there is a secret cabal that owns Nigeria only people who can accept the pain of rigging they call themselves stakeholders but in fact they are more than just that this group operates in the shadows pumping money and human resources to politicians helping them win elections in both legal and not so legal ways sometimes they keep up appearances fraternizing with people in power people they consider to be their invest M I want to tell you their story a story about these Investments and how far the investors are willing to go to protect what they consider to
be theirs this story will reveal to you why elections in Nigeria are filled with so much violence this is a story about Godfathers and their chold on the Nigerian States I hope I don't get in trouble with this one now the people ofon an from 1960 have never produced a senator I use my hand to strike out the name of the person who won before and I said it is important for me to give that region a senator in 2007 now let's pause here for a second imagine being able to create anything from a cyberpunk
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to this ancient city in the southwestern part of Nigeria called oo State I started my political career in 1951 this is the late chief lamidi Adu the strong man of Ian he was involved in oo politics from the 1950s up until his death in 2008 during the reign of this man often referred to as the Godfather of ien it was said that nobody assumed any political post in State without adu's approval that was how powerful he was but Chief adedo didn't just stumble on this political power his dynasty started from the days of Chief Obi
[Music] a some reports claim that he got his start as a small time organizer of political dogs for the action group party of Chief obath a however by the late 1980s he had amassed so much power that politicians were beginning to seek his Blessing to run for office this political Capital he had gathered was often through a combination of patronage violence and extortion soon enough aded would become an icon for aspiring political Godfathers all around Nigeria in fact aded once told a human rights watch that he he sponsored all of the politicians in oo state
from the governor to the House of Assembly members every single one of them went through him but what does this sponsorship mean well according to the politicians that have fought with and against him Adu would usually mobilize violence and money in support of the politicians he supports having built an army of dependents that are usually seeking one favor or the other from him and are always in his house forarms hadu was able to command these people to do his will anytime he wanted them to remember how poverty makes people open to manipulation this man had
a lot of poor people at his back and call Alle style of campaign was to threaten people with machetes to come out and vote for his candidates he was also known to use blackmail violence and intimidation to get his way all the time Little Wonder then why he was able to keep every politician in the state in his pocket now the one time a cting governor tried to defy him this happened he collecting 65 million naira a month a security money am I not entit you to one quarter of that every month you not mentioning
I don't want anything from he should go away it all started in 2003 Rashid lja had just won election as governor of oo state but his victory in the poll was largely due to the support of adedibu when I say support I means adedibu helped in providing the muscle needed to rig the election in his favor however once lar was in office he tried to break free of adu's influence this would be the beginning of a long and bitter war that led to lots of Destruction in O yor State according to lja Adu wanted access
to the state treasury he alleged that Adu ordered him to turn over 25% of the government security vote roughly 15 million n per month directly to him L also refused to allow Adu to name the Commissioners who would serve in his cabinet this was reportedly one major part of their agreement before the elections in response to these allegations Adu described lja as an ingrate according to Human Rights Watch the former State Governor of O State kabo Isola confirmed that it was normal practice to consult Baba Adu on appointments patronage and contracts by failing to do
all of that lja practically signed his own debt warrant he started from the State House of Assembly by August 20 5 the tensions between governor lja and Adu had caused the State House of Assembly to split in two with a majority of 18 out of 32 members publicly supporting adad against the city Governor as the F for control of the state government the house was now divided against itself in late 2005 seeing that the governor was not willing to play ball the so-called G18 of pro aded lawmakers started the process of impeaching Governor ladja a
process that quickly turned violent with one of the pro aded lawmakers reportedly stabbing his colleague on the floor of the state legislature when the first impeachment attempt failed some lawmakers were said to have brought out guns and fired into the air to W of attackers from the opposing Camp guess what all of this happened in the presence of security personnel and the police made no arrests about a week later armed policemen escorted the G18 lawmakers to the State House of Assembly for a second try at moving the impeachment motion this again resulted in an hours
long gun B between men of the police and armed thugs supporting governor lja who sought to prevent the proad legislators from entering the house eventually the G18 legislators broke into the lock House of Assembly and voted on J own to constitute a panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of misconduct including corruption against lja also moments after the vote a very large group of anti- ladja THS stormed the government house looted and destroyed the governor's office again the police made no arrest in connection with the sponsorship of any of these violence 3 weeks later the G18
voted iously to remove lja from office replacing him with his Deputy Governor who happened to be one of adu's loyalist Christopher allow aala after all the drama Nigeria Supreme Court reversed the impeachment in December 2006 calling it illegal because Governor L's removal was not supported by the required to T majority of the legislature as the lja Adu fight for control over o state was raging in the Southwest another powerful power broker this time in the southeastern state of Nigeria called anambra was enraged in a brutal war with his M this guest house you see have
produced not less than three or four Governors here is my government house here is the seat of power where I produce governance where I produce House of rep where I produce this is Chief Chris uba a very wealthy man from the powerful uba political family Chris Uber was at the peak of his power during the 2003 elections when he sponsored PDP candidates and rigged their election into office across anra state in fact he bragged about being the greatest Godfather in Nigeria stating how that was the first time an individual single-handedly put in position every politician
in the state among the politicians Chris uba sponsored in 2003 was PDP gubernatorial candidate Chris ngigi now what you're looking at right now are copies of the terms of their relationship here this guy prepared a written contract and a declaration of loyalty that the Governor Chris ngigi signed prior to the election in one of the documents promised in writing to exercise and manifest absolute loyalty to the person of Chief Chris uba as quote my mentor benefactor and sponsor he also agreed to allow uba control over all important government appointments and the awarding of all government
contracts looking at these contract papers you will noticed something interesting the contract referred to Governor ngigi as the administrator while the unelected uba as quote leader financier but that is not all the contract empired ubba to a venge himself in the way and manner are judged by him as fitting and adequate in case of any breach byi that could not be settled through mediation after this agreement was signed obba swung into action pulled all the plugs he could to rig gig into office and he succeeded but just like governor lja in oo State Chris tried
to break away from uba's control once he got into office according to from the moment he assumed office uba was constantly on call demanding he take money from the state treasury and gave it to him Gigi also claimed that shortly before his inauguration armed men broke into his home and forced him at gone point to sign a pledge that he would pay Chris uba the sum of 3 billion n immediately after in office when he could not meet up with this demands relations between Gigi and uba itated rapidly and by July of 2003 a shocking
story broke in Nigeria's newspapers Governor Chris ngigi was kidnapped by armed policemen and forced at gunpoint to resign that that is to sign his letter of resignation Chris Gigi believed the situation was all orchestrated by Chris uba in an attempt to extort money from him when he was confronted with all of these allegations UB dismissed them as complete completely false however gig's resignation letter was happily accepted by the State House of Assembly despite this lawmakers knowing that the governor signed the letter under durus had gone point one anra state legislator would later admit to Human
Rights Watch that at the time most members of the legislature were in bondage to Chris uba in much the same way as Governor Chris ngigi remember this man had bragged about putting every politician in the state in their position so when he needed to use them to remove a Sit Governor it was an easy one for him this is what politics in Nigeria is all about unelected men and women trying to hijack governments and impose their will on the people political offices being reduced to me business interest for some powerful underground players often in the
shadows dictating what should and shouldn't be successfully petitioned to have his resignation thrown out by the federal courts and he remained in office but quickly found himself in trouble yet again in 2004 thgs armed to the teeth with firearms and some locally manufactured bombs attacked anra state government house in Oka and burned part of it to the ground while policemen stood aside and washed sounds familiar well during the anra state crisis an estimated 24 people were killed this is the number we know of there could be more not reported on in his defense Chris told
the Human Rights Watch that Governor Chris breached their agreement in his own words quote I spent a lot of money to put him there but I never asked him for my money back and he was trying to be smart trying to run the government on his own the problem is being a politician who did not invest one NRA not even one Kobo wanted to run away with everything and not even share one appointment he concluded by saying quote the problem is the immunity the governors are having you spend your money to bring them into power
and they say quote go to hell it should be just like investing in a bank and then you have the power to make some decisions because of your controlling shares this statement was attributed to Chris Uber yeah he said these things to Chris Uber politics is just business sponsoring the governor is like buying a controlling share in the state's Treasury and this is what Godfathers see when they throw your money at politicians when they do all they can to win elections all they see is a bank whose controlling shares they have just acquired but how
far are they willing to go to protect their assets once once these puppets get into office well you're not ready for this next part when it comes to collecting what the feel is there everything is on the table you see godfatherism has been reported to be one of the root causes of thorre in Nigerian politics and the main reason why the government has failed in its attempt to fight cultism in our society during the 2007 elections the PDP candidate for governor Andy uba was reportedly handpicked by then president ovas Andy uba had served as an
influential special advisor to aasen for most of his eight years as president and it was believed aasen wanted to reward his service by making him Governor it didn't matter whether or not the people of the state wanted him Andy uba is the brother of Chris uba but Chris uba who had been fighting Chris in Gig all the while was not happy about this development this CA a rift between the two brothers Andy took over the anra state PDP in a move Chris ubba described as quote a CO and he installed somebody called Tony mu a
former student union leader as state chairman of the party according to reports by the Human Rights Watch numerous sources including police officers and cult members identified as a prominent member of a major cult group in AER but this didn't matter to Andy as long as he won the election so with the money and bus campaign provided Mo immediately set about mobilizing funds to recruit dogs to ensure andu victory in the PDP primaries in December 2006 in multiple interviews with several courts members who described how they were paid to rig the primaries in uba's favor by
stuffing ballot boxes and chasing off legitimate voters Human Rights Watch disclosed how one member of a rival court group Ong with his colleagues were actively involved in voter intimidation and this is not so secret as it has become a common occurrence in Nigerian elections these cult groups carry axes and machetes and chase away any voter that comes near while they are voting this act led to 's Victory and subsequently PDP nomination after being awarded 97% of all votes cast in the 2007 election according to police courts and other sources after the PDP primaries Mo began
channeling funds into the hands of members of his own cult group while excluding the rival gang members he had managed to work with during the entire exercise several rival CT groups saw this as deeply unfair and they reacted violently some also complain that they were not paid in full for working on behalf of andas campaign during the primaries the resulting crisis was devastating according to the den Police Commissioner Haron and John and some Court members themselves at least seven people were killed in a series of assassinations between this rival CT groups several of those killed
had been gunned down in the streets of Oka living local residents terrorized but this violence through Court groups and other armed gangs is not limited to the southeast alone remember the oo State situation we started this story with well after lja resumed office in late 2006 the political struggle between the governor and Adu was waged mainly in the streets through regular battles between well-funded gangs many of those dos were armed with machetes and locally manufactured Small Arms that were according to officials provided by just sponsors there are gangs like this in every state in Nigeria
and they are used by politicians and their Godfathers in the election season to force their will on the people in March 2023 premium times reported that Nigeria recorded 109 deaths in 3 months all linked to the 2023 election after the election in May 2023 a report published by punch newspapers recorded 238 ele the violence and 28 people losing their lives as a result and while you may see all these figures as male statistics make no mistake to think it doesn't affect you the stories we just looked at may be from the not so distant past
but if you turn on your TV right now I'm sure you will see a story about something similar playing out in the oil root state of rivers so think about this at what point in Nigeria's politics can a young person in their 30s or 40s with no large bank accounts come out to run for a political office will it ever be possible for someone to win an election in a fair and credible race without resulting to violence thry bigotry and all other social vies you can think of in a time when Godfathers are feeling betrayed
that their political structure is being pulled down because the candidate they hand picked bought a ticket for and used all means to get into office is now trying to break free of their control Nigerians need to wake up and see exactly how this current system of money politics is controlled by a few wealthy men whose source of wealth remains mysterious and until we break free from Godfathers our destiny as a nation will remain at the mercy of the one willing to spill more blood just to fulfill his political bition now i' like to hear from
you on this topic what are your thoughts on the impact of Godfathers in Nigerian politics let's have a conversation in the comment section below
