Defections won’t make Western democracy work in Nigeria — Agbakoba.

May 20, 2025

Defections won’t make Western democracy work in Nigeria — Agbakoba.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Olisa Agbakoba, has lambasted opposition members for collapsing their structures for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, expressing belief that Nigeria’s model of democracy needs a rejig.

He said the country’s current democratic setup is not working, questioning the level of commitment by Nigerian politicians, whom he accused of being only interested in grabbing power which is the reason for the massive defections so far.

Agbakoba made this statement on Monday’s edition of ‘Politics Today’, a Channels Television’s programme.

“I thought that things would have been a lot better than what we have today. And I’ve looked at it very carefully, and I say something must be wrong, that after, not even 25, let’s go to 1960: so we have had military coups in and out, then finally democracy for over 25 years. Something is fundamentally wrong in a process that is not delivering.

“In my reflections, and I’ve reflected quite a lot, I just came to a conclusion that it’s time to shed ourselves of this Western model – the Oyibo model, the model that the Europeans and the Americans have foisted on us – it’s not working,” he stated.

The human rights lawyer said that Nigerians were only interested in a system that provides the basic necessities of life for them which is why the defections have been a lot lately.

The senior lawyer opined that Nigeria must begin to think about a system that works for the generality of the people since the Western model of democracy is certainly not working in the country.

The legal luminary’s comment comes following the gale of defections from opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress, a development he said is inimical to the country.

According to the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, if the answer is to keep defecting, that’s not going to help Nigerians because it will not strengthen democracy, adding that it would rather weaken it.