Arise Television anchor, Rufai Oseni has called out former President Olusegun Obasanjo over his remark that Western democracy had not delivered good governance and development in Africa.
The award-winning journalist in a video shared on his Instagram page on Tuesday, November 21 said he supports Bayo Onanuga’s response to the former President adding that detest Obasanjo’s hypocrisy.
“I don’t like the hypocrisy of some past leaders and I’m going to call out Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and I support the response that Bayo Onanuga gave him. Onanuga said he was the one that did a lot to truncate democracy by trying to run for a third term. So, we do not like the hypocrisy of some of our leaders,” Oseni said.
Recall that Obasanjo during a high-level consultation on Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa held at Green Resort Legacy, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta called for democracy to be reexamined to better suit African nations, citing the Western model’s disregard for African history and culture.
He said; “The weakness and failure of liberal democracy as it is practised stem from its history, content and context and practice. Once you move from all the people to a representative of the people, you start to encounter troubles and problems.
“For those who define it as the rule of the majority, should the minority be ignored, neglected and excluded? In short, we have a system of government in which we have no hands to define and design and we continue with it even when we know that it is not working for us.
“Those who brought it to us are now questioning the rightness of their invention, its deliverability and its relevance today without reform. The essence of any system of government is the welfare and well-being of the people, all the people,” Obasanjo said.
Reacting to Obasanjo’s statement, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, slammed the former head of state for his comment.
He noted that the democracy the country currently practices dates back to direct inputs by Obasanjo when he led the country’s first as military Head of State from 1976 – 1979 and as civilian President from 1999 – 2007.
“Obasanjo ought to know that he brought this thing into Nigeria. He was the one who made us adopt it in 1979. He must have seen it as expensive and unsuitable when he governed us for eight years and even wanted an extension for another four years.
“So, the way he is sounding, it is like the man is getting wiser after leaving office.”
Onanuga added that “Obasanjo also knew that he copied this presidential system very wrongly. He copied the form and structure. But he didn’t copy the spirit of it.”
“Something that should have been under him in 1999 to 2007, he even made attempts to modify the constitution,” Onanuga stated.
