Popular lawyer and political activist, Dele Farotimi claims Nigeria was never a democratic state.

Speaking in an interview on News Central Television, Farotimi, he said Nigeria only had a performative shadow of a democracy.

According to him, elections in Nigeria are a hollow ritual as he lamented why individuals indicted for crimes continue to hold 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.