Fubara: How (not) to deal with a political godfather, by Andrew Agbese

Fubara: How (not) to deal with a political godfather, by Andrew Agbese

In the year 2019, Malam Nasir El-rufai, after winning the governorship election in Kaduna State, declared publicly that he has triumphed over godfatherism by retiring four political godfathers in his state.

It was a claim that resonated with the politics of that period as there were pockets of infighting between those helped into elective positions (godsons) by certain men and women of influence (godfathers).

A proper scrutiny of the claim by El-rufai would however reveal that the then governor, probably excited by his victory, exaggerated the feat he recorded to secure a second term as governor as he did not have a political godfather in the true sense of the word.

Those like Senator Uthman Hunkuyi who made the bogus claim that they were instrumental to his becoming governor and whom he could be referring to, were mere contemporaries who contributed to the process but were not solely responsible for his victory in 2015.

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Firstly, El-rufai did not owe his ascendancy to the position in 2015 to any known individual other than the APC tsunami that swept across the northern states and parts of Nigeria. And while one could see the influence of then President Muhammadu Buhari in his securing the APC ticket, the former governor couldn’t have been referring to the then president, as the man had also won his second term at the time.

Those who, as governors, had to deal with godfather situations are the likes of Kashim Shettima; Abdullahi Ganduje; Gabriel Suswam; Samuel Ortom; Ibrahim Dankwambo; Abdulfatah Ahmed; Emmanuel Uduaghan, and Emmanuel Udom among others who were helped by their predecessors and want to continue to lord it over them.

El-rufai’s case is also different from those whose godfathers were not their predecessors in office but no doubt responsible for their winning their party’s ticket and being influential to their wins at the general elections. For instance the case of Chris Uba vs Chris Ngige in Anambra State or Olusola Saraki vs Mohammed Lawan in Kwara.

In most cases, the relationship between the godfather and the beneficiary does not end well leading to a gale of rebellion that characterises almost every post election period in Nigeria.

In the 2nd Republic for instance, many governors who made it to office in 1979, fell out with the figures on whose backs they rode to power and consequently lost out in their attempts to return to office.

This was because the godfathers were icons who were really rooted in their domains and truly controlled the votes in their zones and the disagreements were basically on ideology.

A typical example of what a political godfather/godson tussle in Nigeria looks like is the current scenario playing out in Rivers State between immediate past governor, Nyesom Wike, and his successor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara.

In this case, there is clearly the one who sees himself as solely responsible for the election of the other and wants to continue to dictate the pace and style of governance and the one who knows that he was helped but is not willing to share or surrender power.

Unlike the 2nd Republic and pre-1999 scenarios, former governors have come to assume the roles of godfathers for merely helping to install their successors.

But unlike the likes of Shettima, Udom, Dankwambo and others, where their predecessors on leaving office, were out of the power equation, Fubara, has to deal with a bigger problem because his godfather is occupying a very important office as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

This has become a source of worry for governors when from 1999 to 2007 a trend evolved where persons were ministers by the ruling party purely for the purpose of taking over the political structures of states from governors who are members of other parties.

John Jatau Kadiya, who was the first Minister of FCT may not have been appointed by Shehu Shagari to fight then governor of Plateau State, Solomon Lar, but his attempt to dislodge the latter in 1983 and his impressive showing at the polls may have shone the light on how to empower ministers to snatch an ‘errant’ state and bring it under the fold of a ruling party.

Under President Olusegun Obasanjo this almost became an official policy of government and since then, every minister began to see himself as being on a mission for the number one office in his state.

Between 1999 and 2003, many of Obasanjo’s ministers challenged the governors of their respective states. They included Danjuma Goje, Olusegun Agagu and Damishi Sango.

Now Fubara, has to deal with not just having a predecessor as godfather who wants to continue to control things in the state but one who by virtue of his being a minister can dispense favours to attract the loyalty to maintain and recruit foot soldiers.

So far, there are no text book recommended measures on how to defeat godfathers as even El-rufai, the self acclaimed demolisher of godfatherism did not offer much in that regard other than recommending a study of the voters register and working on those who fail to turn up for elections.

Nonetheless, with the benefit of hindsight, one can draw a lesson or two from the experiences of others.

And as my uncle, Professor Pita Agbese would say in Jamaican patwa, Come with I.

Two options are usually opened to a governor being harangued by his benefactor and they are 1) to either submit totally to the puppeteer or 2) to resist, fight and cut the puppet strings.

Either way, there are consequences and the choice of an option depends on how formidable the godfather is and the extent the godson is willing to go in upending the former.

Total submission has worked for some, but it certainly did not favour others.

For instance even with the 100 percent loyalty that Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara gave his godfather while in office, it did not favour him at the end as he was not considered worthy for the senatorial ticket of his party when his tenure as governor expired.

Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta too did not fare well even after totally submitting to his predecessor as he did not succeed in choosing his successor and could not even win election to the Senate.

In the same manner, Ambode did not get a second term even when he had enough reasons to call the bluff of his godfather when it was clear that he was not favoured for a second term but preferred to go down without resistance.

But total submission has worked for some. It has for instance worked for Babajide Sanwo-Olu and to some extent Abdulfatah who got second terms on the strength of the backing of their godfathers.

If Fubara however wishes to toe the line of submission he would do better to understudy how Mai Mala Buni of Yobe and Douye Diri of Bayelsa have remained loyal to their godfathers without rancour.

The case of Babagana Zulum stands out as his godfather, the current vice president has promised as a matter of principle not to interfere in his government and has kept to his word.

The other option of returning fire for fire and fighting the godfather on the hand appears more challenging but has resulted in fewer casualties.

In the current dispensation, so far, it is only Mohammed Lawan of Kwara, Mala Kachalla of Borno; Aliu Akwe Doma of Nasarawa and Umaru Shinkafi of Zamfara, who took their godfathers headlong that did not succeed in getting second terms.

But, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe confronted and shook away the grip of his godfather predecessor and succeeded. Same with Gabriel Suswam and Ortom of Benue; Theodore Orji of Abia, Godswill Akpabio and Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom; Kashim Shettima of Borno; Sullivan Chime of Enugu, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano etc

For Fubara, it is obvious that he does not have an option other than the second option if he wants to remain relevant as governor as Wike has shown that he is not the type who will allow his political son breathe in any type of air he fancies.

With reports that he was the one that made major appointments in Fubara’s cabinet, Wike has shown that he wants to be the one to dictate what happens at the Brick House.

Certainly no leader worth his salt would take that and that is where Fubara would need to learn from the experiences of others before him.

From the experience of others, the first mistake Fubara did was allowing
Wike take the FCT ministry which is categorised as one of the powerful and juicy ministries.

Realising how powerful ministers could be, governors have since devised means of checkmating those so appointed in their domains to forestall the possibility of ‘coups’ against them, one of which is to insist the ministerial position is given to their trusted nominees.

In cases where the governor has no influence over who is appointed minister from his state, he tries to mitigate the threat by lobbying for the nominee to be given a not so juicy and inconsequential portfolio.

While there was no way Fubara would have stopped Wike from becoming a minister or stop his lobby for a juicy portfolio, he could have cashed in on the sentiment calling for his redeployment to another ministry by a section of the country at a time.

His support to the cause would have given it more substance other than the leg of religion which it stood on.

The second mistake was to have remained on the defensive for long.

Knowing the type of person Wike is, Fubara should have moved quickly to checkmate the former governor by opening a probe of his administration.

Since the minister has been oscillating between two major parties, getting his ward to take an action on him whether it succeeds or not would have served to distract him and watered down his plot.

It was because Fubara failed to be on the offensive that Wike is now dictating the nature of the conflict and putting him on the defensive.

All the actions Fubara has taken so far like demolishing the House of Assembly complex, getting an order recognising his man as Speaker of the state assembly are mere reactions to Wike’s onslaught which shouldn’t be.

He needs to be more proactive as Wike does not take prisoners.

But it is important that as the political fight is going on, Fubara should not lose sight of governance.

It will serve him well to just as Dankwambo did before a major crisis would erupt between him and his godfather, mobilise to win the hearts of his people with projects; construction works, clearing, any backlog of pension or salaries if any, provide employment and embark on people oriented programmes.

His flagging off the twenty thousand (20,000) housing units for low-income earners in the State, along the Obiri -Ikwerre- International Airport road on Friday is a good idea.

In all, I’ll advise him to befriend Dankwambo, his professional colleague (they’re both accountants) to learn how to shake the grip of godfathers at a very early stage.

Andrew Agbese is a journalist and one time political editor of Daily Trust.

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