Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

Case Study B: Anambra State
“Anambra is a very hot place, a place where everyone has to be very
careful.”
—PDP “Godfather” and Board of Trustees Member, Chris Uba, Enugu, February 12,
2007
Anambra State lies near the geographic heart of Nigeria’s Igbo-dominated southeast.
Since 1999 the violence, corruption, and “godfatherism” occurring elsewhere in
Nigeria have run rampant in Anambra. But Anambra also evinces some examples of
the tenuous reasons for optimism that systemic abuses could be reversed if the
federal government would support far-reaching reform.
Godfatherism in Anambra State
A wealthy member of the powerful Uba political family, Chris Uba is an iconic example
of the godfather phenomenon in Nigeria. 226 When Human Rights Watch visited his
home in Enugu (situated on a street named after himself) in early 2007, he proudly
displayed a large collection of luxury vehicles and a police car with blacked-out license
plates that he said belonged to him and not to the police. 227 Security men with
handguns tucked inside of their belts wandered about the compound.
Chris Uba, a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, was at the apex of his power
during the 2003 elections, when he “sponsored” PDP candidates and rigged their
election to office across Anambra. After that election he publicly declared himself
“the greatest godfather in Nigeria,” noting that “this is the first time an individual
single-handedly put in position every politician in the state.” 228
226 Uba’s brother Andy served as special advisor to President Obasanjo for nearly the entirety of the Obasanjo Administration
and ran for Governor of Anambra State in 2007; his other brother Ugochukwu Uba was a senator representing Anambra South
Senatorial District until losing in the PDP primaries in late 2006.
227 Human Rights Watch interview with Chris Uba, Enugu, Feburary 12, 2007.
228 Jibrin Ibrahim, “The Rise of Nigeria’s Godfathers.”
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Human Rights Watch October 2007