Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has issued a stark warning on the future of democracy, urging urgent reforms to safeguard it from collapse.
Speaking at the Democracy Dialogue 2025 in Accra, Obasanjo argued that the very practice of democracy has become its biggest threat.
“In my part of the world, we say the thing that killed the vegetable is the insect in the vegetable. The same that is killing democracy is the practice of democracy itself,” he said.
He criticized current systems for straying from the true essence of democracy, originally defined as government of the people, by the people, for the people.
“What we have now is government by some people over all the people,” Obasanjo lamented.
The former president stressed that democracy must be reformed “in context, in content, and in practice.” While he acknowledged its flaws, he maintained that democracy remains irreplaceable, provided it is reshaped to better serve citizens.
