By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that a former Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar says that Nigeria’s democracy has remained in bondage.
Abubakar stated this in a statement he issued on Monday to mark this year’s Democracy Day celebration.
A copy of the statement which was posted on his Twitter handle called on Nigerians to wake up to the reality that the quest for true democracy was endangered by the enemies of the country.
“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,” he said.
According to him, despite the modest achievements made so far since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule, “much work still lies ahead.
“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.
“When I often take stock of the activism that birthed the current democratic dispensation, I am even more convinced that much work still lies ahead.
“Democracy and the process of democratization are 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 said.
He noted that Nigeria’s democracy still lacked the commitment to the principles of fairness and fidelity to the rule of play by stakeholders, especially in the conduct of elections.
This, he said has left people to dictatorship tendencies.
“The challenge ahead of us and the future of our democracy will rely heavily on what we 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,” he stressed.
