The very recent defection of the so much troubled and traumatised Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency Siminalayi Fubara from his erstwhile People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the alliance of Governor Ubani Sani with President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, after his fallout with his principal, Nasir El-Rufai with the president opens a new verse in Nigeria’s sociopolitical debate due to the dismantling of godfatherism.
From the outset, it is important to note that politics is about authority, power, and influence, which betrayal is an essential and a fundamental element as Anifowose would have us believe (Anifowose, “The Nature and Scope of Political Science” in Elements of Politics, Remi Anifowose & Francis Enemuo eds, 1999).
Thus, since the fundamental touchstones of politics are authority, power, and influence, betrayal becomes necessary to retain or secure power and influence in the state where power itself is under threat by the subordinate. But as it was the case of the two personalities under scrutiny, and in many other states where political godson governors exist, the dominating influence of the godfathers has been enormous and weighty. While for Fubara it was an outright defection, to Uba Sani of Kaduna State, it was alignment and agglutinisation to President Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR. This shall be expanded later, but the point is, both Fubara and Uba Sani assumed political leadership of their respective states via the influence of godfathers; His Excellency Nasir El-Rufai and His Excellency Nyesom Wike. As usual, after assumption of leadership of their respective states, unalloyed loyalty was expected but things turned otherwise for several reasons unknown to analysts, keen observers, and political spectators.
For Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna, the role played by the former governor of the State, His Excellency Nasir El-Rufai cannot be overemphasized. Despite all odds, El-Rufai was able to check and contain the shapeless wind of Obidient movement, the keen followers of Mr. Peter Obi, Labour Party ( LP), and even the political almighty Alh. Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, and Uba Sani was declared winner of the 2023 gubernatorial election in Kaduna State. In the said election, Uba Sani did not do very well as expected but emerged the Governor of the state due to El Rufai.
The question analysts are recently asking following the political turn of events in which El-Rufai was noted to have allegedly said Peter Obi of the Labour party won the 2023 election, is that, could it also be the Labour party or the PDP won the gubernatorial election in the State? This is but a very difficult question to find answers to. Be that as it may, after the 2023 general elections and particularly during the time of political rewards, His Excellency Nasir El-Rufai was amongst the ministerial nominees, which he of course indicated interest beyond every reasonable doubt going by his attendance at the Senate screening and his steering performance. However, as political events unfolded, he was not successful due to alleged security reports and his possible link to or involvement in certain security issues that had claimed a lot of lives in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State, and Nigeria at large.
His initial reaction was calmness as expected of statesmanship but, after a while, he appeared politically distressed and disillusioned with the ruling APC, as seen in his political consultations even his visit to the late former president Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, General Ibrahim Babangida, and the eventual resignation that saw his exit from the APC and the subsequent entrance into the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Since then, El-Rufai has been one of the foremost and fiercest attackers of the ruling APC, which allegedly , he was one of the proponents and supporters of the famous Muslims-Muslims ticket, having implemented it before in Kaduna State as a governor and heaven did not fall.
The question analysts and commentators are asking is, had things gone in El-Rufai’s way, would he have been going against the APC or defected to another party as he did? Certainly not. This action of El-Rufai, like several others, shows that politicians, especially Nigerian and African types, are obsessively selfish and careless about the welfare of the masses.
From the above development, El-Rufai was no longer in the good book of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu having exhausted his political fortunes in the APC. In the midst of the crisis between El-Rufai and the presidency, so to say, Governor Uba Sani, rather than pitching tent with his godfather, skilfully and tactically exploited the vacuum and forcefully but conveniently inserted himself into the politics at the center, the federal government, aligning himself with the dictate of the president. The president too, appreciates and receives Uba Sani, having considered him as the number one politically relevant man if his 2027 agenda is to be achieved. Thus, the famous and no nonsense Nasir El-Rufai was left in the political desert, without a clearly defined political bearing at the moment.
The Uba Sani and El-Rufai episode and relation present the number one model or test case as well as tactics of dismantling godfatherism in Nigerian politics.
The second , which is different but related episode is that presented by Fubara, the governor of Rivers and Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Without doubt, Mr. Wike, in the midst of other candidates basking on the fame and strength of the PDP, brought Fubara, the former Accountant General of the state made him the governor, putting himself in the position and in the list of godfathers in Nigerian politics.
Consequently, after the election and within the first year of office, things appeared externally smooth until the politics of vacant seat declaration of some members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and the bringing down of its building in the name of reconstruction as almost done in Edo State, during the second term of Governor Godwin Obaseki. Thus, it became glaring that Fubara, a particularly and extremely calm, quiet, and loyal man, was no longer in the right political mood with his principal, His Excellency Nyesom Wike.
As always, when it turns out like that, it lays credence to the idea of politics as authoritative allocation of value, who gets what and how, as espoused by David Easton. From all indications, it was either Fubara began to listen to other political voices or the demand of Mr. Wike in Commissioner slots, monetary demand, and other key appointments, and above all, the attempt to maintain perpetual grip of the State House of Assembly members and to control the State as if he were still the governor as alleged, became increasingly unbelievable and unbearable to the politically meek Governor Fubara.
As seen in the political gymnastics and tursules between the duos, the end result was the six months State of emergency slashed on the governor in the name of national interest and peace, which received a lot of criticisms from several quarters. During the emergency, which began on March 18, 2025 and elapsed few months ago, the former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas Rtd, now ambassador designate, oversaw the affairs of the state.
Upon recent return after the emergency rule, Fubara lessons of Nigerian politics and therefore wasted no time whatsoever in the move to align himself with the power at the centre. Thus, he defected from the PDP that brought him to power into another political vehicle, the ruling APC. With his defection, he had tactically and powerfully inserted himself in the mainstream of power and written his name in the political good book of the president. While Mr. Wike, his former godfather, remains largely and outwardly PDP in his anti-party gimmick, Fubara is now officially and fully in the APC. By this, he is assuming the leadership of the APC in the state.
Recall that Rivers has never been an APC state but one of the strongholds of the PDP, until being sold out by Wike. This followed the way and manner he was treated by Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Atiku Abubakar in what sees as political betrayal. He turned enemy of the party, began to devour it, entered an alliance with the APC, and delivered the State to it in the 2023 general elections. This no doubt earned him the ministerial position he is currently holding. By action while some dare to call Wike a political Judas, others argued on the contrary that what he did was not without a cause.
With this act and development, Mr. Wike , again may be regarded as the greatest anti-party politics player since 1999, while President Ahmed Bola Tinubu remained one of the greatest political master planners and tacticians of all times in Nigerian political history. In short, several APC members are not too happy with Wike, given that he was not a member of the party and for the fact that the post of the minister of FCT is indeed a huge one.
The summary of Fubara and Wike’s episode is that Tinubu, from all indications, presently deals with the former directly and prefers him to the latter because he is more relevant to him as number one man in the state. Thus, to keen observers of Nigerian political affairs, Mr. Nyesom Wike is left in the political desert and rendered politically childless without a clearly defined godson governor.
Getting to three years so after the administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu GCFR, events and happenings have produced two governors who appear to have broken free from the ruthless dominion of political godfathers. The episodes present that politics of godfatherism is anti-development, and this commentary hopes the so-called freed godsons do not turn be more selfish even than godfathers and later become godfathers as what goes around always comes around. On the whole, Fubara and Uba Sani presents a model perhaps for governors seeking political freedom from the armpit of godfathers to seek refuge in the presidency.
*Odeh, PhD, public affairs analyst and commentator, is of the Department of History and International Studies, Sokoto State University, Sokoto.