State Governors yesterday felicitated Nigerians on Democracy Day celebration and charged them to trust the current democratic process in the country.
Although the governors acknowledged Nigeria’s economic and security challenges, they said there was no doubt that democracy remained the best system of governance.
They recalled the struggle to return the country to civilian rule and paid tributes to the arrowheads like Chief MKO Abiola, winner of the June 12 presidential election, who lost his life trying to claim his mandate.
Generally, activities marking the day were low-key in most of the states, including Osun where Governor Ademola Adeleke suggested a better way to immortalise the June 12 winner. In three states, 59 prisoners regained their freedom while two had the death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The governors that had activities marking the day were Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Lucky Aiyedatiwa (Ondo), AbdulRahman AbdulRazak (Kwara), Sheriff Oberevwori (Delta), Hope Uzodimma (Imo) and Peter Mbah (Enugu).
Others are Alex Otti (Abia), Bassey Otu ( Cross River), Umo Eno (Akwa Ibom), Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), Hyacinth Alia (Benue), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa) and Dikko Rada (Katsina).
In Lagos where a lecture on the ‘Epetedo Self Declaration’ and 13th National Discourse’ was held, Sanwo-Olu called on Nigerians to cherish and live by the tenets of democracy for the country’s prosperity and progress.
He said: ‘’Democracy is not about force but conviction of ideas. So, it is not that my views must always win. It means we must debate it, we must talk about it and must come together to agree about it.”
Ogun State Governor Abiodun, represented by Deputy Governor Noimot Salako-Oyedele, charged Nigerians to remain steadfast and trust the current democratic process.
Abiodun, who ordered the release of 41 custodial centre inmates in the state, said that it was a thing of joy that Nigeria has maintained 25 years of unbroken democracy.
