| dc.description.abstract | The literature on internal party democracy has paid attention to the politics of godfatherism in Nigeria and its negative effects on politics and administration, particularly bad governance and rising conflict across the country. Yet, few studies have been conducted on how godfather politics in Benue State impacts the electoral process in Benue State. Hence, this study assessed the effects of godfatherism on a credible electoral process in Benue State in 2018 and 2022. The objectives of the study were to understand how the politics of the godfatherism have played out within the PDP in Benue State, investigate how Godfathers have decided and dominated elections in Benue State, assess the effects of Godfatherism on a credible electoral process in Benue State, and investigate how the politics of godfatherism can be curbed in Benue State.
The study employed a mixed research design where primary and secondary data and a simple statistical package for Social Sciences and content analysis were used. The study population was 628, out of which 244 respondents were sampled using Taro Yamane’s formula. For the qualitative research component, 12 respondents were interviewed.
Using the elite theory, the study found that first, Political Godfathers had decided the fate of candidates at PDP primary elections in Benue State, as Godfathers had decided the candidates that emerged as consensus candidates among party members and hand-picked by the party executives. Hence, the PDP primary elections in Benue State had been characterized by flawed processes, irregularities, manipulation, and imposition of candidates due to the powerful influence of the political elite and the exclusion of rank-and-file members in the selection processes. To that end, aggrieved card members had in 2018, and 2022 asked the court to restrict the party from submitting candidate’s names to INEC for the General Elections. Second, the politics of godfatherism have had negative effects on credible electoral processes in Benue State. Furthermore, the politics of Godfatherism led to lopsided political appointments, inefficient employees, and nepotism in the award of contracts as well as lack of essential services.
The study recommended that the problems of political godfatherism could be solved through the adoption of direct primary elections, addressing the misuse of the power of incumbency, consolidating and strengthening the democratic process to nip in the bud, the ugly incidence of political godfatherism that is milking the country dry, and increasing voter education to help address the problem of Godfatherism in Benue State | en_US |
