By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo says Africa should adopt a model of democracy that that suits the current demand for effective governance, criticising what he called the winner-takes-all democratic structure.
Obasanjo said the Western liberal democracy inherited by many African countries was not designed around the continent’s realities, likening its adoption to wearing a dress that was not made to fit. He argued that the model has created a political culture in which election winners often disregard those who lose.
“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”, Obasanjo said on Tuesday at the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in the Northern State of Bauchi.
“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 Nigerian leader also lamented what he described as poor management of diversity, warning against a democracy that completely disregards the importance of diversity.
He said diversity remained central to African and other societies and must 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 also decried the growing influence of money and other forms of inducement in politics, saying they had been increasing “by leaps and bounds.”
