Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concern over the growing role of the judiciary in determining election outcomes in Nigeria, saying it undermines the essence of democracy when the votes of millions are ultimately decided by a handful of judges.

Obasanjo spoke yesterday as chairman of the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) Democracy Dialogue at the Ahmadu Bello International Conference Centre, Bauchi.

The dialogue, with the theme, “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and Judiciary Save African Democracy?”, brought together political leaders, statesmen, scholars and democracy advocates from Nigeria and other African countries.

Obasanjo questioned whether it was democratic for millions of citizens to cast their votes only for a few judges to determine the final outcome.

“If millions of people have voted and five people would form a decision either in favour or against the decision of millions of people, is that democracy?” he queried.

He also questioned the independence of the judiciary, asking whether it remained truly independent or was being influenced by the government.

The former president said the situation raised fundamental questions about the state of democracy in Nigeria and Africa, noting that democracy must ultimately deliver good governance and improve the living conditions of citizens.

He said democracy should guarantee welfare and wellbeing, inclusiveness, equality, a sense of belonging, protection of lives and property, and an end to marginalisation and discrimination.

“Democracy that works must deliver the dividends of democracy,” he added.

Obasanjo also questioned the effectiveness of political parties in sustaining democracy, asking, “Can the political parties deliver, or are they delivering? These are the questions the dialogue needs to answer.”

Jonathan Advocates Swiss-style Presidency To Curb Power Concentration

In his own submission, former President Goodluck Jonathan urged African countries to review their democratic systems and adopt models that reflect their histories, cultures and political realities while upholding justice, equality, human rights, accountability and free elections.

Jonathan made the call in his vote of thanks at the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue in Bauchi.

He suggested that elements of the Swiss system of government could provide useful lessons for some African countries, particularly in preventing excessive concentration of political power in one individual.

“At the top level of the presidency, perhaps the Swiss model, where you don’t have one powerful president, may be the best for some African countries,” he said.

Jonathan explained that Switzerland’s executive authority was exercised collectively rather than concentrated in a single individual, making it more difficult for one person to take far-reaching decisions without consultation.

“I remember when I was Vice President, I once said that forefathers believed that when one person has so much power, it is dangerous to society,” he recalled.

He warned that concentrating enormous political powers in one individual could weaken democratic governance and public institutions.

Jonathan also cautioned against measuring democracy solely by elections, saying elections were only one component of a functioning democratic system.

Citing the 2024 Afrobarometer survey of 39 African countries, he said more than 70 per cent of respondents expressed a preference for democracy, while satisfaction with how democracy was being practised was significantly lower in many countries.

“This clearly shows that there is something fundamentally wrong with our democracy,” he said.

The former president said democracy must guarantee fairness, justice and equal treatment, with citizens able to freely choose their leaders and participate in the political process.

“If that is lacking in a country, then, of course, there is no democracy there,” he said.

Jonathan called for an independent judiciary free from executive interference and urged governments to ensure that legislatures had sufficient independence to perform their oversight functions.

He acknowledged, however, that achieving complete separation between the executive and legislature could be difficult where members of both arms belonged to the same political party.