Adebiyi, Oluwashina MorufIsiaq, Atanda AbdulwaheedAbubakar, Abdulrahman2022-02-072022-02-072015-12APA STYLE1115 - 960Xhttps://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/20.500.12484/7446Prior to the end of the 20th century, democracy was the most sought after system of governance. The commencement of the present millennium also signal the consolidation and establishment of democratic practices in authoritarian polities. Today, only few countries have not embraced democratic rule. States which do not practice Democracy in contemporary times are regarded as pariah states. However, the Western proponents of democracy are of the opinion that such difficulty to establish Democracy in Africa can be attributed to the level of development of respective African states. These Western scholars portrays Africa as strangers to democracy. While it may be asserted that African countries may encounter occasional setbacks in their democratization process, they have made remarkable success. It is also important to note that while it is incontestable that the notion of the modern democracy is a product of western idea, it can equally be argued that democratic practices is not completely alien to Africa. A retrospective analysis of pre-colonial African political structure will reveal that traditional African societies and is devoid of what may be regarded as the practice of democracy. These indigenous societies had political practices which bears semblance with what is obtained today. Using the pre-colonial old Oyo empire as a point of reference and a careful investigation of relevant secondary data and multidisciplinary approach, the paper argued that what can be described as democratic practices actually existed in the empire. These paper however concludes that these democratic practices were abolished by the adventure of colonial rule.enPARTICIPATORYDEMOCRACYPRE-COLONIALNIGERIAOYOEMPIRE