Nigerians Were Better Off Under Military Rule, Donald Duke Says

Donald Duke says Nigerians were better off under military rule, arguing that civilian government has become too expensive while delivering too little.

The former Cross River State governor and Peoples Redemption Party presidential candidate said Nigeria’s 27 years of civilian rule should be judged by the welfare of citizens and the “democracy dividends” it has produced since 1999. “The people were better off under the military. At least governance was not that expensive,” Duke said in an interview over the weekend.

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The people were better off under the military. At least governance was not that expensive.

He said the country still faced the same fundamental problems that existed before the return to civilian rule. The number of children out of school, he said, had not improved and was deteriorating. Healthcare was also worsening, while infrastructure remained deficient. Electrification and unemployment continued to burden the country, he added.

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This is my frustration, because there’s no problem we cannot resolve. We’re not a unique country.

Duke said Nigeria lacked a structured approach to solving these problems, despite the availability of examples from other countries. “This is my frustration, because there’s no problem we cannot resolve. We’re not a unique country,” he said, asking whether leaders were seriously thinking through the country’s problems.

He also blamed an ineffective opposition and an electoral system in which results often failed to reflect voters’ wishes. Many people, he said, no longer voted because they believed their ballots did not count. That weakened accountability, allowing officeholders to disregard public needs. Duke described the political system as a pretence and said the National Assembly and judiciary had failed to provide effective checks and balances on executive power.

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We don’t have a democracy. We are pretending democracy. We’re not a democracy.