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Dan Ulasi: Nigeria Operates Civil Rule, Not True Democracy

Thompson Nsisongabasi

Sep 19, 2025

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Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dan Ulasi, has argued that Nigeria does not practise true democracy but rather a form of civil rule dominated by political godfatherism, money politics, and weak institutional values.

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Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday, Ulasi criticised the structure of Nigeria's political system, describing it as fundamentally flawed. He maintained that genuine democracy is absent because few politicians rise to power independently.

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According to him, this culture stifles independent thought and fuels crises, as politicians often abandon their benefactors once they gain access to power and money.

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"I had always said that we don't operate democracy in this country. What we operate is civil rule,ÔÇØ Ulasi declared. "Tell me how many people have come out of their own desire, with their own financial support, and started as councillors, chairmen, or governors or members of state houses, or assembly, national assembly, or governor, or president.

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"There's always some tendency for you to cling on the apron string of some people, and that's the danger of the style of democracy we are holding here, because you don't have an independent opinion. But what happens in this country is that people continue licking the boots of whom they call their godfathers, and as soon as they see power and money, they say to hell with you. This is what causes crises most of the time.ÔÇØ

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He added that politics in Nigeria is treated as a business venture, with massive financial investments made to secure office.

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"A typical Nigerian man, regards everything he does as business, and they put millions and millions of naira, sometimes dollars, into this business of governance. That's why nothing works, because you get into office, instead of helping to develop your environment, you'll continue paying back to those who have made you get into where you are.

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And once you look and see that not enough is left for you to really do some job, you steal the remaining. That's why nothing is going on,ÔÇØ Ulasi lamented.

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He further decried the extravagant lifestyle of public officials, pointing to governors who move around with convoys of dozens of vehicles, draining scarce public resources. "Do you know the amount of money spent on that kind of movement? And they don't care. Nobody is interested,ÔÇØ he said.

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Ulasi concluded that Nigeria's political crisis is rooted in a "fundamental problemÔÇØ that requires a wholesale reassessment of values if the nation is to achieve meaningful progress.

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"Our problem is so fundamental that it requires some reassessment of values, if we have any,ÔÇØ he stated.

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Melissa Enoch

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— Thompson Nsisongabasi

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