Farotimi Criticizes Nigeria’s Democratic System as Mere Performance

Prominent human rights lawyer cum activist, Dele Farotimi, has said Nigeria has never had a true democracy but only had a performative shadow of a democracy.

Farotimi was said to have made the comments during an interview on News Central Television.

Farotimi criticised Nigeria’s electoral process and the judiciary, saying some political office holders, including Senate President Godswill Akpabio and ex-Senate President Ahmed Lawan, should not have emerged.

He said many Nigerians are too obsessed with the presidency and don’t see the deeper structural problems that exist within the political system.

“Nigeria has never had a real democracy,” he said. We’ve only ever had a performative version of democracy.

“When you are looking at the presidency, you forget about the emergence of people like Godswill Akpabio and Ahmed Lawan that came out of the Senate when they were not qualified to contest.

“They were specifically disqualified by provisions of the Electoral Act. But they ended up in the Senate, and the court approved it.”

Farotimi also accused the judiciary of abandoning its constitutional role as an impartial arbiter, saying it had become an instrument for legitimising actions that should not have been allowed under the law.

“Often political actors act first and then turn to the courts to validate their actions,” he said.

“So you had a situation where our judicial system became an instrument for working from the answer to the question. “They do it first and then they find a way for the judiciary to endorse what has already been done.

“The judiciary does not exist anymore to decide on the basis of law and equity. It is there to justify what should never be done.”