By Victor Otigbu
ANY time I hear the word godfather, what comes to mind is the Christian position of true mentorship on the one hand and what transpired between Senator Chris Ngige, a former governor of Anambra State and his estranged godfather on the other hand. In Nigeria today, no politician can come out and declare himself a good mentor.

Most times, I ponder on why  godfather/godson relationship never end well as a result of incessant fallouts where the godfather engages the said godson(s) in bitter fights. Among the most prominent macabre dances of these political giants and their political sons was that of Senator Chris Ngige and Peoples Democratic Party financier, Chris Uba, of the Uba political family who engaged themselves in bitter political fight in the name of who should control the state’s treasury.

With the foregoing, I have come to believe that godfathers cause more harm than good to the nation’s polity. Suffice to say that Senator Ngige who was allegedly kidnapped on the orders of his estranged godfather has since dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to embrace another godfather, Sen. Bola Tinubu, the national leader of All Progressives Congress, APC.

Godfatherism can be said to have its origin in Christianity when God-parents helped to raise Christian children to become God-fearing, law-abiding adults. This cannot be said of Nigeria of today, where many politicians beg to have godfathers even when they know that what they are actually begging for will only come back to haunt them.

This is because the so-called godfathers are always dominant individuals in the politics of an area or geo-political zone and are capable of determining who win elections in that area or zone.

I remember vividly when I was preparing for my first son’s baptism and the officiating priest made it clear to us that we must provide a godfather for the child. In the process, the priest actually made us understand who a god father should be. I had no choice but agree with him.

The rest is now history. But this cannot be said of political godfathers whose only aim is to recoup all monies expended in rigging their godson into power. Though godfatherism is not a novel idea to politics neither is the phenomenom going to disappear  from the nation’s political landscape in the nearest future.

Generally, godfathers are expected to sponsor or support their godsons and give them advice on how to excel in their areas of assignment but the reverse seems to be the case in Nigeria. I have always believed that Nigeria’s kind of godfather has only one aim, which is to recoup all monies expended in rigging their godsons into power. And as we all know, godfatherism is now permanent resident in the nation’s political landscape since an average Nigerian politicain is incurably greedy. And this the godfathers exploit, as ruthless benefactors, shylocks indeed.

I have watched with dismay in Nigeria today, that hardly can a political green-horn win election without the support of a godfather. It is also the same thing at party primaries where candidates are ‘selected’ instead being elected. And this has never in anyway helped in the development of the country, rather it has in a every way led to bad governace. This is a monster that must be that must be nipped in the bud. ‘Selected” governors, for example, after being sworn in open the state coffers to repay the godfathers with tax payers’ money. This is nothing other than looting with impunity.

Apart from politics where godfathers and their godsons continue to steal from the common purse of the state, the ills of godfatherism had continued to stare us in the face with no remedy in sight. Civil servants, those in the private employ, and even teachers in remote villages know that having a godfather helps put food on the table, and move up in the social strata of life.

As I have come to observe, everybody knows that many of our problems come from the politcal class, and this is mainly where the godfather phenomenom comes into play.