• Jonathan seeks debate on Africa’s democracy •Obi questions democracy practiced in Nigeria •Opposition, ruling parties now the same in Africa, Kenyan Professor Kanyinga, declares •LP chair says nation’s democracy surviving because of ex-president’s sacrifices Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi Former Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, declared that there was no democracy in Africa but the forced western liberal democracy. Obasanjo spoke as African leaders, jurists, scholars and development partners converged in Bauchi for the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue 2026 to reflect on governance, elections and institution building, Also, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has called on African countries to re-examine their democratic structures, warning that excessive concentration of power in the presidency was affecting governance and development on the continent. Similarly, the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has questioned the democracy being practiced in Nigeria and other African countries, saying the institutions of government required overhaul. In the same vein, the Research Professor of Development Studies at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi, Prof Karuti Kanyinga, warned that African democracy was being hollowed out from within because ruling parties and opposition parties had become almost indistinguishable. National Chairman of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, however, urged Nigerian politicians to emulate the non-violent approach to politics that has come to be associated with the guiding principles of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Obasanjo, who was chairman of the dialogue held at the Ahmadu Bello International Conference Centre (ICC), Bauchi, yesterday, addressed the theme: “Beyond Elections, Can Political Parties and the Judiciary Save African Democracy? According to him, “There is no democracy in Africa but borrowed and forced Liberal Democracy that has caged Africans. “Is there African democracy? Let us not deceive ourselves. There’s nothing like African democracy. We were given Western Liberal Democracy by our Colonial Masters. I will come to that as I go along.” The former President said, “Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, You have the Foundation that promotes peace and prosperity, this annual conference, generally titled Democracy Dialogue. But this year, a theme on which we are to deliberate is beyond election, can political parties and the judiciary save African democracy? That is handy. “For quite some time, I have been increasingly worried about the performance of democracy in Africa, and indeed in other regions of the world. And I believe that Goodluck Jonathan Foundation was also worried about it, and that was why your theme last year was talking about the death of democracy or words to that effect. “Let me emphasise that we are referring to Western Liberal Democracy, because the Chinese will not agree with you that their own democracy is dying. And maybe the Swiss, who have practiced some form of direct democracy, may also not agree with you that their democracy is dying. “Liberal Western democracy is practiced in Europe, the Americas, substantial part of Southeast Asia, and Australia, and of course, here on the continent of Africa. “Since our European Colonial Masters had nothing else to give us, what they are, we swallowed it, lock, stock, and barrel. Has it delivered, or is it delivering, or will it deliver? These are the questions that we must ask ourselves. And these are the questions that are very, very important. According to him, “It doesn’t matter whether political parties remain as they remain, but I hope they will not remain as they remain. Or the judiciary is captured, controlled, or independent. “Of what need is judiciary in government making? What purpose does it serve that when millions of people have voted, then five people will come to decide either in favour or against the decision of millions of people? Is that democracy? It cannot be democracy. And if that cannot be democracy, what is the judiciary role in democracy? “It’s like when the Prime Minister, Late Akintola was dealing with the Midwesterners in the Western region of those days after Midwestern region had been created. And Akpata came and said, that, ‘Prime Minister, I shouldn’t be going to the Midwest because my name is Akpata, it’s a Yoruba name’. “And he said, ‘spell your Apata. And he said, A-K-P-A-T-A. That Yoruba spelling of Apata has no K in it’. So, the Prime Minister said, what is K doing in Apata? And same, we can ask ourselves, what is the judiciary doing in government and democracy? But why has it not delivered?”
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