Former Minister of Education and public policy expert, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has asserted that democracy does not belong to politicians, emphasizing that citizens must re-examine and reclaim their constitutional primacy in the governance process.

Speaking on the state of the nation’s political landscape, the founder of the #FixPolitics Initiative argued that Nigeria’s democratic governance has been reduced to a monopolistic venture where the political class systematically subordinates the collective welfare of the society to personal and narrow partisan interests without facing consequences. This lopsided power dynamic, she noted, has fueled widespread citizen apathy, a dangerous development that allows public officeholders to operate without deep institutional accountability or responsiveness to the public mandate.

Ezekwesili explained that any viable effort to salvage the country’s fragile democratic system must begin with the thorough political literacy, empowerment, and active engagement of the electorate. She stated that since the political class benefits heavily from the current broken structural arrangement, they inherently lack the incentive to drive meaningful electoral or institutional reforms.

To upend this dominance, the former World Bank Vice President stressed the necessity of building an active pipeline of competent, ethical new leaders with the capacity to foster alternative political options. She maintained that unless citizens collectively rise to demand structural shifts, enhance the quality of public engagement, and reject the commodification of the electoral marketplace, the country’s corrupted political culture will continue to yield poor social and economic outcomes.