Nigeria’s Democracy Lacks African Context, Content – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised the model of democracy practised in Nigeria and other African countries, saying it lacks the continent’s context and content and has promoted a winner-takes-all political culture.

Naija News reports that Obasanjo spoke on Tuesday at the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in Bauchi, the Bauchi State capital.

He said the Western liberal democracy inherited by African countries was not designed to reflect the continent’s history, culture and realities.

According to him, adopting the system without adapting it to African circumstances was like wearing a dress that was not made to fit.

“The Western liberal democracy that we inherited pulls from monarchy, hence we can have government and loyal opposition, loyal to the monarchy. But when you talk about loyal opposition in an African setting and I have gone into many of African languages, opposition means enemy, that is the word.

“Then do you have a loyal enemy? So, what do you do with your enemy? You crush him and destroy him and that is what we have.

“The democracy we practice has no African context, no African content and if you try to use what is not meant for you to serve your purpose, it is like a dress for which you are not measured, you try to put it on, it is either too small for you or too big for you.

“It will not fit and it will not serve your purpose. In practice, we have winner takes all, first path post. If you beat me by one vote then you take it all and whatever I have does not matter,” Obasanjo said.

The former president also warned against poor management of diversity, stressing that diversity was central to Nigeria’s identity and should be deliberately protected and nurtured.

“Nigeria is what it is because of our diversity. Remove diversity out of Nigeria you will probably have Republic of Oduduwa, that will not be Nigeria or Republic of Danfodio, that will not be Nigeria. That diversity must be nourished and be taken care of,” he said.

Obasanjo further expressed concern over the growing influence of money and other forms of inducement in politics, saying the trend had increased “by leaps and bounds.”

He acknowledged that widespread poverty and illiteracy posed challenges to democratic development but also criticised the lack of gender representation in Nigerian politics since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.

“In Nigeria, you call this one fourth republic, we have not elected a female governor in more than 24 years. And yet the people we are electing, most of them lack character, the lack attributes and values that can endure and can uplift,” he said.

Speaking on the way forward, Obasanjo said Nigeria needed to develop a democratic system that reflected its own history, culture and values rather than merely borrowing political parties and judicial structures from the West.

He maintained that democracy should be viewed as a continuous process and not a destination.

According to him, countries from which African nations adopted Western liberal democracy were themselves reviewing aspects of the system, making it necessary for African countries to also reassess their democratic model.

“Call it what you like, just make sure it has history, culture and values that are African. You can call it democracy if you like, you can call it African democracy. In that case it will be African with African context and African content,” he said.