Presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has questioned Nigeria’s democratic progress, saying citizens were better off in 1999 than they are today.
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, made the remarks during an interview on the Policy Without Politics podcast on Friday, with excerpts from the interview circulating on Sunday.
Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after years of military government, with former military Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar handing over power to Olusegun Obasanjo, who became the country’s first elected president of the Fourth Republic.
Since then, Nigeria has had six civilian presidents, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is seeking re-election, being the sixth.
However, reflecting on the country’s 26 years of uninterrupted constitutional democracy, Duke argued that Nigerians had experienced a decline in their standard of living.
“We’re really not in a democracy. It’s a facade. And with each cycle, we get poorer,” he said.
According to him, the country was considerably more affordable in 1999 than it is today.
“I can say to you very clearly that in 1999, the people were better off than they are today, in 2026. They were much better off. The country was more affordable,” Duke said.
The PRP candidate also questioned Nigeria’s economic performance, arguing that the country had failed to translate its growing population and increasing government budgets into meaningful economic prosperity for citizens.
Duke compared the present economic situation with the early 1980s, noting that Nigeria’s annual budget during the administration of the late President Shehu Shagari averaged about $25 billion, when the country’s population was approximately 70 million.
His comments come amid continuing debates over whether Nigeria has achieved better economic and social outcomes under democratic rule than during the years of military government.
