MY POLITICAL AMBITION IS NOT WORTH THE BLOOD OF ANY NIGERIAN: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPRAISAL (2025)

PSYCHOLOGY OF POLITICS AND POLITICIANS IN NIGERIA: THE HUMAN AND SOCIAL GOVERNANCE CONSEQUENCES

Global Journal of Politics and Law Research Vol.8, No.1, pp.1-13, January 2020, 2020

The research examined political psychology in Nigeria, characterized by political interest, godfatherism, rigging, thuggery, occultism, election litigation, and zoning politics. Participants were politicians and electorates. Information was gathered through direct observations, interviews and print sources, with analytical and descriptive designs. Findings were psychology of politics manifested as: Elitism, machination, group opportunity, business perception, godfatherism politics, socio-cultural consciousness, politics as criminal enterprise, lifetime socioeconomic opportunity, including emasculating the Judiciary and Legislature. Psychology of politicians manifested as: Desperation, superiority status, extravagant lifestyle, betrayal of citizens, narcissistic personality, high selfishness/greed, deception/lying as skills/smartness, and pride/euphoria in associating with Federal Government's might. The human/social governance consequences were: Social polarization, disappointed governance, loss of confidence in electoral system, corruption, poor societal development, misguided rule of law, exponential unemployment, poor standard of living, misguided life virtue, and embarrassing Judiciary. Proffered recommendations were improved political value system, proactive Judiciary, accountable politics/politicians, and stopping irresponsible political extravagant lifestyle.

Sustaining the Values and Virtues of Political Participation in the Electioneering Process in Nigeria. Nigerian Sociological Review 2(1) 2007

This paper explores the ideals of political participation and the values and virtues it is supposed to propagate in a democratic setting as we approach the threshold of a new political dispensation. It takes a historical review of the electioneering process in Nigeria and how this has been riddled with thuggery, rigging of elections, god fatherism, political praise singing, constitutional manipulations and amendments to favour the party in power. Cases of assassinations, arson and murder have occurred as a way of destabilizing the opposition. Corruption has become the order of the day while the need for capacity building has been completely neglected. The culture of poverty has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian society and so people sell their votes to the detriment of the political process. It concludes with the assertion that only an independent electoral commission free from governmental interference is desirable for the country. Also is the need for us to change our values towards selflessness, sincerity and integrity so as to enhance the gains of our nascent democracy.

Unsavoury Nigerian Politics and Politicians

International journal of humanities & social studies, 2019

Politics and Politicians 1. Background The trajectory of Nigerian democracy is seen as a hoax and at best described as "groping in unending experimentation in governance and government". In some climes, politics is seen and regarded as a call for total service to one's fatherland. It suggests sacrifice involving money, time and other resources that can propel the growth and development of that society and further consolidate human relations. As observed by Ayuk (2015), issues in, and of politics should be more organised to create conditions that are people-driven, generate income, increase wellbeing, reduce vulnerability and improve security. No doubt, politics as being alluded to, is a struggle, contestation, agreement and disagreement by persons under a platform (party in Nigeria; in some other countries, independent candidacy) to access power via people's mandates, with the sole aim of authoritatively allocating resources-provide security and welfare for the general welfare of the society. However, this process, even though structured, especially in the Nigerian context, it should observe basic democratic tenets (within the framework of the rule of law) to reflect sense of civility and orderliness. The ideals of effective livelihood that recognizes impartiality which is tied on security, employment, infrastructure etc. should be a direct correlation that fundamentally defines politics. Unfortunately, politics in the truest sense in Nigeria is a travesty painted with different colours of brinkmanship, lawlessness, threats and counter-threats, which ultimately leads to breakdown of law. An average politician in Nigeria is a law to himself especially if he or she is in the party in power. They exhibit clear disdain to the law, impunity reigns supreme and characteristically self-serving. More appalling is the fact that, conversations in this sphere has always been "winner takes all", including not only appointive positions but the common wealth of the nation; and decide illegitimately how to loot what, who and how to the detriment of the citizens. Again, there exists an inverse relationship when one fraudulently assumes power, in that, a clear wall of demarcation is established between the electorates they hoodwinked into political office(s)-a narrative of "elitism" defines and classifies them, with their "godfather" in a prebendalistic engagement. In this circumstance, service which is the hallmark of politics becomes secondary as their loyalty at this instance is to the "godfather" and themselves. For them, Nigerians can starve to death for all they care-even more concerning is that, this strategy is reinforced to perpetually consign majority of people to poverty so that they can be easily manipulated to continuous servitude (Ayuk, 2018).

The Psychology of Participatory Democracy and the Personality Profile of the Nigerian Politicians

Bangladesh Sociological …, 2008

This paper explores the personality profiles of the Nigerian politician as antithetic to the enthronement of participatory democracy in Nigeria. It contends that the antidemocratic and corruptive behaviour of the Nigerian politician is hinged on a lack of sterling personality traits of these Nigerian politicians. The paper argues that although the behaviour impede on national growth and development; nonetheless, the behaviour are a result of entrenched poverty, political ignorance and political alienation of the civic public. The paper, thus, suggests political education, self-enfranchisement and friendly and virile political environment for the production, development and growth of Nigerian politicians with deep vision and sublime mission to turn around the political misfortunes of Nigeria. Whichever way politics is defined, it is recognized that there exist values which political practice may help man to configure and actualize. Lasswell (op cit) has discussed eight basic values all of which people will pursue. These are power, enlightenment, wealth, well-being (or health) skill, affection, rectitude (which involves both righteousness and justice) and deference. Deutsch (IbidL14) has captured the importance of these eight values to people when he opines that:

Political Philosophy and Political Action in Nigerian Democracy

18th Africa Conference, University of Texas, 2018

Nigerian democracy is triangulated: Culturally, Militarily, and Democratically. Political philosophy at conceptual level deals with the arguments in political action, which is a practice that concerns the government. The political structure, political system, and political action in Nigeria are not conducive to democratic accountability and economic aspirations of Nigerians. This paper used ethical analysis, phenomenology, historical, and sociological methodology. Political parties require distinct ideologies for a stable democracy. Nigerian inappropriate political system and incongruous political structure fuel ethnocentric selfish interest; and with lack of ideology, political leaders are disconnected from those they govern at the grassroots. This paper concludes that Nigeria's nascent democracy lays on a faulty foundation. It advocates for a sound political philosophy, and quality political action that would sustain the economy of Nigeria. It recommends, a paradigm change to public life to enshrine an egalitarian society free of corruption. A significant step in the journey to national rebirth is the 'rule of law,' which should be accompanied by accountability, and transparency.

Towards the Enhancement of Morality in the Nigerian Politics

2017

The manifestation of immorality in Nigerian politics has been rationalized by some people with the notion that politics is inherently dirty, consequently separate morality from the practice of politics in the country. This has led to the appearance of vices in Nigerian politics. The effect is not far-fetched as we have killing, electoral malpractices and corruption as the by-products of immoral politics. Therefore, this piece investigated the nature of Nigerian politics, by considering the meaning of morality and politics and the relationship between the two concepts. Many ways by which immorality manifests in Nigeria politics and its effects on Nigerian politics and the citizens are given vehement attention in the work, while ways by which we can inculcate morality into Nigerian politics are suggested in the piece, before recommendations are made.

Elite Deviance and the Rising Rate of Conflicts Among Politicians in South-South Nigeria

CENTRAL ASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HISTORY, 2022

This paper has carefully examined elite deviance and the rising rate of conflicts among politicians in the South-South region. The work basically focused exploring how elite deviance, which is basically actions carried out by public officials with the central goal of experiencing personal or class gain in profits or power in relation to the masses, has negatively rubbed off on the state of development in the South-South. The objectives of the paper roved around evaluating the state of elite-deviance, its causative factors, prevalence amongst politicians, and how it leads to conflicts amongst politicians and incidentally to underdevelopment in the South-South of Nigeria. This paper applied the Elite theory considering the fact that in every society it is often a minority of the population (the elite) which takes the major decisions in the society. It is this advantageous position that gives the politicians the opportunity to engage in elite deviance to the clash of interests that often results in conflicts that affect the state of development in this region. This paper found that there is the prevalence of the politics of godfatherism, prebendalism and clientelism, all of which make elite-deviance to flourish in the South-South. Besides, the political elite have not appreciably been contributing to development in South-South; and elite deviance results in overall underdevelopment and suffering of the people of the South-South.Also, Federal Government efforts towards development often get thwarted by elite-deviance that is the main impeding factor of development, which can only be achieved through honest and dedicated efforts of all stakeholders in the region. Consequently, this work recommended honest, dedicated and goals-oriented political leadership based on proper constitutionality; checkmating and playing down on conflicts, all-inclusive governance, punishing fraudulent politicians in the region to deter others, and proper accountability for the overall development of the South-South.

Obstacles to Nigeria Political Development – A Critical Evaluation

Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 2012

Nigeria is one of the fast developing nations of the third world, but has many obstacles to her political development. The military ruled Nigeria between 1966Nigeria between to 1979Nigeria between and 1984Nigeria between to 1999 Military dominance in Nigeria Politics has in no small measure impacted negatively on the political development of Nigeria. Therefore political development of Nigeria has been going at a snail speed not only due to frequent military incursion in government but also due to many other impediments which include ethnicity, incumbency politics, tenure elongation, godfatherism and poor political 32 orientation . The paper which is theoretical and persuasive examined all these factors critically and recommended among other things that National Assembly should pass a law to make elective office a single tenure. The economy of Nigeria should be organized to make it more productive and also to devise a vision of society within which each person can reasonably perceive that equity and social justice are firmly on the national agenda. To eradicate ethnic politics in Nigeria efforts should be made towards equitable distribution of social, political and economic gains of the polity. Finally efforts should be made to enforce the section of the constitution that dwelt on the formation of political parties that are devoid of ethnicity.

The State of Politics, Governance and Democracy in Nigeria

Journal of Public Administration, Finance and Law, 2021

Over the decades, there has been a recurrent and sustained argument that the Nigerian State, like its counterpart in African and other countries of the developing world, under performs due to lack of state capacity to deal with the contemporary complexities of governance. This paper examines the state of politics, governance and democracy in Nigeria and asserted the factors militating against, the promotion of public goods and effective service delivery in Nigeria. As government is about service delivery in continuity and contingency not negating the pivotal state and the cardinal force of politics as the contraption of both elements birth or gives an expressive definition to the institution of a state as a human entity or society. The article draws data from secondary and primary sources, which include the author's close observations of events in Nigeria Governance, politics and political parties while secondary sources entails journal articles, textbook, newspapers including published and unpublished text. The study observed in Nigeria that politics have been driven by self interest and other primordial tendencies which take priority over that of public interest. As it is smiling to mention that democratic government is adduced to be the widely accepted system of government among other form of government; it is accepted because it gives political sovereignty to the people were their will, aspirations, needs and demand are supposed to be guarantee by the state which is the coordinating system that stand as the tool of instrument to encompass all interests within it. The study enunciated that the Nigeria state is challenged with multifaceted challenges such as crisis of governance, utility and deployment of state power, state and management of security among other attendant problems. The paper recommends state reform across the Nigeria; national interest should supersede individual one, emergence of young politicians who are enthusiastic and competent.

The place of integration in Nigerian political structure: A search for redirection.

Journal of Sociology and Development, 2022

Since the beginning of democratic regime in Nigeria in 1999 after years of military interruption, Nigerians have continued to evaluate the activities of those elected into power at every level of governance and see how they have been able to exemplify the virtue of integrity in the discharge of their electoral promises to the electorates. Existing studies have engaged this critical narrative from the perspectives of honesty, self-discipline, accountability and transparency with little attention paid to the virtue of integrity which could be said to be the fulcrum upon which other virtues stand. Integrity means the soundness of moral character and consistence of an individual between his inner values and attitude and his outward words or actions. In order words, the more consistent an individual is, the higher the degree of integrity he possesses. In a simple language, integrity means doing the right thing when nobody is watching. It therefore means that, for any political office holder to effectively discharge his electioneering campaigns promises without fear or favour, the virtue of integrity must be his watchword. The method employed in collecting data for this study is the qualitative method which involves the use of observation, one-on-one interviews and focus group discussion. This paper examined the virtue of integrity among the nation's political office holders and the interconnectivity between integrity and good governance and how such synergy could engender immense benefit for those at the corridors of powers and Nigerians at large.