Former President Goodluck Jonathan has described as embarrassing, litigations that trail any round of elections in Nigeria.
The former president also said to curb the current state of affairs especially the winner takes all, the National Assembly needs to come up with a brand of democracy that will suit the country.
Speaking at the 2024 Democracy Day lecture to celebrate the 25 Anniversary of Democracy in Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Jonathan said, warned that winner-takes-all approach politics, which alienates other parties no matter their performance at the polls, is inimical towards fostering unity in the country.
According to him, “The avalanche of litigations that follow every round of election in Nigeria is very embarrassing. And because of the kind of democracy with practice, democracy built on all kinds of sentiments, either way you worship your God or from the map of the country you come from.
“You people have to gradually make sure that in the next 25 years, this is diluted if we must have a solid and enduring democracy.
“And I know you and the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who was a key actor in the June 12 crisis will have the capacity to navigate through that process.
“The zero sum kind of politics, where a winner takes it all has not helped is to foster unity and political justice. A political party for example, that scored up to 30% of votes during an election either at the National or sub National level should have something to go home with.
“I’m not clearly recommending proportional representation but different governments come up with models of democracy that suits them. After all, the presidency we’re talking about, all presidents of the world don’t emerge through the same process. In Nigeria, we elect our president directly. In a number of countries, presidents are elected indirectly.
“The powers of the presidents are defined by different constitutions and so on and so forth. So our National Assembly can also look at models that will suit us. “
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