Public commentator, Dr. Ope Banwo, has identified followership and the adoption of Western-style democracy as Nigeria’s fundamental problems.
Dr Ope Banwo
He made this assertion in a new video released from his base in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A., where he argued that the ideology that created Nigeria’s current crises — governance failures, economic hardship, insecurity and general dysfunction — cannot be the same ideology that solves them.
According to Banwo, Nigeria is “running a foreign operating system on a corrupted hard drive,” yet people remain surprised that “the system keeps crashing.” He explained that the country imported a model of democracy built on centuries of strong institutions and genuine nationhood, only to plant it on a society still deeply tribal, where religion is weaponized, and where citizens are quick to demonize entire ethnic groups because of the actions of a few individuals.
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Banwo stressed that Nigerians must begin to think unconventionally, insisting that the nation’s major challenge is no longer bad leadership or the constitution, but followership and an imported democratic structure “never designed for us.”
“For decades, we shouted ‘bad President, bad Governors, bad Senators,’ yet the same people shouting are selling their votes for five thousand naira, defending thieves from their tribe, and celebrating rigging as long as their side benefits,” he said.
He added that these same citizens steal streetlights and iron from bridges meant to serve them, but still complain of bad leaders.
Banwo noted that leaders do not descend from heaven — they emerge from within society. The corrupt minister or compromised ambassador, he said, was once an uncle or pastor who used to organize protests against corrupt candidates. “Every vote buyer was once that ordinary Nigerian shouting about election rigging and BVAS failure,” he concluded.
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