Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for a changed democratic, saying Nigerians must get it right during next month’s election.
Obasanjo said this while speaking at the 2023 Port Harcourt International Conference, which was hosted at the Obi Wali International Conference in Port Harcourt.
Respecting the Principles of Democracy was the theme of Obasanjo’s keynote speech, in which he emphasised that Nigeria’s democracy had undergone many changes since gaining political independence.
Obasanjo stated: “In fact, the order of the day would be community against community, religion against religion, leader against leader.
“Ordinary citizens are then dragged into the directionless, meaningless and opportunistic personal or narrow ambitions of leaders. The end result will be confusion, diffusion, distraction and possibly leading to separation and disintegration.”
He furthered: “Without retracing our political steps in the right direction, the current process will either not produce the right leaders or it will leave so many broken blocks on the path to governance and attract resources and energy away from the task of rebuilding Nigeria and consolidating our democratic practice.
“The result will be a democratic quagmire, increased corruption, insecurity and survival of the fittest, richest and better connected with little or no recognition of merits. The implications and cost of such a scenario to our present and future can best be imagined. I pray that God will grant us the wisdom to do what is right for our country and people at all times and more so now.”
According to him, if democracy were to be practised superficially and opportunistically with the intention of pursuing a fight for specific goals, this would lead to various forms of broken engagements that are unable to solve structural and philosophical issues and inconsistencies.
