The Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, explained why Nigeria must return to a parliamentary form of government.
At a Harvard Law School speech in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, he stressed that this kind of change will guarantee regular communication between the president and the people, with a required monthly interface.
Obi criticized Nigeria’s present presidential system, claiming that it encourages incompetence and lack of accountability by allowing leaders to hold office for four years without sufficient oversight.
He proposed that the ability to initiate a vote of no confidence in a parliamentary system could facilitate the swifter removal of inadequate leaders, possibly within two to three years. Additionally, he underscored the advantage of the president’s active involvement in parliamentary proceedings within such a framework.
“If elected as president of Nigeria or governor today, I could easily evade accountability by assembling a team of individuals who consistently spew nonsensical rhetoric.
“Yet, in a parliamentary system, the president is obligated to address inquiries directly, without the need for hired proxies.”
“In Nigeria, a president can decide to cut all ties with people for a year, and no one will notice because he has employed so many talkers. They do this by calling you names if you say anything.
We didn’t elect all of these gangsters, so we need a parliamentary system where the president is a member of parliament and at least answers to the people who elected him, even if it’s just once a month. We want the person we chose to speak with us.
