Nnadiebube Journal of Philosophy

The choice of many countries of the world for a democratic system of government lies in the fact that it bequeaths power to the people. It gives the citizens a voice; the power to choose those whom they consider capable of leading them. While this system has worked in developed countries, leading to good governance and sustainable democracy, it has become a victim of perennial travail in most developing countries, especially in Africa, particularly Nigeria. This travail is predicated on several factors such as the foreboding presence of the military, which has incessantly stalled democratic governments; corruption, which has resulted in weak structures and institutions; and the chief of them all, godfatherism, which is a bane to the practice of a truly democratic government in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature, causes and impacts of political Godfatherism on sustainable democracy and good governance in Nigeria. To effectively do this the Elite theory advocated by Vilfredo Pareto in 1935 was employed. The Paper also adopts a qualitative research design, whereby descriptive analysis is employed to investigate the issues of godfatherism and democracy in Nigeria. The paper is theoretical. Hence, the data systematically reviewed in the paper were primarily derived from secondary sources such as internet sources, textbooks, journal articles, magazines, book reports, and archives.

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