Former APC Gubernatorial Candidate Tonye Cole Calls for Reassessment of Nigeria’s Presidential System

Tonye Cole, who contested the 2023 Rivers State governorship election under the APC, has called for a thorough reconsideration of Nigeria’s presidential system of government.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Cole insisted that the current system, modeled after the American presidential framework, does not fit Nigeria’s cultural and historical realities.

Cole pointed out that the presidential system tends to concentrate power in the hands of a few, weakening institutional accountability. “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 expect it to work here, nor can we import a presidential system and think it will succeed.”

He noted that dissatisfaction with governance is widespread across Africa because many countries have adopted foreign political models that do not resonate with their indigenous political traditions. “Every African in their country, are they satisfied with the political system they have and the democracy they have? They will tell you no. Why? Because it is contrary to who we are, absolutely contrary.”

Cole urged Nigerian leaders to develop a political system that reflects the nation’s pre-colonial governance structures, which had functioned effectively before European colonization. “We had a political system before the Europeans came, even during the slave trade. So, what are we running away from? We know what to do.”

He also criticized the current approach of building institutions based on British models, which he believes are incompatible with Nigeria’s cultural context, leading to governance challenges.