Fortunate Misfortunate? Death and the Dynamics of Political Succession in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory inquiry into the strategic implications of death-engendered political succession in Nigeria.  This is against the backdrop of the rising fatality involving political incumbents which necessitates abrupt change in political tenure-ship.  By way of qualitative discursive analysis, predicated on secondary sources, the paper posits that death-engendered political succession holds strategic implications for ‘redistributive politics’ in the context of deep-rooted political cleavages that characterize the Nigerian federation.  In this regard, the demise of a political incumbent often occasions dramatic ‘power shift’ that alters the pattern of political succession.

Keywords: Political succession, power shift, distributive politics, political incumbent, death.