Why Nigeria may never return to Parliamentary system – Former Mayor

The former Mayor of Portlaoise in the Republic of Ireland, Rotimi Adebari, says Nigeria may never return to the Parliamentary system of government.

Adebari, the Nigerian-born Irish politician who was elected as the first black mayor in Ireland in 2007, said this while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

He argued that greedy politicians with selfish political interest won’t allow Nigeria practise the Parliamentary system of government.

According to him, greedy Nigerian politicians prefer the presidential system of government to the parliamentary system because of their political ambition.

• Nigerian Army hands dismissed soldier over to police
• Bandits raid Niger Community after military withdrawal

“There is no type of government that does not have its own issues, but if we look at our peculiarity we will discover that the Parliamentary system of government is better than this.

“The Parliamentary will give every region the opportunity to grow and develop at their own pace as we have seen in other climes. Let each region govern itself so that each region can grow at its own pace.

“But we changed to American style, Presidential system of government is the most expensive system of government to run anywhere in the world, but that is what we have chosen to run, but you might say that it’s very successful in the US why is ours the way it is, but you have to remember that it requires a human being to make it work.

“Those who are anti-parliamentary are of the opinion that if we go back to regional government, we may scrap the positions of state governors and we may end up having only a premier for each region, this is human nature, this is greed in human nature. They (politicians) will be like ‘when is it ever going to be my turn to rule?’ And this should not be the case, we have to look beyond all of that, we have to look at the bigger picture and make Nigeria work,” Adebari said.

He also called for adoption of independent candidature in Nigeria’s electoral system.

Adebari said unlike Nigeria that it requires a “deep pocket” to win an election, he won election in Ireland without buying anyone “a bottle of coke.”