Godfathers, political parties and electoral corruption in Nigeria

Abstract

Electoral corruption is mostly seen in Nigeria as a direct subversion of the electoral process by individuals, who
are greedy for personal enrichment that electoral success underwrites in Nigeria. While not questioning the
personal enrichment thesis of electoral corruption, as it is true, the paper adopts a more nuanced approach to
the understanding of electoral corruption. It focuses on the realities of existence of godfathers, political parties
and voters in Nigeria. It argues that electoral corruption is the result not just of the avariciousness of godfathers
and politicians but of the logic of electoral competition (zero -sum) which demands that political parties in
Nigeria, incapacitated by a weak voters’ mobilization capacity derived from their elite/caucus nature, resort to
individuals (godfathers) possessing of certain attributes such as an “intuitive grasp of and control of local voting
structure,” to effect electoral success through activities that distort the electoral process or through electoral
competition. Electoral corruption is further entrenched by the political and social existential demands of the
godfather, which can only be met by further exercises in electoral corruption, though this time in favor of the
godfathers themselves.