The Presidency responded, suggesting that if Obasanjo truly stands by his statements, he should advocate for the revival of the parliamentary system rather than endorsing Afro democracy.
During a high-level consultation titled “Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy for Africa” on Monday, November 20, 2023, Obasanjo expressed his belief that the Western-style democracy failed in Africa due to its disregard for the majority’s opinions.
He criticized Western liberal democracy as a “government of a few people over all the people or population,” asserting that African nations should not adhere to a governance system they had no role in shaping.
“We have a system of government in which we have no hands to define and design, and we continue with it, even when we know that it is not working for us.
“Those who brought it to us are now questioning the rightness of their invention, its deliverability, and its relevance today without reform,” emphasized the former president.
Obasanjo proposed the idea of “Afro democracy,” advocating for a governance model customized to meet the distinctive needs of the African continent.
Bayo Onanuga the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy ,reacting to Obasanjo’s submission in an interview with ThePunch said the former President introduced the democracy Nigeria currently practises to the country.
“Obasanjo ought to know that he brought this thing into Nigeria. He was the one who made us adopt it in 1979. He must have seen it as expensive and unsuitable when he governed us for eight years and even wanted an extension for another four years.
“So, the way he is sounding, it is like the man is getting wiser after leaving office, Onanuga remarked.
Onanuga said if Obasanjo believes in what he said, he should be calling for the return of the parliamentary system Nigeria practised after its independence instead of advocating for ‘Afro democracy.’
“If he believes in what he is saying now, he ought to be an advocate of the need to go back to the parliamentary system.”
“We were practising the parliamentary democracy the British left for us. Then, the military struck in 1966. And when we were going to return to democracy, instead of going back to what we were practising before, parliamentary democracy, which was not expensive, it was this same Obasanjo who accepted the recommendation of the constitutional assembly at that time that recommended this American-style democracy.
“Something that should have been under him from 1999 to 2007, he even made attempts to modify the constitution.”
