Is god-fatherism in Nigerian Politics Dead or Simply Recovering from Stroke?

If you'd asked in 2023, when Peter Obi's "Obidient" wave punched holes through Lagos and the South-East, you'd have been forgiven for writing godfatherism's obituary. Three years on, the patient is back on its feet — limping, slurring, but very much alive.

Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister who handpicked Governor Siminalayi Fubara in 2023, has spent the better part of 2024–2026 trying to put his "godson" back in the box. The feud has triggered a six-month state of emergency on 18 March 2025 (with a retired Vice Admiral installed as sole administrator), a third impeachment attempt on 8 January 2026 by 26 of 32 lawmakers, and — per Africa Check's May 2026 verification — a court-ordered suspension of those proceedings on 19 February following Tinubu's intervention.

The most surreal moment came when the President reportedly asked Fubara to "respect Wike as the leader of both APC and PDP in Rivers State" — a constitutional curiosity nobody can quite explain, given Wike is a PDP card-carrier and Fubara defected to APC in December 2025. As TheCable put it on 7 January 2026: "The same man who said 'resist godfatherism' is running Rivers like Don Vito Corleone."

Rabiu Kwankwaso, NNPP's 2023 presidential candidate, withdrew his Kwankwasiyya movement from Governor Abba Yusuf after Yusuf moved to defect to APC in January 2026 — taking lawmakers with him and abandoning the political vehicle that put him in office. Opinion Nigeria summarised the pattern bluntly: "A godfather installs a successor. The godson seeks independence. Institutions become weapons."

Then there's Lagos, where Vanguard openly calls President Tinubu "the godfather of Lagos politics." On 21 October 2025, Sanwo-Olu, Fashola, Ambode, Obasa and the entire GAC publicly endorsed Tinubu for 2027 — and by April 2026, GAC Chairman Tajudeen Olusi had effectively unveiled Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat as Sanwo-Olu's anointed successor. No public primary contest, no rebellion. Just consensus.

Labour Party's Igiri Innocent summed it up: "In Rivers, Wike tried godfatherism, it's failing. In Kano, Kwankwaso tried it, failed. In Kaduna, El-Rufai tried it, failed. But it's succeeding in Ebonyi."

The Electoral Act 2026 was supposed to help — its dual-membership ban aimed to curb the godfather-driven defections. Instead, as The Sun reported a week ago, "politicians not favoured by godfathers now defect before primaries." The word "consensus" has been quietly inserted into the Act, giving impositions a respectable new wardrobe.

So — dead? No. Stroke? Yes. The godfathers can still walk; they just can no longer dance. Voters now push back, courts intervene, godsons defect, and the federal centre referees. The puppet strings are fraying — but the puppeteers are still in the building.

Sources: Daily Post (12 Jan 2026), Africa Check (May 2026), Daily Trust (10 Feb 2026), Vanguard (Apr 2026), TheCable (7 Jan 2026), Opinion Nigeria (1 Feb 2026), The Sun (May 2026), P.M. News (21 Oct 2025).