the Owu warrior had no ideological and political commonality beyond the fact that his late brother was Obasanjo’s loyal deputy as military head of state.

But as soon as Umaru Yar’Adua got to Aso Rock, he began dismantling Obasanjo’s legacy with a chilling resolve and to Obasanjo’s chagrin. In fact so peeved was the former president with Yar’Adua’s demolition work that he bitterly dismissed him as an ungrateful wretch in his memoirs. Once again, a godson has devoured his godfather.

The Fourth Republic is now suffused with this phenomenon. At the last count, in at least fourteen states all over the country, we have seen godsons lock horn with their godfathers. Some godfathers have been sent on what the Russians call internal deportation. More will come. Just like the civilian autocracy we are saddled with, it is an accurate reflection of the stage and state of our democratic evolution.