FELIX NWANERI reports on the continued domination of Nigeria’s political landscape by dynasties despite the belief that their existence is against democratic values, since they do not provide equal opportunities for people to hold public offices

Politics in Nigeria has gradually become affairs of members of a few families, who sit side-by-side to deliberate on important legislations and policies that affect the country’s over 200 million people. No doubt, political dynasties have thrived even in advanced democracies such as the United States (U.S.) despite the fact that the country’s founding fathers objected to power flowing through blood rather than the ballot, which explains why they declared in the country’s constitution that “no title of nobility shall be granted by the United States.”

This perhaps, explains why the narrative of one of the country’s most prominent political families, the Kennedys, avoids the word – dynasty. Rather than referring to the New England clan as a dynasty, it is romantically painted as Camelot – the supposedly golden age of the presidency of John F. Kennedy (196- 1963). Despite the colouration, political dynasties in the U.S. have converted the last names of their members into impressive and long-lasting political brands.

The Kennedy dynasty, for instance, is unarguably the most famous dynasty in U.S. political history. John F. Kennedy became president, his brother Robert was an Attorney General and presidential candidate, while Edward was a long-time senator. At least, a member of the Kennedy family has been active in politics in last 65 years. Joseph P. Kennedy III continues that tradition today. If the Kennedys are considered the “royal family” of Democratic politics, the Bush family is the Republican equivalent. Prescott S. Bush was the first member of the wealthy family to seek office, winning election to the Senate in 1952.

Since then, the family has produced two presidents – George H. W. Bush and his son George W. Bush – and a governor and presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, George W.’s brother. George P. Bush, Jeb Bush’s son also served as land commissioner of Texas. There are also the Rockefellers identified with New York, West Virginia, and Arkansas; the Udalls, who first became prominent in Arizona but recently had three cousins served simultaneously in the U.S. Senate as representatives for Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon; the Clintons, who moved quickly from Arkansas to national politics, with both Bill and Hillary (husband and wife) elected to positions in the federal government – presidency and Senate, respectively. In Canada, there is the Trudeau family. Theirs’ is an interesting story.

It was reported that when Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and U.S. President Richard Nixon met at a state dinner in Ottawa in 1972, Nixon proposed a toast to Trudeau’s four-monthold son – “the future prime minister of Canada, Justin Pierre Trudeau!” When Justin Trudeau did become prime minister in 2015, the “prophecy” was fulfilled. Outside the Americas, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has dominated Indian politics since independence from Britain in 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru was India’s first postindependence prime minister. Nehru’s daughter, Indira, was the country’s first female prime minister, serving from 1966 until her assassination in 1984.

Her son, Rajiv, succeeded her and was assassinated in 1991. In 2004, Rajiv’s Italianborn wife, Sonia, became leader of the then-ruling Congress Party and her son, Rahul, nearly succeeded her. Africa has also had its own fair share of political dynasties. They include the Kenyattas of Kenya, Bokassas of Central African Republic, Nguemas of Equatorial Guinea and the Eyademas of Togo. Jomo Kenyatta was a respected, articulate and highly ambitious activist in Kenya’s struggle for independence from Britain. While working at the Kenya African Teachers College, he founded a nationalist party and was arrested when his followers were implicated in a bloody 1952 rebellion. At independence in 1963, he became prime minister, and later president. He remained president until his death in 1978. In 2013, his son, Uhuru, ruled the country between 2013 and 2022.

The Central African Republic, where the Bokassas held sway for decades represents one of the most bizarre political interludes in modern Africa. In 1966, Jean-Bedel Bokassa became president of the then newly independent country. Eleven years later, he had himself crowned emperor. The ceremony cost $20 million and was largely financed by France. Bokassa’s four-year-old son, Jean-Bedel Bokassa Jnr was named crown prince.

Protests and French intervention toppled the empire in 1979, before Bokassa Jnr. could reign. Another son of Bokassa, Jean-Serge, ran for president of the restored republic in 2015. For the Nguema family, it has run the small West African country of Equatorial Guinea since independence from Spain in 1968. Francisco Macias Nguema was elected president and ran a bizarre personality cult, calling himself the “sole miracle” of the country. He was overthrown by his nephew Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo in 1979 and later executed. Obiang has kept an unchallenged hold on power ever since.

The Nigerian experience

Nigeria has also seen the rise of political dynasties. They include the Yar’Aduas, Ojukwus, Nwodos, Adedibus, Obasanjos, Akinjides, Shinkafis, Sarakis, Tinubus, Okorochas, Ubas, Igbinedions and Abiolas. Most of these families have moved from state or regional power bases to national prominence.

The patriarch of the Yar’Aduas, who hail from Katsina State, Musa Yar’Adua, was a teacher who later served as Minister of Lagos Affairs between 1957 and 1966 during Nigeria’s First Republic. His son, Shehu, who enlisted in the army in 1962 as part of Course 5 intake of the Nigerian military training school, later became Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters under the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo.

He held the position between 1977 and 1979. He had earlier served as Transport Minister in the General Murtala Mohammad’s regime. On retiring from the army, Musa Yar’Adua joined politics. He formed the Peoples Front of Nigeria, which had the likes Babagana Kingibe, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Ango Abdullahi, Yahaya Kwande, Babalola Borishade and Rabiu Kwankwaso as members. The organisation later merged with other groups to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he sought its presidential ticket in 1992. He was leading the race for the party’s nomination before the process was cancelled.

The presidential ambition, which General Yar’Adua was unable to realise was achieved by his younger brother, Umaru, in 2007. He was elected president on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after he won the 2007 presidential election. He had earlier served as governor of Katsina State between 1999 and 2007. Death, however, cut short his reign on May 5, 2010 after a protracted illness.

He was succeeded by his vice, Goodluck Jonathan, who later appointed General Yar’Adua’s son, Murtala, as minister of State for Defence. For the Ojukwus, what comes to the consciousness of most Nigerians whenever their name is mentioned is the late Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu but not many know that theirs was was a household name even before the emergence of the warlord. His father, Sir Louis Ojukwu was a foremost businessman, who later became a financial pillar of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), a political party led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe during the pre-independence era and in the First Republic.

Sir Ojukwu was also a onetime member of the House of Representatives. He died in 1966, just a year before the Nigerian civil war and his son, Chukwuemeka, who led the breakaway Biafra, was before then, the military governor of the Eastern Region. Ojukwu was active as a politician from 1983 until his death in 2011. He contested for a senatorial seat in 1983 on the platform of the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) but lost to Dr. Edwin Onwudiwe of the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP). He also contested for the presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in 2003 and 2007.

His son, Emeka Ojukwu jnr, who followed his political footsteps, once served as chairman of Nnewi Local Government, while his wife, Bianca, served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Spain during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. She was on the race for APGA’s senatorial ticket for Anambra South in the 2019 elections but lost to Nicholas Ukachukwu.

For the Abiolas, theirs would have been one of Nigeria’s largest political dynasties if not for circumstances that cut short the presidential ambition of their patriarch – Chief MKO Abiola. The late business mogul won the June 12 1993 presidential election that was annulled by the then military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.

The man, who would have been president between 1993 and 1998, died on July 7, 1998, in the custody of the Federal Government, four years after he was arrested and detained by the then head of state, General Sani Abacha, for daring to declare himself Presidentelect.

But, his harrowing experience in politics did not deter some of his children from venturing into politics. His first daughter, Lola Abiola-Edewor, represented Apapa federal constituency of Lagos State in the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003 on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) before she moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has had several unsuccessful bids to represent the people of Ogun Central Senatorial District at the Senate. Another of his daughters, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, served as Special Adviser to then Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, while another, Rinsola, who was formerly an assistant to Kaduna State governor, Nasri el-Rufai, before he contested for a House of Representatives seat in the 2019 elections.

The Nwodo political dynasty, perhaps, ranks among the greatest so far in Nigeria’s politics. The family has produced numerous political office holders including a governor, ministers, legislators, national chairman of a political party, among several others. The patriarch of the Nwodo family was Igwe J.U. Nwodo, a traditional ruler who served as minister of Commerce as well as that of Local government in the then Eastern Region.

Three of his sons also toed his political path. The eldest of the trio, Joe was a former gubernatorial and presidential candidate, while Okwesilieze, who became governor of Enugu State in the Third Republic later served as the first National Secretary of the PDP and subsequently as and the party’s national chairman. Another of the Nwodos, Nnia, was minister of Aviation in the Second Republic as well as minister of Information during the regime of General Abdusalami Abubakar. He is the immediate past President-General of apex Igbo body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Another political dynasty that is synonymous among Nigerians is that of the Obasanjos. This dynasty has produced a head of state and president as well as a commissioner and senator. It also had one its members running for the presidency.

The patriarch of the dynasty, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was head of state between 1976 and 1979 and president between 1999 and 2007. His daughter, Iyabo, served as commissioner for Health in Ogun State before she was elected as senator for Ogun Central senatorial district in 2007. She ran for reelection in 2011, but her bid to return to the Red Chamber failed. Another of the Obasanjos, Mojisola (an ex-wife of the former president), who is a retired major of the army is also a key political player. She founded the Masses Movement of Nigeria in 1998 and later ran for the presidency on its platform in 2003, interestingly against her husband. She also contested the 2007 presidential election, the only female on the ballot.

The Sarakis, who hail from Kwara State in North Central Nigeria, are like the Kennedys of the U.S. Their patriarch, Olusola Saraki (1933-2012), first entered politics when he contested the 1964 parliamentary election for Ilorin as an independent candidate but lost. He returned to politics in 1979 and was elected senator on the platform of the NPN and became Senate Leader. He was re-elected in 1983. In 1998, Saraki became a member of the Board of Trustees of the All Peoples Party (APP), contributing to the party’s success in Kwara and Kogi states. He assisted Mohammed Lawal to become governor of Kwara State.

He later switched allegiance to the PDP and in the 2003 elections, supported his son Bukola to emerge as governor of Kwara State, while his daughter, Gbemisola, was elected senator for Kwara Central. His plans to have Gbemisola succeed Bukola as governor in 2011 did not materialize as his son’s choice, Abdulfatah Ahmed, won the election. Besides upstaging his father, the younger Saraki got elected into the Senate and was reelected in 2015 on the platform of the APC, when he became president of the Eighth Senate. He later returned to the PDP and contested for the party’s presidential ticket but lost to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Another budding political dynasty in Nigeria’s political space is the Tinubus.

Unlike the others, theirs is not limited to family members. It has as its members, politicians across the states of the South-West geopolitical zone and even beyond. The dynasty is headed by a former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (now President-elect), whose first foray into active politics was as a founding member of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) through which he was elected as senator for Lagos West in 1992. In 1999, he was elected governor of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He was reelected in 2003. His wife, Remi, was elected senator in 2011 and she is presently a three-term senator. Tinubu’s first daughter, Folashade Tinubu- Ojo, is the Iyaloja of Lagos State and the President General of the Market Men and Women of Nigeria. His mother, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, held the position before she passed on. A sonin- law of the APC leader, Oyetunde Ojo, was elected into the House of Representatives in 2011 to represent Ekiti Central II federal constituency. For the Okorocha political dynasty, whose arrowhead, Owelle Rochas Okorocha (senator representing Imo West), criss-crossed several political parties before he was elected governor of Imo State in 2011 on the platform of APGA before defecting to APC on which he was reelected in 2015, the character of its politics is that the spoils of war belong to them alone.

This was evident during Okorocha’s reign as governor of Imo State. His son in- law, Uche Nwosu, who served as his Chief of Staff was later anointed as his successor but could not scale the election hurdle. Okorocha’s younger sister, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo, served as commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfillment. Before her appointment as commissioner, she had served as Chief of Staff, Domestic Affairs in his brother’s cabinet. Apparently, the most interesting of the political dynasties is the Ubas of Anambra State. It has produced a “governor” and two senators in the present dispensation. It also boasts of installing a former governor along with all state and federal lawmakers in the state in 2003. The dynasty comprised three brothers – Ugochukwu (a physician and former senator), Andy (a former presidential aide and former senator) and Chris (a businessman and party chieftain).

The trio closed ranks at a time, fought and ousted other political godfathers in the state to ascend to the political throne. But rather than consolidate their grip on power, they allowed personal ambition tore them apart. This prompted Andy and Chris to turn their respective political weaponries against each other in the 2019 elections. Consequently, their political dynasty lost the Anambra South Senatorial District seat. Another political dynasty is the Shinkafi family of Zamfara State. It was led by Alhaji Umaru Aliyu Shinkafi (now late), who served as Federal Commissioner of Internal Affairs before being appointed as Director General of the National Security Organisation. On his retirement in 1983, he delved into politics and was one of the promoters of the Nigerian National Congress (NNC), a political association formed in 1989 after the disbanding of political groups by the General Ibrahim Babangida- led military junta.

The NNC later joined the defunct National Republic Convention (NRC). Shinkafi emerged as a leading presidential candidate of the party, but the primary was later annulled and the presidential aspirants banned from politics. A new primary was conducted and Bashir Tofa emerged as the party’s presidential candidate with the support of Shinkafi.

The late Marafa Sokoto younger brother, Aliyu, was elected governor of Zamfara State 2007 on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) after he served as deputy governor during the eight year tenure of Governor Ahmad Sani Yerima. His defection to the PDP cost him re-election in 2011 as he was defeated by ANPP’s Abdulaziz Yari. He re-contested in 2015 and lost again to Yari. Besides his sibling, the late Shinkafi’s daughter, Fatima, was appointed as commissioner for Commerce and Industry by Yari in 2015. She was later appointed Executive Secretary, Solid Minerals Development Fund by President Muhammadu Buhari. Another of his daughters, Zainab, is the first lady of Kebbi State.

Emerging dynasties and 2023 polls

While the established political dynasties have held sway for a long time, new ones are equally emerging on the scene. They include the Iboris led by former governor Delta State, James Ibori; Ibrahims led by former Governor Buka Abba Ibrahim; Kwankwasos led by former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso and Osobas lead by former Governor Olusegun Osoba. Others are El-Rufais led by the Kaduna State governor, Nasir-el Rufai; Okowas led by Delta State governor and vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Marks led by a former President of the Senate, David Mark, among others.

The expectation of most analysts ahead of the 2023 elections was that the emerging dynasties will seize the opportunity of the polls to challenge the status quo in their bid to expand political frontiers. The permutation played out given the victory of members of these political dynasties in the polls. Besides Tinubu, who won the presidential election, children, wives, in-laws and protégés of leaders of these political dynasties won seats in the national and state Assembly elections as well as the governorship polls.

They include Kwankwaso’s son-in-law, Abba Yusuf, who won the governorship election on the platform of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); Okowa’s daughter Marilyn Okowa-Daramola and protégé Sheriff Oborevwori, who won the Ika North/East state constituency seat and Delta State governorship, respectively and Regina Akume, wife of a former governor of Benue State Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume, who won the Tarka/Gboko federal constituency seat. Others are Khadijah Bukar Ibrahim, a former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and wife of ex-Governor of Yobe State, Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who won election to represent Damaturu/Gulani/Tarmowa/ Gujba federal constituency and former Governor Osoba’s son, Olumide, who was re-elected for a third time to represent Obafemi/Owode/ Odeda/Abeokuta-North federal constituency.

There are also Olamijuwonlo Akala, son of a former Governor of Oyo State, Alao Akala, who won the Ogbomoso federal constituency seat; Bello El-Rufai, son of Governor Nasir Elrufai, who won a seat in the House of Representatives to represent Kaduna North federal constituency and Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu, daughter of the former Governor Ibori , who won the Ethiope federal constituency seat. Other members of political dynasties, who won in the just concluded general elections are Blessing Onuh, daughter of a former President of the Senate, David Mark (Otukpo/ Ohinmini federal constituency); Olamiju Akala, son of Oyo State ex-governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala (Ogbomoso federal constituency) and Ireti Kingibe, wife of Babagana Kingibe, vice presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP), who won the senatorial seat of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the platform of Labour Party.