Federal Commissioner at the Federal Civil Service Commission, Henry Idahagbon<\/strong>, has described godfatherism as a \u201cNigerian invention\u201d that poses a threat to genuine democratic development.<\/p>\n Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, Idahagbon, who represents Edo, Ekiti and Ondo States at the commission, said the concept must be \u201cconsciously dismantled\u201d for democracy to thrive in Nigeria.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n According to the former Edo State Attorney-General, the idea of godfathers manipulating the political process is alien to developed democracies.<\/p>\n He noted that while influential political figures exist in every democracy, their roles are not meant to override the democratic process.<\/p>\n Idahagbon argued that Nigeria\u2019s democratic space must be freed from the stranglehold of individuals who see politics as a personal empire.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n He called on political parties and electoral stakeholders to promote internal democracy and allow competent candidates to emerge without interference from political heavyweights.<\/p>\n Idahagbon said, \u201cBut there is nothing that can be compared with the Nigerian concept of godfatherism, that is why I said it\u2019s a unique Nigerian creation, a Nigerian invention.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn Rivers and Edo, we have seen and still seeing the negative impact of godfatherism. Those two states represent perhaps the worst specie of godfatherism in Nigeria.<\/em><\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAt the peak of the Obaseki and Oshiomhole imbroglio, we saw Obaseki practically declaring Oshiomhole a person of non-grata in a state that he governed for eight years. I remember we had to arrange for private security to escort Oshiomhole from the airport to even get to his house.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOn many occasions, his cars were stoned, but for the fact that they were bulletproof, he would have been injured. And I happened to be the only person who was in his house the day thugs came to attempt to bomb down his house.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAnd the same thing is playing again in the River states. We have the minister of the FCT, who keeps breathing down the neck of Gov. Siminalayi Fubara because he brought him to power.<\/em><\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s something that the Nigerian political class have to now consciously dismantle.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Idahagbon, who was Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice during Oshiomhole\u2019s administration, emphasised the need for governors and even presidents to leave for good when they leave office.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen governors and presidents leave office, they should leave for good. They should not be engaged in the process of determining their successor. In my opinion, political actors want to determine who succeeds them because of two factors. They want protection when they leave office.<\/em><\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSo if governors do well, like I believe Gov. Alex <\/a>Otti of Abia <\/a>is doing in his state now, you don\u2019t need to determine who succeeds you, anybody can succeed you if your records are clean.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo we should consciously, like Oshiomhole during his campaign and tenure said, \u2018say no to godfatherism, and embrace one man one vote, one governor one vote\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think that mantra should become a national mantra, one man one vote, and let us say no to godfatherism because it has negative implications for our polity,\u2019\u2019<\/em> the federal commissioner added.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement\n<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Federal Commissioner at the Federal Civil Service Commission, Henry Idahagbon, has described godfatherism as a \u201cNigerian invention\u201d that poses a threat to genuine democratic development. Speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, Idahagbon, who represents Edo, Ekiti and Ondo States at the commission, said the concept must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":240246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[2926,2927],"class_list":["post-240245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-godfatherism","tag-henry-idahagbon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/political-parties-in-nigeria.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}