User:Watercheetah99/Godfather (Nigerian politics)

In Nigerian politics, a political godfather (also known simply as a godfather, alternatively as a kingmaker, or colloquially as an oga) is the term for a political figure who uses a mix of bribery, campaign strategy, co-opted or allied criminal gangs, electoral fraud, judicial corruption, parochialism, and vote buying to establish patronage networks in order to control politics in a particular area. Godfatherism is the term for the neopatrimonial system surrounding the practice. The female equivalent is political godmother and godmotherism while junior benefactors of the system are referred to as godsons and goddaughters.

Etymology and definition
In a BBC Focus on Africa piece in 2003, political scientist Jibrin Ibrahim — the future Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development — noted that the term "godfather" came directly from the word's use as a synonym for crime boss, specifically in reference to mafia leaders' influential role in Chicago politics in the interwar period. The term godfatherism has been used to specifically describe the influence system of Nigeria political elites as early as the 1970s.

As defined by Human Rights Watch, godfathers "are individuals whose power stems not just from wealth but from their ability to deploy violence and corruption to manipulate national, state or local political systems in support of the politicians they sponsor...In return, they demand a substantial degree of control over the governments they help bring into being - not in order to shape government policy, but to exact direct financial "returns" in the form of government resources stolen by their [protégés] or lucrative government contracts awarded to them as further opportunities for graft." More simply, Ibrahim defined godfathers as "men who have the power personally to determine both who gets nominated to contest elections and who wins in a state."

Effects

 * "mother of corruption in Nigeria." (change journal)
 * oil bunkering and the Niger Delta conflict (Barnett + podcast episode)
 * https://guardian.ng/opinion/godfatherism-the-cancer-in-our-political-leadership/
 * https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/nigeria0107/nigeria0107webwcover.pdf
 * https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162155481.pdf
 * https://www.theafricareport.com/313953/nigerias-powerful-northern-muslim-elite-is-intricately-interconnected/
 * https://www.eisa.org/storage/2023/05/2011-journal-of-african-elections-v10n1-political-corruption-democratisation-squandering-hope-nigeria-eisa.pdf
 * https://www.jstor.org/stable/26393309?seq=5
 * https://www.refworld.org/docid/4738691264.html
 * https://www.acjol.org/index.php/ochendo/article/download/3562/3486
 * https://www.dawodu.com/ogbonmwan1.htm

Africa

 * Democratic Republic of the Congo (example: Joseph Kabila )
 * Kenya (examples: Daniel arap Moi, Nicholas Biwott )
 * Mali (example: Mahmoud Dicko )
 * Niger ((example: Mahamadou Issoufou )
 * Sudan (example: Hassan al-Turabi )
 * Zimbabwe (examples: Robert Mugabe, Didymus Mutasa )


 * Ghana: https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Godfatherism-in-Ghanaian-political-space-its-manifestations-and-solutions-845971
 * Kenya: https://www.theafricareport.com/67648/kenya-mukhisa-kituyi-former-unctad-boss-eyes-the-presidency/
 * South Africa: https://www.theafricareport.com/329281/south-africa-who-is-panyaza-lesufi-gauteng-strongman-with-a-militia/
 * Malawi: https://repub.eur.nl/pub/126925/combinepdf.pdf
 * Tanzania: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2b908550-d067-4a8b-865e-326b0216f77e/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=Dan%2BPaget%2C%2BDPhil%2BThesis%2C%2BThe%2BRally-Intensive%2BGround%2BCampaign%2C%2B2018.pdf&type_of_work=Thesis
 * Uganda: https://www.observer.ug/component/content/article?id=34859:-museveni-advisor-state-house-chief-in-fresh-clash-over-job

Rest of the world

 * Brazil (example: Adhemar de Barros )
 * Colombia (example: Alvaro Uribe )
 * India (example: Devi Lal )
 * Italy (example: Giulio Andreotti )
 * Malaysia (examples: Abdul Razak Hussein, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi )
 * Mexico (example: Carlos Hank Gonzalez )
 * Spain (example: Jordi Pujol )


 * Southeast Asia: https://www.amazon.com/Asian-Godfathers-Money-Power-Southeast/dp/0802143911
 * Greece: https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/02/archives/despite-their-ruinous-effect-on-economy-political-favors-are-way-of.html
 * Hungary: https://hungarytoday.hu/lmp-calls-for-scrutiny-into-gruevski-affair/
 * Serbia: https://www.salon.com/2000/09/06/serbia_activists/
 * Thailand: https://www.smh.com.au/world/political-godfather-accused-of-murder-20030418-gdgmf0.html https://www.cfr.org/blog/demise-democrat-party-thailand
 * Philippines: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2003/11/17/228270/danding-brews-political-plans

Other terms
 * Political boss
 * Za'im system