Chief Obasanjo stated this when he met with the members of the House of Representatives championing the reintroduction of the parliamentary system of government in the country, in Abuja.
The lawmakers, under the aegis of the “Parliamentary Group” led by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), met with Mr Obasanjo at the Shehu Yar’Adua Centre in the federal capital.
The meeting was part of their advocacy visits to prominent Nigerians to solicit their support for the transitioning of the country from the current presidential system of government to the parliamentary system.
Coincidentally, Obasanjo, Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1976-1979, midwifed the 1979 Constitution that produced the American presidential system which replaced the parliamentary system practised in the first republic.
He was subsequently elected president in 1999 after the return of democracy and was in office for eight years.
Speaking on the state of democracy in Africa, Obasanjo said countries in the continent made the mistake of adopting the western liberal democracy prescribed by the Europeans, stating that the Western liberal democracy is not consistent with the African value system.
“Let me go back to the beginning where we got it wrong—the western liberal democracy, that is what the Europeans have. When you look at the western liberal democracy, it is a product of their history, a product of their culture, a product of their way of life.
“I have looked into most African languages, western democracy has what they call loyal opposition. What is opposition in African languages? Enemy. Western democracies called oppositions “loyal” because the oppositions are loyal to the monarchy. That’s where their loyal democracy began. They used to have monarchies.
“There is nothing in the liberal democracy that is African. We ruled ourselves before the advent of colonialism. We had empires and striving kingdoms. We did not rule ourselves as opposition.
“What is in it for us? I don’t know but you can give it. For lack of an appropriate word, let us call it ‘afro-democracy.’ That is where we have to begin,” Obasanjo said.
On the proposal by the lawmakers, Obasanjo said the legislators are preaching to a convert, stating that he agreed that there is a need for a fundamental shift from the current system.
He, however, warned the lawmakers that they need to have a long-term plan and be tactical in presenting a position.
The former president counselled the lawmakers to drop the tag “parliamentary system”, and should instead push for a homegrown democracy.
“You are preaching to the converted but as I have said, take parliamentary away.
“We need to get the critical masses. Parliamentary and all that—once you start that, you have gotten it wrong. Once you do that, you are putting yourself in a fix because there are those who would say “We don’t want parliamentary,” he said.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Mr Chinda said the use of the word “parliamentary” is due to a lack of a suitable word.
He said the system proposed by the lawmakers is “homegrown” and not the textbook definition of the parliamentary system.
Also speaking project, the spokesperson of the group, Abdulsamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), said the group is organising a national dialogue on the project.
According to the lawmaker, the dialogue is scheduled for 1 July.