₦airaland Forum

OPINION: TWO CONTRASTING BEHAVIOURS OF GODFATHERS
For the past two weeks, I have taken alot of interest in two contrasting godfather behaviours, the ones by Bola Tinubu and Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Not only that Tinubu has successfully repelled PDP’s assault on Lagos and the entire South-West, he has also succeeded in handpicking Fashola as governor. Eight years later, he singlehandedly handpicked Ambode against Fashola’s wishes. Dissatisfied with Ambode’s loyalty, Tinubu has today published Ambode’s political obituary and all is now set for Sanwo-Olu’s coronation tomorrow.

Kwankwaso on the other hand lost the battle for the control of the party to Ganduje, eventually leaving APC altogether. The recent decision to impose his inlaw as the Kano PDP candidate was met with rebellion from his own Kwankwasiyya family.

Why is Tinubu able to succeed where Kwankwaso and other godfathers failed, more so in a state as complex and cosmopolitan as Lagos?

I believe the answer lies in Tinubu’s method, more than any differences in the social, political and cultural contexts of Lagos and Kano.

Tinubu built a political structure, with well defined leadership, plan and resources to execute such plans. Political activities start at local levels where local party leaders are rewarded, engaged and consulted in every major decision. It is a perfect political orchestra that produces a symphony between the godfather, party leaders and activists at local levels, and political loyalists embedded within various arms of government.

That’s why in all of this, Tinubu didn’t speak until today. He left everyone guessing. He did his talking through the party leaders. It is they who first rejected Ambode, it is they who first endorsed Sanwo-Olu, and it is they who flooded the media space with their campaign of delegitimization against Ambode. What that means is Tinubu was able to build a consensus and put his political house in order before calling for a fight.

The amazing wisdom behind this strategy is that the godfather gives party leaders the feeling that they are the ones making the call when in reality they are merely puppets in a grand game of political chess. That’s an important lesson in politics. All that political and grassroots followers need is reward and accessibility. Reward in terms of opportunities for wealth and position; and accessibility in terms of consultation and being sensitive to their interests.

Contrast with Kwankwaso where the whole Kwankwasiyya movement is entirely about his person and nothing else, so personal that it was even named after him. Today, if you remove Kwankwaso, there’s nothing left of the Kwankwasiyya movement. There’s no individual that will hold the flock together in the absence of Kwankwaso.

That’s why in the build up to the decision to field a governoship candidate, he flirted with different options before finally settling on Abba. Instead of following Tinubu’s method by influencing local Kwankwasiyya leaders to champion that choice and build a Kwankwasiyya consensus from bottom up, he became the godfather, the fixer and the spokesman, and in the process, subjecting his authority to rebellion.

Last month, I wrote a political commentary on Kano’s 2019 outlook and many Kwankwasiyya songbirds denounced me with their ‘siyasan Kano Sai dan-Kano’ gibberish, wrongly claiming that only those from Kano are capable of understanding Kano’s political intricacies. Today many of my predictions have come to pass and some of those songbirds are now part of the rebellion against Kwankwaso.

Aspiring political godfathers have alot of learning to do on Tinubu’s method. The game may change, the players may also change, but the strategy remains the same. As Napoleon said, the world is divided into kings and pawns, emperors and fools. And that is not going to change.
Ahmed Musa Hussaini
http://insightfulobserver.com.ng/blog/2018/10/01/opinion-two-contrasting-behaviours-of-godfathers-ahmed-musa-hussaini/

Nonsense Tinubus success is simply based on the fact that the Average Yoruba man is usually loyal to his benefactor longer than most other tribes in Nigeria... Tinubu Godfatherhood can't stand in the South East or north

FarahAideed:
Nonsense Tinubus success is simply based on the fact that the Average Yoruba man is usually loyal to his benefactor longer than most other tribes in Nigeria... Tinubu Godfatherhood can't stand in the South East or north

your comment is exactly wat i had in mind, if tinubu were to be an easterner, his political structures must have collapsed

Tinubu is a thief who is willing to do anything possible in his quest to continue looting, i wonder why some lagosians are stil loyal to this man despite all the evils he meted out to them

Kingosytex:
Tinubu is a thief who is willing to do anything possible in his quest to continue looting, i wonder why some lagosians are stil loyal to this man despite all the evils he meted out to them

Because they know more than you do!

Almighty God will continue to bless TINUBU for putting an head to PDP one party statehood.


PDP and IPOB Pigs can go and kill themselves!

Not my business at all. Someone decides to follow blindly, a godfather who took the common wealth to enrich himself. And he is praising him to the high heavens and licking his poo. That is his business and not mine.