Dr. Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2023 Rivers State gubernatorial election, has advocated a reevaluation of Nigeria’s presidential system.
Speaking on Channels Television’s “Politics Today,” on Friday evening monitored by Persecondnews, he argued that the current system is ill-suited for the nation, echoing a broader sentiment of dissatisfaction with prevailing political structures across Africa.
Cole said: “This American system that we call the Presidential system in Nigeria, we need to go and readdress it. We cannot import the parliamentary system of the UK and it will work here, we cannot import a presidential system, it will not work here.
“Every African in their country, are they satisfied with the political system they have and the democracy they have, they will tell you no. Why? Because it is contrary to who we are, absolutely contrary.”
The APC chieftain pointed out that every successful country has developed a system of government tailored to its unique context, citing Arab nations and China as examples of countries that rejected Western political models.
He insisted that Nigeria’s system of government should be rooted in its own culture, noting that the country had an indigenous political structure before colonization and should consider returning to it.
“Let us build an African, Nigerian focused political system and we have had it. We had a political system before the Europeans came, we had a political system even when the slave trade was going on.
“So, what are we running away from? We know what to do,” Persecondnews quotes Cole as saying.
Stressing why the presidential system cannot work in Nigeria, Cole said it can be exploited by a few people, adding that it has not built institutions that can hold people to account.
“Nigeria is building institutions that are modeled after the British system which cannot be accommodated by the Nigerian culture.”
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