‘There is no democracy in Africa’ — Obasanjo says western model has ‘Caged Africans’

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has raised concerns over the state of governance in Africa, arguing that the continent’s adoption of Western-style liberal democracy has limited its ability to develop political systems suited to its own realities.

Obasanjo made the remarks while speaking as a panelist at the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue 2026 in Bauchi State.

The former president criticised African countries for adopting foreign political models without sufficiently adapting them to local circumstances.

“There is no democracy in Africa, but borrowed and forced liberal democracy that has caged Africans,” Obasanjo said.

Questioning whether the continent had developed its own form of democracy, he argued that African countries largely inherited the Western liberal democratic system from their colonial rulers.

“Is there African democracy? Let us not deceive ourselves. There’s nothing like African democracy. We were given Western liberal democracy by our colonial masters,” he said.

Obasanjo said he had become increasingly concerned about the performance of democracy not only in Africa but also in other parts of the world.

“For quite some time, I have been increasingly worried about the performance of democracy in Africa, and indeed, in other regions of the world,” he added.

He, however, clarified that his criticism was specifically directed at Western liberal democracy rather than every form of democratic governance.

According to him, countries such as China have their own understanding of democracy and would not necessarily agree with the assessment that their system is failing.

“Let me emphasise that we are referring to Western liberal democracy because the Chinese will not agree with you that their own democracy is dying. And maybe the Swiss, who have practised some form of direct democracy, may also not agree with you that their democracy is dying,” he stated.