Nigeria has to evolve its own democracy if it is to enjoy stability, according to Rev Chris Okotie. The reverend was speaking as a guest on the Thisday live interview programme hosted last Sunday by Reuben Abati, former presidential spokesman, and renowned journalist.
For Nigeria to survive, he declared, the presidential system must be changed. Okotie recommended “Aboriginal democracy” as clearly enunciated in his widely published proposition on restructuring based on the inauguration of an interim government.
In this interview, Okotie told Abati that, for the sake of the unity and stability of Nigeria, the system must change otherwise, the present transition programme is a journey in futility, adding that the “country would just implode”.
He argued that this is not a federalist constitution we are operating and he blamed the diverse problems facing the nation on the constant interplay of the centrifugal and centripetal forces. Moving forward, Okotie insisted that aboriginal democracy would circumvent all the existential problems facing the nation because it would restructure the federation and create a level playing field for everyone.
He said the constitution does not meet the standard and that because America created the presidential system of government does not mean that it must be adopted worldwide.
Asked how aboriginal democracy would function, given Nigeria’s complex problems. Okotie said the new system would run without the legislature, political parties, and ministers which constitute the biggest constraints on the presidential system currently in operation. Professional associations like the Nigerian Bar Association, the Medical Association, and others, would assume legislative functions because they are best suited to perform such duties because of their knowledge of the basic demands of their individual professions, which our present lawmakers do not have.
