A lawyer and political activist, Dele Farotimi, says Nigeria has never had democracy.
Featuring in an interview on News Central Television, Farotimi said the country only ever had a performative shadow of a democracy.
He described elections in Nigeria as a hollow ritual, lamenting that certain people who have been indicted for crimes are holding public offices.
“Nigeria has never experienced genuine democracy. We’ve only ever had a performative shadow of a democracy.
“When you focus on the presidency, you lose sight of the emergence of people like Godswill Akpabio and Ahmed Lawal, who emerged in the Senate in spite of the fact that they were not even qualified to run.
“They were expressly disqualified by the provisions of the Electoral Act. But they ended up in the Senate, and the court endorsed it.
“So, you had a situation where our judicial system has become an instrument for working from the answer to the question. So, they do it first, and then they find a way for the judiciary to ratify what is already done.
“The judiciary is no longer there to adjudicate based on law and equity. It is there to rationalize what has been done that should never be done,” he said.
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