In a sharp response to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s criticism of Western liberal democracy, the Presidency points fingers at Obasanjo for the current state of Nigeria’s democracy.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, alleges that Obasanjo’s influence during his military and civilian leadership contributed to the flawed democratic system.
“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.”
In response to Obasanjo’s stance after leaving the presidency, Onanuga remarked, “So, the way he is sounding, it is like the man is getting wiser after leaving office.”
The Presidential reaction came in the wake of Obasanjo’s remarks during the high-level deliberation on Reimagining Western Liberal Democracy in Africa, hosted at the Green Resort Legacy within the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.
Obasanjo, speaking at the high-level consultation on Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa, called for a reexamination of democracy, suggesting a tailored “Afro democracy” for African nations.
He criticized the Western model for its disregard of African history and complexities, arguing that it does not fully represent all people.
He expressed the view that African nations should not engage in a system of governance without actively contributing to its “definition and design.”
Obasanjo said,
“The weakness and failure of liberal democracy as it is practised stem from its history, content and context and practice. Once you move from all the people to a representative of the people, you start to encounter troubles and problems.
“For those who define it as the rule of the majority, should the minority be ignored, neglected and excluded? In short, 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. The essence of any system of government is the welfare and well-being of the people, all the people.”
He contended that Nigerians should scrutinize the effectiveness of democracy in the West, its place of origin, especially considering that they are inheritors of what was left by their colonial powers.
Obasanjo Advocates Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa
However, the Presidency, in its counterstatement, accuses Obasanjo of poorly implementing a copied model during his tenure. It challenges Obasanjo to advocate for change, particularly endorsing a return to the parliamentary system if he genuinely believes in the shortcomings of the current democratic setup.
Onanuga added,
“We were practicing 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 practicing 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.”
The Presidency censured Obasanjo’s execution of the presidential system, stating that,
“Obasanjo also knew that he copied this presidential system very wrongly. He copied the form and structure. But he didn’t copy the spirit of it.”
“Something that should have been under him in 1999 to 2007, he even made attempts to modify the constitution,” Onanuga remarked.
The exchange highlights a deeper debate on the appropriateness of Western democratic models in African nations, with the Presidency and Obasanjo offering conflicting perspectives on the path forward for Nigeria’s political system.
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