Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, and Aminu Tambuwal, the former governor of Sokoto State, yesterday expressed concerns that democracy was not working in Nigeria.
The leaders, who spoke at the 60th birthday celebration of former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria, Emeka Ihedioha, at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Abuja Intercontinental Hotel, yesterday, stressed the need for urgent reforms to address the country\u2019s challenges.
Speaking at the event also attended by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku and immediate past governor of katsina State, Aminu Masari, Obasanjo noted that democracy, as currently practised in Nigeria and much of Africa, has failed to meet the need of the people.
According to him, western model of democracy does not align with African values and needs, and \u201cdemocracy in Africa has failed because it is not African.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obasanjo, who called for a redefinition of democracy to better reflect the continent\u2019s cultural realities and serve the people more effectively, said: \u201cIs democracy failing in Africa? Are we talking of democracy or western liberal democracy?
\u201cWe should remember that in Africa, we had a form of government which attended to the needs of the people. That is democracy.
\u201cAbraham Lincoln describes it as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But what do we have today? The Greek democracy affects everyone but democracy has now become representative democracy and it hasn\u2019t taken care of everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democracy in Africa has failed because it\u2019s not African, it didn\u2019t have our culture and way of life. You will say, go to court when you know that you can\u2019t get justice. Democracy is dying in Africa and to save it, it should be made in the context of Africa.\u201d
On his part, Obi also noted that the democracy practiced in the country is not working as it should.
Recalling his experience, where he had to fight for his mandate after being impeached as governor of Anambra State, Obi maintained that he did not resort to bribery.
He said: \u201cDemocracy is not working in Nigeria. Everything has been knocked down. I didn\u2019t pay a dime to retrieve my mandate. When I was impeached, Obasanjo called to ask about my welfare. Nigeria should imbibe the Indonesian democracy, proportional representation.\u2019\u2019
Speaking further, Obi said Nigeria\u2019s democracy, which had been progressing since 1999, is now being \u201cknocked down\u201d by the current administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSome people came and knocked everything down. That is the situation we are in now. Everything has been knocked down. Nothing works.
\u201cI became a governor through the court when President Obasanjo and Atiku were in government.
\u201cI did not pay the court one naira. I was sitting in my office, and the court declared me the winner. It can\u2019t happen in Nigeria today.
\u201cWhen I was being impeached, the president sent people to come and intervene on my behalf. Ken Nnamani came, begging the House (House of Assembly) not to impeach me.
\u201cToday, the president is impeaching a person. They were in PDP; I was in APGA. The president was calling and saying, \u2018Peter, are you okay? Even when I was impeached, President Obasanjo called and said, \u2018Are you okay? Are you safe?
\u201cWhen the court eventually declared me (the winner) under Andy Uba (as governor), President Yar\u2019Adua called my phone in London and said, \u2018come back. I said, President, I can\u2019t come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I came back, the military people came and received me at the airport. I couldn\u2019t believe it. And took me straight to him. Now, the president would ask me not to come back. Democracy is collapsing.\u201d
Delivering the keynote address, titled \u201cIs Democracy Failing in Africa?\u2019\u2019 Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, faulted the weaponization of religion in Nigeria, which he described as one of the major hindrances to the country\u2019s democratic development.
Kukah also described the relationship between Obasanjo and Atiku as being like a Catholic marriage, where they quarrel frequently but never broke up.
The cleric, who, however, called for a more honest and inclusive approach to addressing the country\u2019s challenges, said further: \u201cDemocracy is working for different people as you can see in their outlook. There is the belief that citizens are free to rebel. There has been debate whether the Nigerian constitution is perfect or not.
\u201cNo constitution will be better than the Bible and Koran. Yet, we are still living in sin. The problem is that in Nigeria, the issue of Christian and Muslim prayer is not the best. The weaponisation of religion is a big problem in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel sorry for the judges. At the last election, even small me, I had people calling me, complaining, talk to this, talk to that. Pressure on judges to deliver justice. I agree that there\u2019s an urgent need to clean up the mess.
\u201cDemocracy is about everything, it\u2019s about justice. How do we know if democracy is working in Nigeria? Do we measure democracy based on the things we wish ourselves?\u201d
In his remarks, former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, said democracy in Nigeria is still a work in progress but noted that its success depends on the commitment of political leaders to abide by the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weighing on the emergency rule declared in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu, Tambuwal recalled that there was cooperation of the National Assembly during a state of emergency under Obasanjo\u2019s administration, saying democracy could work when political actors act responsibly.
\u201cDemocracy will work if the actors play by the rules. It\u2019s work in progress. Under Obasanjo, a state of emergency was declared. The NASS worked together to ensure that 2\/3 majority passed the emergency. \u201cEach member had to vote. In this same NASS, we have the same constitution. What happened in the last one? We need to chase out the bad operators of democracy\u201d, he stated.
Speaking at the event, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said Ihedioha has remained loyal, even when they found themselves on different political platforms.
\u201cEmeka and I have kept this relationship and till today I have found him extremely loyal, dedicated and focused, even though sometimes we found ourselves on different political divides but we kept our relationship and I think that testifies with the kind of person Emeka is,\u201d he said.
On his part, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, traced the origin of democracy and what he and his team at the commonwealth did to promote its cause across the globe.
Anyaoku said: \u201cAs Commonwealth Secretary-General, I helped members to transit to multi-party democracy. Also the collapse of apartheid administration in South Africa. Review of 1999 constitution
\u201cWe need a new constitution to address many challenges. True federalism is the answer to the management of national issues.
\u201cThe recent coup in Mali, Niger tend to take us back. The nature of our politics and the conduct of our politicians is another problem of our democracy.
\u201cThey have become instruments of capturing political power. It\u2019s only true, stable democratic governance that can rid our country of the crises which impede development.
\u201cI believe Nigeria can change this Eurocentric narrative. We in Africa and Nigeria have a responsibility to get a stable democracy and change the Eurocentric narrative.\u201d
While expressing gratitude to all who attended the event, the celebrant, Emeka Ihedioha, said: \u201cMy father told me the most expensive habit is having friends. I have lived my life pursuing the cause for democracy. We should all rise to defend democracy.
\u201cI urge all men to always speak truth to power and protect democracy. There\u2019s life after money. I will remain who I am. For me and democracy, it is till God do us apart.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, and Aminu Tambuwal, the former governor of Sokoto State, yesterday expressed concerns that democracy was not working in Nigeria. The leaders, who spoke at the 60th birthday celebration of former Deputy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-naija-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/image-383.webp?fit=294%2C171&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13128,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13127\/revisions\/13128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}