The former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday said Nigeria has not attained full democracy.
He said Nigeria only transitioned to civilian rule and gave citizens back their rights to vote in 1999.
Fayemi, who made the claims during his appearance on Channels Television to mark Democracy Day on June 12, said what the country has now is a “semi-democracy”.
He, however, emphasised the need to build on past and current administrations’ efforts to attain a full democracy.
He believes democracy is more than having elections to vote in leaders.
In his words, “What we mustn’t do is to conflate elections with democracy.
“What we got was to re-establish the right to vote 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 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.”
Fayemi served two non-consecutive terms as governor of Ekiti, first from 2010 to 2014, then from 2018 to 2022.
He also served as the Minister of Solid Minerals Development in former President Muhammadu Buhari administration from 2015 to 2018.
