Peoples Redemption Party presidential candidate Donald Duke has said Nigerians were better off economically in 1999 than they are today, despite more than two decades of uninterrupted constitutional democracy. NigerianCulture Magazine
Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, made the remarks during an interview on the Policy Without Politics podcast. Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999 after years of military government, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded then military Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Duke argued that the country had failed to achieve meaningful economic progress despite population growth and increases in budgetary figures over the years. “We’re really not in a democracy. It’s a facade. And with each cycle, we get poorer.
“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 compared Nigeria’s current fiscal position with that of the administration of the late former President Shehu Shagari in the early 1980s” he said
