‘We’re caged’ – Obasanjo expresses worry about democracy

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has declared that Africa has no genuine democracy of its own, describing what exists across the continent as a borrowed and forced Western liberal model that has failed to serve African peoples.

Speaking as a panellist at the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue 2026 in Bauchi State, Obasanjo said: “There is no democracy in Africa, but borrowed and forced liberal democracy that has caged Africans. Let us not deceive ourselves. We were given Western liberal democracy by our colonial masters.”

Daily Post reports that the former president said he had grown increasingly worried about democracy’s performance across Africa and globally, noting that alternative governance models — such as China’s system and Switzerland’s direct democracy — do not consider themselves as experiencing democratic decline.

Obasanjo’s remarks came at a dialogue themed around the health of democratic governance on the continent.