Political Bigotry and Godfatherism; The Bane of Nigeria’s Politics Today

Political bigotry and godfatherism among other factors are twin holocausts that have been entrenched into Nigeria's politics by the power players which now seem to have become a political culture in a supposed democratic setting. Because of this, this research work is primarily designed to examine democracy and politics of bigotry and godfatherism in Nigeria with emphasis on its effects and way forward. The study adopts a qualitative research design using both primary and secondary data to analyze some critical issues like political violence, tribal and religious disaffection, intolerance against opposition parties, etc, which are products of political bigotry and godfatherism. Democracy is seen as a political system that is characterized by periodic and free elections in which politicians organized into political parties, engage themselves in competitive polls to form a new government. It is the formation of a new government after a free and fair election where citizens participate adequately to elect their leaders that gained democracy the perception of being the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. However, with the entrenchment of political bigotry and godfatherism as a norm in Nigeria’s politics today, how democratic is our democracy? Every research effort gear to unearth and solve a particular first-hand human problem and this work is not an exception. This work, therefore, aims to ascertain how good or bad Nigeria has fared as a country with bigotry and godfatherism as defining factors of our national politics. The paper hold that political bigotry and godfatherism has done the country and her citizens more harm than good because over the years this political misnomer has been a contributory factor to enthroning bad leadership to our collective detriment and woes. The paper holds the view that for there to be a well-ordered Nigeria where national integration and nation building will take center stage, there should be a requirement for intending/aspiring political leaders in Nigeria to undergo moral training and for the existing political leaders to undergo moral reorientation. This will help them to seek the intelligibility of things beyond Ethnic sentiment/tribal bigotry and politics of national looting. Without this, things will continue to go round and round to our collective woe as each power player and intending ones will keep approaching politics with an Ethnic lens and an eye for loot.