An Egba high chief and father of former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Alani Bankole, has said democracy is not the best system of government for Nigeria.
Bankole, however, said Nigeria must operate a system of government other than military rule.
He stated this shortly after he was unveiled by the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo as the Apena of Egbaland at Ake Palace in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
He argued that such system of government must take into consideration the peculiarities of the Nigerian people and must be best suited to resolve the country’s challenges, adding that Nigeria must build strong institutions that would support governance.
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He said, “I do not agree that democracy is the best for Nigeria. In Saudi Arabia, there is no democracy. The people there are very happy; they are making progress, they are satisfied, their resources are properly distributed.
“However, military government is not an alternative to democracy, but I think as the world is changing, I think people should start thinking about the best system of government other than democracy, but definitely not autocracy.
“The only good thing about democracy is that the leaders can never be there forever. The way they practice democracy in America is different from the way they practice democracy in UK and the two are quite different from the way we practice it in Africa because there are institutions of checks and balances, which are always in the constitutions of those countries. But in a place like Nigeria, we have not developed enough to be able to build such institutions.”
Alake in his remarks restated the call for constitutional roles for traditional rulers, saying monarchs cannot afford to be onlookers in the affairs of the country.
“If traditional rulers become onlookers, there will be a lot of chaos all over the country. We are part and parcel of maintaining peace in the country and we must be seen to be performing that role,” Alake said.
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