Despite the challenges of nation-building, Nigeria has been described as a “Democracy Destination undergoing democratic consolidation,” contrary to some views about the prospects of the democratic process in Africa.
Recently, both former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the erstwhile governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, claimed that democracy was dying in Africa and Nigeria.
However, the Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Comrade Issa Aremu, took exception to what he called the “new democracy-pessimism fad” by those who, he said, “without democracy would not have been able to exhibit their limited leadership ability in the past.”
Aremu spoke at separate interventions on the sidelines of the 2025 Ramadan lecture of the institute in Ilorin and at Arewa House, Kaduna, during the special prayers to mark the 73rd birthday of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, organized by the AREWA Think Tank Group.
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Aremu observed that it was time for Nigerians to deepen and consolidate the democratic process, adding that “democratic optimism must not in any way give way to democratic despair in Africa.”
“With 19 registered political parties, 93,469,008 total voters registered, 176,846 polling units in Nigeria, seven concluded presidential elections since 1999, five elected Presidents—two elected twice, one graciously accepting loss of election—hundreds of state and National Assembly elections and by-elections, active media, vibrant organized trade unions and civil society, freedoms of assembly and expression, Nigeria is a model of how democracy lives, not dies,” Aremu said.
The Director General said that the media should not only report but also profile the messengers of despair and doom for discerning citizens to ensure informed judgment about them.
Aremu said that both former President Obasanjo and former Governor Peter Obi suffer from what he called the “bring-down-what-I-cannot-control syndrome,” adding that democracy is alive even for those who necessarily must not have their way all the time but still keep faith in the ballot.
“‘Afro-democracy’ is another subterfuge for a call to authoritarianism by OBJ. Democracy is not divisible. The simple majority that made OBJ President twice, Peter Obi governor, and a failed presidential candidate in 2023 should not be dismissed. Any resort to the red herring that democracy is dying because the duo are out and dry of elsewhere power is unhelpful and self-serving.”
“Following the death of President Hage Geingob on February 4, 2024, Namibia successfully conducted an election to inaugurate its first female President, Nangolo Mbumba, who once served as vice president. Last year, Senegal elected the youngest 45-year-old president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, while Amadou Ba, the candidate of the ruling United in Hope (BBY) coalition, peacefully conceded defeat. OBJ must be operating from outer space to say democracy is dying in Africa,” Aremu said.
He also stated that the challenges of development in Africa call for more democracy through quality control measures of politics, ideologies, and programs—”and not doubt and scare-mongering about democracy.”
He added that the military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger must give way to free and fair elections for legitimacy.
Comrade Aremu, who was also the Director of the Labour Directorate of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) during the 2023 election, described President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as an “audacious” reformer who legitimately “can and should run for a second term in 2027 to consolidate on his achievements in the labour sector.”
The Director General of the premier labour institute described the recently approved N758 billion bond to settle long-standing pension liabilities by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as “a timely, welcome act of compassion, statesmanship, and good governance” in the country’s pension market, adding that the measure was the most impactful of the Renewed Hope Agenda in the labour market after the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act.
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