Democracy Has No Alternative, Says Obasanjo






Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerians to collaborate and sustain the present democratic dispensation in the country, saying it “must not fail”

Obasanjo said in Abeokuta yesterday, that as an individual, he would make his own contribution towards the success of the present democratic dispensation because “there is no alternative to democracy”.

He said, as a former Nigerian ruler and once victim of military regime, he had come to realise that “the alternative to democracy is even worse than the imperfections of democracy.’’

Obasanjo, who spoke when the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) paid him a courtesy call at his Hilltop home, said that he was convinced that President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s plans to fight the Boko Haram insurgency was in the right direction, believing that sooner than later the government would win the battle.

He said that he was convinced that with Buhari as Nigeria’s President, the country’s ‘’dream may have come true. “So all that is needed is for everyone, old, young and even students, to give unalloyed support to the government and where we believe that we should give criticism that is objective and positive, we should give”.

Obasanjo said Nigerians have every reason to thank God that the general elections ended peacefully despite negative predictions that the elections would end up breaking the country. “I believe very sincerely that God loves this country.”

Responding to comments by NANS Vice-president, Comrade Ogunkunade Oluwatoyin, Obasanjo said, “God forbid that this present democratic dispensation should fail, because we have no other alternative, and that is why I said that the present administration should succeed. There is no excuse and that is why I am so concern about the success of this administration”.

Continuing, he said: “The alternative to democracy is even worse than the imperfections of democracy. I am a victim of military regime, I was put in jail, meant to be killed, but if there was a democracy, there would have been a fair trial,” the former President stated.

I have said it on a number of occasions that when you go through the history of this country, particularly during the pre-independence days and how many times we have gone through difficult times, we have not fallen over. God really loves this country.”

Fielding questions from reporters on the government’s plans to end the menace of Boko Haram, the former President said, “If you do not have a target about the actions that you are about to take, then you do not have anything to work with.”