2019: Nigeria’s Democracy and the Dictatorship of Godfathers
However, even with this, he has shown that he decides who gets what in the state especially, at the federal level. He was that made Dakuku Peterside the managing director of Nigeria Maritime Security and Administration, NIMASA, he successfully won two Senate seats for his party in the state and got another one to defect to APC from the PDP not long ago. Apart from this, he has openly endorsed Sahara Energy, Tonye Cole, as the APC standard bearer for next year’s governorship election in the state.
Despite opposition, the Rivers godfather is pushing on.
George Akume/ Benue
The former governor of Benue State, now a senator, has been having a running battle with his political godson and incumbent governor, Samuel Ortom. But they used to be best of pals, politically. While Akume remains close to the powers that be in Abuja, the beginning of the end of the rosy political relationship between the duo started after the killings in the state which pitched the people of the state against the federal government. The belief was that the federal government was giving tacit support to the Fulani herdsmen killing farmers in the state.
Akume was said to have been one of those who did not want the governor to give state burial to those killed by herdsmen in the state late last year as it was believed that would further whip up sentiment against the federal government and the ruling APC. Ortom went ahead and Akume was not happy. Before then, many, especially party leaders at the centre, were not happy because Akume signed the Anti-Grazing Law as passed by the state House of Assembly.
In the same vein, Ortom has accused Akume of asking him to share state money with him running into billions so he could oil his political machine. He even claimed he gave the former governor a road construction contract worth over N5billion. Apart from that, Ortom accused Akume of wanting to determine who gets what in the state. His words:
“He (Akume) felt he should have a hold on the party and then decides who gets what. This is a democracy. We should allow internal democracy and allow people to have inputs,” Akume told Premium Times, an online newspaper during an interview.
Akume was not one to let all these go. He moved against his godson. He was accused as being behind the failed attempt to get the minority of the state House of Assembly to impeach the governor in May. In fact, Akume was accused of bringing the policemen from Abuja to effect the botched impeachment. It must be noted that Ortom has since decamped from the APC to the PDP.
To observers, the move only further strained the relationship between the godson and his godfather.
Ibikunle Amosun/ Ogun
Only few can deny that Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the Ogun State governor, is a consummate politician who knows his onions and who understands the game of power. While his state boasts of many political bigwigs, SIA, as he is fondly called by his admirers, seemingly wants to use the 2019 elections to show that he is the new godfather of Ogun State politics.
Reports from the state last week indicated that the state might be going for consensus arrangement in picking candidates for elective positions in the state for the 2019 general elections. On Monday this week, the governor, in consultation with some elders of the state, announced the names of those that would contest for the three senatorial seats in the states and all the House of Reps seats.
In the arrangement, Amosun himself would be returning to the Senate to represent Ogun Central Senatorial District while Lekan Mustapha for Ogun East and Tolu Odebiyi, the Chief of Staff to the governor, for Ogun West respectively. The announcements were made at the Presidential Lodge of the Government House, Abeokuta. At the meeting, names of the APC candidates for the six House of Reps seats were also announced.
In fact, sources told THISDAY that anyone whose name was not on the Governor’s consensus list would not be allowed to obtain a nomination form for any of the elective positions. Earlier, the governor had backed Adekunle Akinlade as the consensus governorship candidate for the ruling APC in the state.
If Amosun succeeds in having his way, even his opponents should be humble enough to hail the new godfather of Ogun politics.
Rochas Okorocha/ Imo
He was a product of the rage of Imo State people against former governor Ikedi Ohakim. But with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps the people of the state would have thought twice before pitching their tent with Governor Rochas Okorocha in 2011.
For a state that prides itself as the most enlightened in the entire South-east, many are still wondering why Okorocha would be the one to solely determine who succeeds him after his tenure lapses next year. Not only does he want to determine who succeeds him, his choice is also queer enough: his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu.
By the time he finishes his term in 2019, Okorocha would have used and dumped up to four deputy governors. The latest to kiss the dust, politically, was Uche Madumere, who had the effrontery to announce his gubernatorial ambition against the preference of the all-knowing Okorocha.
Okorocha wants to determine who gets what in the state. And he seems to be enjoying the backing of the party leadership in Abuja which handed over back to him, the party structure he lost during the party congress in the state early this year.
The fact is the Okorocha’s ambition actually goes beyond wanting to install a governor for his native Imo State. He actually wants to be the de facto leader of the APC in the entire Igboland. That is ambition.
And with the way things are going, with Abuja firmly supporting him, he may have his way, especially with his son-in-law.
Godswill Akpabio/ Akwa Ibom
He recently decamped to the ruling APC from the PDP. Though many were of the opinion that Godswill Obot Akpabio, former governor of Akwa Ibom and erstwhile Senate Minority Leader, actually decamped to stave off the threat of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arresting him and prosecuting him for massive financial misappropriation when he was governor of the state.
Akpabio, since 2015, has been the godfather of Akwa Ibom politics. He singlehandedly pushed for the emergence of the current governor, Emmanuel Udom, and other elective political office holders in the state.
With his decamping to the APC, Akpabio wants to prove that he remains the undisputed godfather of Akwa Ibom politics. The 2019 general elections in the state would prove if he is or he is just another political featherweight.
Aliyu Wammako/ Sokoto
Aliyu Wammako, former governor of Sokoto State and now a Senator of the federal republic, has always treated the current state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, as his political godson. When Wammako left for APC from the PDP, Tambuwal, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, followed him. But things have changed. Tambuwal has moved back to the PDP while Wammako has remained in APC. He defected and 18 of the 30 members in the state House of Assembly followed him. Though the APC still has two senators and seven members of the House of Reps from the state. In the same vein, the deputy governor of the state, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, is yet to decamp with Tambuwal. In a show of political strengths, the two organised rallies to show who was on the ground among the two but the man who was in charge of the politics of the state. Though analysts argue that Tambuwal might not have been able to fully build his own political structures having ridden to office on the back of the support given him by Wamakko, it remains to be seen if the former governor would be able to remove his estranged godson from office come 2019.
For now, the godfather is battling the godson for the soul of Sokoto politics.
Usman Ganduje/Rabiu Kwankwaso/ Kano
Usman Ganduje, the current governor of Kano State, was the deputy to Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso when the latter was governor of the state. In fact, Kwankwaso was so instrumental to Ganduje becoming governor. But no sooner had Ganduje become governor that he and Kwankwaso become sworn political enemies. In fact, the matter came to a head last year when police “advised” Kwankwaso not to come to Kano for “security reasons”.
The spat between Kwankwaso and Ganduje is unique in the sense that it is the only state where the godson is ‘successfully’ standing up to this godfather.
Kwankwaso recently decamped to PDP where he hopes to contest for the Presidency while Ganduje is rabidly pro-Buhari has he thinks his own re-election is tied to Buhari retaining the votes of Kano in the 2019 presidential elections.
Will Kwankwaso show his estranged godson that he is the godfather of Kano politics? It remains to be seen how this will pan out in the build-up towards 2019.