Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the February 25 presidential election, has lamented that Nigeria’s democracy is in bondage and it will require the energy of everyone to rescue it.
Atiku, while stating this in his Democracy Day message to Nigerians, said that the desire to make Nigeria’s democracy self-sustaining and independent of anti-democratic elements is the new frontier of participation by all democrats, adding that what is celebrated today is a return to civil rule in Nigeria, and that this year’s Democracy Day celebration was a “time for us to reflect as a people and a country on our journey to becoming a democratic society.”
He said, “But democracy without a corresponding commitment to the principles of fairness and fidelity to the rule of play by stakeholders in the processes of conducting elections still leaves the people prostrate to tendencies of dictatorship.
“For our democracy to be fully fledged, it must constantly evolve away from the current practice where the governing elite determines the outcome of elections.
“Many times, when I take stock of the activism that birthed the current democratic dispensation, I am even more convinced that a lot of work still lies ahead.
“Democracy and the process of democratization is a constant work in progress. While what we celebrate today is a return to civil rule in Nigeria, the desire to make our democracy self-sustaining and independent of anti-democratic elements is the new frontier of participation by all democrats,” he added.
Atiku admitted that as it requires collective energy and commitment to attain civil rule, it will require a concomitant commitment to advance the cause of democracy and our democratization process, adding that the challenge ahead of the country and the future of its democracy will rely heavily on what Nigerians do or fail to do today.
“To achieve this noble goal, our commitment to the cause of democracy must be eternal. Folks on the other side, enemies of democracy, whom we are up against, are not resting. To defeat them, we must do more!
“As I congratulate Nigerians on this day, in celebration of the return to civil rule, I also call our consciousness to the reality that democracy in Nigeria remains in bondage and it will need the energy of all of us to rescue it,” Atiku said.