Nigeria and the problem of political dynasties

Nigerian politics always extracts a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It is not just the blood shed at those times when politics stops being a game and becomes a garrote. In many ways, blood continues to play a big role in the Nigeria`s political space.

For many Nigerian politicians, blood is not only thicker than water, it also serves as a medium of inheritance. For many of them, politics is in their blood such that whatever sterling achievements they couple together when they hurl themselves   into the halls of power through politics, they feel their children can seamlessly replicate.

Thus, it is common to see scions of famous politician fathers or mothers take after them in politics. It has also become commonplace to see political office holders groom their children to succeed them in office and eventually use all means to launch them into power. This would ordinarily be no problem but for the fact that visionary leadership has continued to elude Nigeria since a historic return to democracy in 1999 truncated more than two decades of brutal military dictatorships.

In over twenty years of democracy, Nigeria has mightily struggled to display its  democratic credentials. What has been in no short supply is bad governance, complete with the unbearably ugly fingerprints of nepotism, corruption and cronyism. Under its subtle but suffocating power, Nigerians have continued to groan with little respite.

Ordinarily, political dynasties should not be a problem especially as the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees constitutional rights one of which is the right to freedom of association. Problem is what those who float these political dynasties bring to the politics of the country and the good or harm they do.

In the Igbo nation, as the she-goat eats, the kid learns a trick or two from looking at its mouth. Giving the spectacularly embarrassing failures of many of those who have held the reins of power in Nigeria in the past, what is different about what they teach those who come from their political dynasties and undoubtedly look up to them for guidance and mentorship? And active support.

The 2023 general elections are just around the corner and already the Machiavellian machinations of many of those who see power as family property have kicked off with a desperate sense of urgency. It is where Nigerians must watch closely.

Bad governance does not just happen; it does not just come out of the blues; it is not a product of political magic or sorcery. Bad governance happens over time and thrives on structures sown over an extended period of time. Nigeria has an abundance of those structures now.

That the country is in a difficult place is a direct consequence of there being in place people who having found their way  into the corridors of power and doing little to justify their continued stay there have remained because the permissiveness of Nigeria`s power structures have allowed them to sit tight. In some places where these political dynasties thrive, it is because people do not simply know what to do to dismantle them.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power is also transient and the transience of power ensures that its corruption does not tarry for long. What political dynasties do is to obliterate the transience of power, and to perpetrate themselves.

With the 2023 general elections close, these dynasties in place in some states in Nigeria are either preparing to strengthen their structures or to reassert them. Nigerians must resist.

If good governance flows in the blood as some of them openly espouse, so does bad governance which many of them have perpetuated while in office. In any case, a draft of fresh air wafting through the halls of power every now and then will do everyone some good.

Kene Obiezu,

keneobiezu@gmail.com

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