Donald Duke criticizes Nigeria's democratic performance

Donald Duke, the former Cross River State governor and presidential candidate for the Peoples Redemption Party, has criticized Nigeria’s 27 years of civilian rule, suggesting citizens may have been better off under military governance. Duke argued that the cost of democracy has been high without delivering the expected “democracy dividends” to the population.

He noted that fundamental issues such as unemployment, electrification, and infrastructure deficiency remain unresolved and are, in some cases, deteriorating. Duke specifically highlighted the declining state of the healthcare system and the increasing number of children out of school as evidence that the country is not better off than it was in 1999.

Furthermore, Duke attributed the nation's governance crisis to a weakened and self-centered political opposition, as well as a system where election results frequently fail to reflect the actual will of the voters.