Former Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has said any leader who fails to perform should be voted out of office if proper elections are conducted.
This is as former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, called for the reform of democracy and its protection in Africa.
Jonathan stated that electoral manipulation is one of the biggest threats to democracy in Africa.
According to him, unless stakeholders come together to rethink and reform democracy, it may collapse in Africa.
Jonathan stated this at the 2025 edition of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, GJF, Democracy Dialogue, held in Accra, Ghana.
The former Nigerian leader, in a statement issued on Saturday by Communications Officer at Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, Wealth Dickson Ominabo, said where democracy fails to meet expectations, desperation can open the door to authoritarianism.
He added that leaders must commit to the kind of democracy that guarantees a great future for the children, where their voices matter.
“Democracy in the African continent is going through a period of strain and risk of collapse unless stakeholders come together to rethink and reform it. Electoral manipulation remains one of the biggest threats in Africa.
“We in Africa must begin to look at our democracy and rethink it in a way that works well for us and our people. One of the problems is our electoral system. People manipulate the process to remain in power by all means.
“If we had proper elections, a leader who fails to perform would be voted out. But in our case, people use the system to perpetuate themselves even when the people don’t want them,” he said.
Also speaking, the President of Ghana, Mahama, said democracy would not survive unless Africans actively worked to protect and strengthen it.
He warned that weak institutions, elite capture, exclusion, leadership deficits, and external interference erode citizens’ trust in democracy.
On his part, former President Obasanjo, who was the chairman of the event, warned that democracy risks collapse if it continued to be practised in its current form without urgent reforms.
He said Africa’s current democratic practice is unsustainable and must be urgently reformed.
