A former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi has stated that Nigeria is not practising full democracy.
According to him, what we are practising now is a semi-democracy.
Fayemi made the submission on Thursday during a Channels Television special June 12 event tagged ‘Nigeria’s Democratic Journey: An Inter-Generational Conversation On Building A Better Nation.’
According to him, what happened to Nigeria in 1999 was simply the right to vote for its leaders, which he described as semi-democracy. He said true democracy is a journey, and Nigeria is not there yet.
“What we mustn’t do is to conflate elections with democracy. What we got was to reestablish the right to vote for our leaders into office in 1999, what we are yet to get is real democracy in my view.
“We got civilian rule, we are proudly on the journey — we now have a semi-democracy, but now we don’t have full democracy. The effort that the previous president and now President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has put into it, we all must build on that,” he said.
Going down memory lane, Fayemi recalled the struggles he and other fighters for democracy had to endure to propagate their activities and other democracy campaigns under the regime of the late former military dictator, Sani Abacha.
Specifically, he recalled how they operated Radio Kudirat, with some people dying in the process.
The former Governor said those of them who survived were not smarter, but only lucky not to be killed by the military government at the time.
He said, “It’s not that we were not afraid or we were aimlessly bold, we just didn’t fully think of the enormity of the threat it constituted beyond wanting to do the right thing.
“I mean, I carried the transmitters of Radio Kudirat on an Air France flight that was destined for Cotonou in the Benin Republic and made a detour to Lagos in the heat of the crisis.
“I could have been picked up on that flight, I would have been history by now as many found themselves to be. During the Oputa Panel Commission, some of the characters that were mandated to eliminate leaders of the struggle came up with their stories.
“So, we shouldn’t make light of what happened and I don’t by any stretch of imagination want to create the impression that we were invincible in what we did, I think some of us are just fortunate that we are still alive. Those who lost their lives were not stupid in what they did, they were following their convictions.”
Fayemi, however, hailed President Tinubu for recognising some of the actors in the democracy struggle on Thursday with national awards, but urged that more people, including the Radio Kudirat operators, should also be recognised.
