₦airaland Forum

Jarus: Good one.

Just a few comments as a Judge in this contest.

NEWACCA
Your arguments are sound and persuasive. I also admire your tenacity. But I deducted 0.5 from your content score because you referred to Ahmadu Bello as a former Sultan of Sokoto. He was neer Sultan of Sokoto, he was Sardauna of Sokoto. The current holder of that position is Alhaji Abubakar Dan Alhaji or Alhaji Sheu Malami(can't recall exactly for now, and no time to consult Google). But altogether, you did a very good job.

COOGER
You raised the intellectual bar in the debate. I admire your command of English. Your versatility is no doubt impeccable. But you were too general. You hardly dwelt on specifics.

BREEZY
A fresh breeze. I like your calmly disposition. You were the dark horse in the race. You also did very well in logical analysis of the topic, but you would have done better if you backed up your arguments with more facts.


Altogether, all the contestants did well.

newacca: I continue to argue that godfatherism is not the main cause of corruption in Nigeria. My fellow debater is centralizing his argument mainly on Obasanjo and PDP,which I believe it is slightly off the line of argument. While he forgets that individual character is quite different from general phenomenon that affects the society. I want to state categorically that godfatherism is not by anyway a major cause of corruption in Nigeria not when indiscipline is a call of the day. Not when the absence of effective rules, regulations and policies are not featuring in the nation.

What I am driving out of this is that some leaders have ruled this nation and have held political offices without godfathers, yet they mismanaged funds, and promote different kinds of corruption far beyond godfatherism.
Corruption started killing the developmental growth in Nigeria from Shagari administration,Buhari administration,Babangida administration(our case study) These rulers do not have godfathers and godfatherism has not been prominent in the other arms of government in their era,yet corruption practices continue to elevate. If godfatherism does not exist in Nigerian politics,the main causes of corruption in Nigeria will still prevail,unless we change our orientation towards a soceity free of indiscipline and bad culture.

My fellow debater argued that Adams Oshiomole Governor of Edo state has been consistence in his administration because he does not have godfather. Are you telling me that if Adams Oshiomole's ulterior motive is to enrich his pocket with public fund and he actually carry out his motive,will he be able to gain the heart of the people of Edo to vote for him in the second term? If Oshiomole has not been transparent in his system of administration will the Edo people re-elect him?

Fashola against Tinubu

The former Governor of Lagos state,Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who is a godfather to the incumbent Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Why did Fashola refused to dance to Tinubu's tune? Why did he got elected again for the second term in office,after the report of numerous disagreement between him and his political godfather and despite the fact that he got to the seat of power with the support of his godfather? Reasons are not far-fetched. When an individual possesses admirable pedigree, high moral standard,leadership skill,good deal of discipline and prioritizing the interest of his people above personal gain;he will be able to run the affairs of the public office without being influenced by the strong forces of his godfather. Even if the incumbent governor has agreed to the conspiracy of looting and embezzling before he won the election, his high standard of moral and discipline has made him to disagree to Tinubu's political manipulation. Truly, wolves lose their teeth but not their nature. Now tell me,if Fashola has selfishly embraced corruption emanating from the ungodly act of greed, moral decadence and selfcentredness. will you blame it on godfatherism or individualism?


Missing funds in Obasanjo's administration

There were wide spread allegation of various public fund embezzlement in the administration of Gen.Obansanjo Rtd. both in the military regime(1976-1979) and democratic ruling (1999-2003/2003-2007) Prominent of the missing funds are listed below:

*2.8 billion naira petroleum fund- 1976-1979
*200 billion naira ecological fund- 1999-2007
*19.5 billion Aviation fund- 2007-2011
These funds got missing during the administration of Gen.Obasanjo Rtd. without giving transparent account of how the funds were mismanaged. was Gen.Obasanjo Rtd. been elected in the 1999 election with the support of godfather? Can you tell me Gen.Obansanjo's administration was transparent?


If the collective wish of the masses supersedes the selfish resolve of some powerful individuals(godfathers) who believe they can dictate the affairs of millions of people from the confines of their bedrooms and the masses you speak for, abolish the corrupt practice of worshipping people in high places because of their wealth,do you think godfatherism will be the threat to our democracy? Hell no! We will only get things right in our society when we instigate high standard of moral value in the heart of our people;both young and old. When we frown at public display of wealth in occasion i.e spraying of money in public functions,parties and burial ceremonies;when you stop to collect bags and envelope from politicians before voting them.

James Ibori,the "flamboyant" former governor of Delta state was convicted for money laundering and embezzlement of the fund of people of Oil rich Delta state. The "common thief" as tagged by a British prosecutor,Sasha Weils was able to defraud his own people for his personal enrichment. Tell me,did he act on the manipulation,threat or blackmail of godfathers?

Let me not bore you all with long list of major problems that promotes corruption in our beloved country. Rather I will like implore us to look beyond godfatherism as the major cause of our problem (CORRUPTION) in Nigeria and change our characters and view towards proffering lasting solution to the causes, and stamp out corruption.

coogar: of course.....I lack the nonsense basics of acknowledging co-debaters, time keeper and the panel of judges like people used to do in the 70s. when was the last time you saw a proper debate of international standard? if you compare what you think is the normal standard to the way it's done in saner climes, then you'd be embarrassed!

i have given you your 3 mins of fame now, kindly jog along......nicely!

shymmex: What are you on about?

shymmex: Good evening the panel of judges, co-debaters, and the audience.

I'm shymmex the voice of the masses – and my argument is in support of the motion that, godfatherism/ prebendalism/ clientelism in Nigeria Politics as being the main cause of corruption and developmental crises.

My Scholarship/Argument:
Great thinkers such as Pareto, Mosca, Michels, and Marx too devoted their political analysis to how power is used and misused by the elite class in different contexts. The domination of power by the hegemonic class in many parts of the contemporary world can thus be said to be nothing new but has a robust pedigree. The main lesson from all these works is that the study of political elites and leadership is very important for understanding the trajectories of development in any society. An important issue raised by Pareto and Marx in their works is that political elites insulate and isolate themselves from their society and try as much as possible to reproduce themselves from within. They do all possible within their reach to ensure that non-elites do not join their membership. To ensure this, the political elites maintain a safe, functional distance from the rest of the society. They reproduce themselves on an individual and selective basis in a process which Pareto specifically referred to as the 'circulation of elites'. The criteria for such elite recruitment are often parochial and the process is usually done in a manner that does not in any way compromise the traditional integrity of the dominant elite class.

The 'political godfathers' in Nigeria build an array of loyalists around them and use their influence, which is often tied to monetary considerations, to manipulate the rest of the society. Political godfathers use their influence to block the participation of others in Nigerian politics. They are political gatekeepers: they dictate who participates in politics and under what conditions. The role of such people is highly injurious to the advancement of popular, participatory democracy in Nigeria. Political godfathers are responsible for most of the pre- and post-election violence that we have seen in Nigeria.

The phenomenon of godfathers, are strictly instrumental relationship with their clients. Their main goal is to use their client to attain selfish goals; the latter too do the same. The relationship between the two of them thus has little or nothing with the larger society the two of them claim to lead.

Richard Joseph in his book; “Democracy and prebendal politics in Nigeria: The rise and fall of the second republic” asserted that the phenomena of 'prebendalism (a system of political patronage/godfatherism’ employment)' and 'clientelism (a social order which depends on relations of patronage/godfatherism)' as the two phenomena that led to the collapse of the second republic in Nigeria. The same problem led to the demise of the third republic. And if care is not taken, it is going to lead to the collapse of the present democratisation process in Nigeria.

PS: Richard Joseph described ‘godfatherism’ in the Nigerian context as ‘prebendalism’ and 'clientelism’.

The difference between these godsons and their godfathers is that the godfathers have 'a piece of the state' in their pockets. The power of the godfather lies in his position in government, the number of privileged people he has or has successfully planted in government, and hence his ability to directly or indirectly manipulate bureaucratic regulations. The godfathers in Nigerian politics are a set of oppressive elites whose stock in trade is the 'installation' of unpopular persons to fill vacant or un-vacant political offices using very crude means and blackmail.


Obasanjo as a case study:
Wole Soyinka asserted in 2004 that, the greatest disservice President Obasanjo has done to the nation was to have promoted the cult of godfatherism, its illegalities, its naked violence, and its corruption.

Obasanjo and PDP’s political coup in the SW against the incumbent AD (progressives) in 2003 showed why godfatherism isn’t ideal for Nigeria. PDP rule in the SW birthed political assassinations, underdevelopment, and extreme corruption.

Tony Anenih as a case study:
The case of Tony Anenih vs Adams Oshiomole in Edo State weakened the argument for the inevitability of godfathers in politics, with the latter being a progressive without a godfather. The tenure of Lucky Igbinedion (Annenih’s godson) was the darkest period in the history of Edo state. Igbinedion’s tenure was ridden with political assassinations, underdevelopment, and extreme corruption.