Tonye Cole: Nigeria Must Ditch Presidential System, It’s Not Working
Tonye Cole, the 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has strongly criticised Nigeria’s presidential system of government, calling it unsuitable for the country’s unique political and cultural landscape.
Speaking during an interview on a Politics Program on Friday, Cole urged Nigeria to abandon the current model and adopt a system rooted in its own traditions and values.
According to Cole, the American-style presidential system being practised in Nigeria has failed to deliver effective governance and accountability. He argued that the system can be easily manipulated by a small elite and has not led to the development of strong institutions.
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“This American system that we call the Presidential system in Nigeria — we need to go and readdress it,” he said. “We cannot import the parliamentary system of the UK, and it will not work here; we cannot import a presidential system, and it will not work here either.”
Cole noted that many successful nations have built political systems tailored to their specific cultural and historical contexts. He pointed to Arab nations and China as examples of countries that rejected Western political models and developed their own frameworks of governance.
He also challenged the notion that African countries must mirror Western democracies, saying: “Every African in their country is dissatisfied with their political system. Why? Because it is contrary to who we are — absolutely contrary.”
Cole emphasized that Nigeria had indigenous systems of governance long before colonisation, and the country should consider returning to those roots rather than copying foreign models.
“We had a political system before the Europeans came. Even during the slave trade, we had political systems,” he said. “Let us build an African, Nigerian-focused political system. We know what to do — we’re just running away from it.”
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