AT the beginning of the present democratic dispensation in 1999, a pungent question was asked in the media: ‘Who is Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani, Abdullahi Ganduje, Aliyu Wamakko, Theodore Orji, Kashim Shettima, Nyesom Wike? Same question for a handful of other new entrants into our national politics. Matter of fact, it was a poignant, legitimate question often asked, perhaps out of curiosity, particularly when someone’s name pops up in public consciousness like a silent mystery. Let’s take a few examples to make the point of the political conflicts and broken relationship between godfathers and their godsons which have become a recurring but disturbing phenomenon in Nigeria’s slippery politics. Until the Year 2000, some of these names, among them, El-Rufai and Dr Chimaroke Nnamani were, in a manner of speaking, unknown political quantities. This is in spite of the fact that both of them are, by every standard, very bright and academically brilliant. They can dissect issues brilliantly in a coherent manner for even a neophyte to understand.
While the smart, machelin-size El-Rufai graduated in Quantity Surveying with top honours at the Almadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Dr. Nnamani graduated top of his class in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka( UNN). Nnamani went ahead to become a consultant gynaecologist, and one of the best in Africa. Indeed, he was credited with performing one of the most complicated pregnancy surgeries on the sister of a popular newspaper and television owner in Nigeria that saved her life. In medical parlance, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani is a ‘gifted hand’. However, to borrow a popular Advertising cliché, sometimes, brilliance doesn’t guarantee a ‘winning proposition’. That’s to say, sometimes, some very bookish persons can become error -prone in politics. They don’t zip their mouths when they talk. They are gadflies. That’s why politics is often not given to simple theorising. Some of these fellows aforementioned are perfect examples of godsons who later became godfathers. But they couldn’t navigate successful from being once a godson to godfather, and a virtual ‘nobody’. The relationship between Godfathers and their Godsons is like the role of a master and apprentice. The problem often begins with most godfathers because they don’t seem to have a clear sense of what life might be when they leave office, outside the levers of power. Very often, they live under the illusion that no good politician can willingly cede power to another politician he(the godfather) cannot control. But again, unknown to the Godfather, when the apprentice Godson was able to master the different channels of power, he would begin to assert himself and strive to be his own man. That’s when the stars of the Godfather begin to fade because he forgets too soon that, to borrow the words of Lyndon Johnson( the 36th U.S. President) that “power is where power goes”. This has become an undeniable reality, continually on display in Nigerian politics.
That’s not to say that some political godsons are not “Judas Goat”(title of the best-selling book by Perry Stone). These are people you help to butter their political bread only for them to turn round to betray you. It could be devastating. Let’s return to El-Rufai to drive the point. El-Rufai became a ‘rising star ‘ by cozying up to some powerful and influential politicians. He didn’t do it own his own. Everybody becomes somebody through someone. Former vice President Atiku Abubakar opened the doors for El-Rufai. He was the protégé of Atiku, same way Chief Jim Nwobodo was a mentor to Dr. Nnamani, or Peter Obi to Willie Obiano. Soon, El-Rufai became a constant mention, and with the endorsement of Atiku who commanded a big influence then as the Head of National Privatisation Council under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, El-Rufai was appointed the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises(BPE). But as soon as he got on top of the tree, El-Rufai betrayed Atiku. In management parlance, El-Rufai and others of his ilk suffer from what’s called “the smartest-kid-in the class syndrome”. It’s an occupational disease of people who think they ‘know- it-all’. In fact, the roads that El-Rufai walked give little for comfort. Indeed, a pain cry always goes up each time his name is mentioned, even now. It’s not for nothing. Controversy dogs every of his step. It leaves one question: Is it his perceived betrayal of friends or the defects in his character that often sets off the alarm bells? I don’t know the answer. But this much is plain: As the godson rises in prominence and begins to exhibit an impressive mastery of the different channels of power, he no longer wants to live in the shadows of, or be a puppet of his godfather. By careful deference and emulation, godsons when they discover themselves, and settle in in government, they begin to gradually increase their own authority until they have surpassed their godfathers and start to assume the role of a ‘caretaker’, the role of the strong protecting the weak. I remember being part of Editors who interviewed Dr Nnamani when he was Governor of Enugu state. Date was Monday, December 2, 2002, at Government House, Enugu. It was few months before the 2003 General elections. Then, his conflict with his political godfather Jim Nwobodo was heating up Enugu politics. He told us to watch out what would happen to Nwobodo on Election Day.
Do you know what happened? By Nwobodo’s confession, he woke up that fateful day, with his pyjamas on, only to see security personnel besieged his house. They told him they were under strict order not to allow him venture out until after the election. Nwobodo tearfully narrated how he was ‘imprisoned’ in his own house till the conclusion of the election. That’s what power of incumbency can do. Power reveals. That’s what a godson does when he doesn’t need his godfather anymore. But what Nnamani did to Nwobodo, he was paid in his own coin by his handpicked successor, Sullivan Chime who erased almost all Nnamani’s “Ebeano” legacy projects . That’s exactly what is unraveling in Kaduna and Rivers states now. A few days ago, Gov Uba Sani of Kaduna state began to untie the shackles on his neck, and said his administration has not been able to pay workers’ salaries because his government inherited a hefty $587 million, N85bn debts, and 115 contractual liabilities from his predecessor, El-Rufai.
The governor made the startling disclosure at a Town Hall meeting on March 30. The ‘war’ between the duo has just begun. That of Rivers state, between Nyesom Wike, immediate past Governor of the state, and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, has been on for months now. It’s like a box office movie that everyone wants to watch at a Cinema. It can compete with the epic novel, “The Godfather”, by Mario Puzo. When it all began, Wike was having the upper hand. With tacit presidential approval behind the scene, Gov Siminalayi Fubara was on the ropes, clutching for survival, with impeachment bullet on his head. Wike, who used to take no prisoners and tolerated no dissenting voices as Governor for 8 years is now at the receiving end. Some of his loyalists, including his political Godfather, and former Governor of the state, Dr Peter Odili and others, seem to have ‘abandoned’ Wike.
Too bad! The table has turned. Who says Nigerian politics and politicians are not a fun to follow? Just last Thursday, Gov Fubara showed off his ‘masculine energy’ when he promised to make Wike’s camp “restless”. “We will continue to hit them hard”, he boasted at a groundbreaking ceremony in the state capital, last week. The taciturn Fubara is now talking and walking with swagger. He has even gone as far as threatening to declare the members State House of Assembly “illegal”. The legislators are largely pro-Wike. Remember that everything is possible in Nigerian politics. Alliances change with the speed of light. Last Friday, former Governor of the state, and until recently, one of Wike’s loyalists Celestine Omehia threw his own bomb at his erstwhile ally, urging Wike to “purge himself of greed for power and allow Fubara to govern Rivers state”.
Don’t take your eyes off Rivers state. It’s full of torrid, revolving door of drama. When nothing seems to be working in Nigeria, conflicts between Godfathers and their Godsons provide us with the entertainment that temporarily distracts us and make many Nigerians forget the pain that the Tinubu government policies have put us in. In Kano state, the Abba Yusuf administration has filed criminal charges against immediate past Governor and current APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, his wife and son, over $413,000, and N1.38bn bribery allegation. Note this: what is playing out in Kano is the proverbial ‘hand of Esau, the voice is Jacob’. It is undeniably the renewal of the political conflict between Rabiu Kwankwao and his estranged godson, Ganduje. Sen Adams Oshiomhole and Godwin Obaseki conflict is about to enter a fierce second phase. Don’t forget the other godfather/godson fight between Tinubu and Akinwunmi Ambode, George Akume against Samuel Ortom, Danjuma Goje and Ibrahim Dankwabo, Ali-Modi Sheriff/ Kassim Shettima, Lamidi Adedibu/ Rasheed Ladoja, and Attahiru Bafarawa/Wamakko fierce battle in Sokoto. More godfathers/godsons fights are brewing. “Godfather never sleeps”, says J.K. Randle in his book with the same title. It’s a ringing warning.
What’s the message in all of this? There are many lessons to learn . First, is power: In “The Godfather”, by Mario Puzo, in the portrayal of the Corleone crime family to power, there’s always struggle to maintain power, both inside and outside, even when the Godfather has left office. That’s why you heard Wike say the other day that he wouldn’t want anyone take over his “political structure” in Rivers state. He perhaps didn’t remember that the train has since left the station. It’s about the nature of power and its proceeds. The people count little in the conflict. The same lesson goes in business where negotiation and persuasion are key skills to avoiding conflicts, navigate alliances and cement deals. For me, the moral lesson is even more instructive: It’s the fact that wealth and material possessions should not be the measure of a person’s accomplishments in life. It’s the ability to foster relationship, friendship and love. It also teaches us never to miss the opportunity to pass wisdom of one’s life journey to others, and leave behind enduring experience of joy. Do our politicians learn from these in lessons in power ? They don’t. That’s why Godfather/ Godson conflict has become the unwritten defining script of Nigerian politics. That’s why what dividends of democracy has done for other countries have eluded Nigeria. It’s also the reason why most of our politicians desperately seek power, not to use it for great purposes and accomplish goals, but to bend people to their own will.