Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concern over the growing role of the judiciary in determining election outcomes in Nigeria, questioning the democratic legitimacy of situations where the votes of millions of citizens are ultimately decided by a small panel of judges.
Obasanjo spoke on Tuesday while chairing the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue at the Ahmadu Bello International Conference Centre in Bauchi.
The dialogue, themed “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and Judiciary Save African Democracy?”, brought together political leaders, former public office holders, scholars and democracy advocates from Nigeria and other African countries.
Obasanjo argued that democracy should principally reflect the choices made by citizens at the ballot box and questioned a system in which judicial decisions could ultimately determine electoral outcomes after millions of people had voted.
“If millions of people have voted and five people would form a decision either in favour or against the decision of millions of people, is that democracy?” he asked.
The former president also raised questions about judicial independence, asking whether courts were sufficiently insulated from governmental and political influence.
According to him, the situation raised broader concerns about the quality of democracy in Nigeria and across Africa, particularly where democratic institutions fail to deliver good governance and improved living standards.
Obasanjo said a functioning democracy must guarantee the welfare and wellbeing of citizens, inclusiveness, equality, a sense of belonging, protection of lives and property, while also addressing marginalisation and discrimination.
“Democracy that works must deliver the dividends of democracy,” he said.
He equally questioned whether political parties were effectively performing the role expected of them in sustaining democratic governance.
“Can the political parties deliver, or are they delivering? These are the questions the dialogue needs to answer,” he said.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan, in his contribution, called on African countries to reconsider the democratic systems they inherited and develop models that reflect the continent’s history, culture and political realities while preserving the core principles of justice, equality, human rights, accountability and credible elections.
Jonathan suggested that aspects of Switzerland’s system of government could offer useful lessons for some African countries, particularly in limiting the excessive concentration of political power in one individual.
He explained that executive authority under the Swiss model is exercised collectively rather than concentrated in one individual, thereby making it more difficult for a single leader to take major decisions without consultation.
He explained that executive authority under the Swiss model is exercised collectively rather than concentrated in one individual, thereby making it more difficult for a single leader to take major decisions without consultation.
“I remember when I was Vice President, I once said that their forefathers believed that when one person has so much power, it is dangerous to society,” Jonathan recalled.
He warned that concentrating enormous political authority in one individual could weaken democratic institutions and undermine accountability.
Jonathan also cautioned against defining democracy merely by the conduct of periodic elections, stressing that elections constituted only one part of a properly functioning democratic system.
Citing the 2024 Afrobarometer survey covering 39 African countries, he said more than 70 per cent of respondents expressed a preference for democracy, even though satisfaction with how democracy was being practised remained significantly lower in many countries.
“This clearly shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with our democracy,” he said.