Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, and the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, have advocated for a strong democratic culture in the country.
They spoke at the 2023 Port Harcourt International Conference, sponsored by the Rivers State Government and held at the Obi Wali International Conference in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The conference was themed “Deepening Democratic Culture and Institutions for Sustainable Development and Security in Nigeria.”
Obasanjo, who delivered the keynote address titled “Respecting the Principles of Democracy,” noted that Nigeria’s democracy has gone through twists, dives, and turns since her political independence.
He said the best part of the country’s history has been the sustenance of democracy since the military transfer of power to a democratically elected government in 1999.
Obasanjo, however, observed that there may be reasons to doubt how many lessons the leaders and followers have drawn from the country’s past and how far they are willing to go to deepen, widen, and strengthen democracy and democratic practice.
The former president declared that how the political class has practised democracy has deepened contradictions, negative coalitions, distrust, disloyalty, and unpatriotic tendencies within and between communities and constituencies all over the country
