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Why We Must Preserve Our Democracy – Being Full Text of President Tinubu’s 2024 National Democracy Day Broadcast
My fellow Nigerians, let me begin by congratulating all of us for witnessing the celebration of another Democracy Day today, the 12th day of June 2024. This year also marks our nation’s 25 years of uninterrupted democratic governance.
On this day, 31 years ago, we entered our rites of passage to becoming a true and enduring democratic society.
Going through this passage was hard and dangerous. During the fateful six years that followed, we fought and struggled for our natural rights as human beings put on this earth by the divine hand of our Creator.
We lost great heroes and heroines along the way. In this struggle, the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, the most significant symbol of our democratic struggle, his wife, Kudirat, General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and Pa Alfred Rewane, among others sacrificed their very lives.
They bravely surrendered their futures, so that our nation might have a better one.
Let us honour the memories of Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Chief Arthur Nwankwo, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Frank Kokori, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Ganiyu Dawodu, Chief Ayo Fasanmi, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chima Ubani, and others who have transited to the higher realm.
The sacrifices of General Alani Akinrinade, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Professor Wole Soyinka, Chief Ralph Obioha, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, among many others, should never be forgotten. For at least six years, they bore the pains and difficulties of life in exile.
While the exiled pro-democracy activists kept the fire burning, their comrades at home sustained the pressure on the military brass hats. Among the latter are Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Abdul Oroh, Senator Shehu Sani, Governor Uba Sani, Chief Olu Falae, and other National Democratic Coalition leaders such as Chief Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Ayo Opadokun.
The sacrifices they made, and the precious gift brought about by their selfless devotion can never be repaid. Neither shall it be forgotten.
We could not have won the battle against military dictatorship without the irrepressible Nigerian journalists who mounted the barricades along with the pro-democracy activists. We celebrate them today, along with their media establishments such as The Punch, Guardian, National Concord, Tribune, The News/Tempo, and TELL Magazines. Military authorities proscribed these media establishments and jailed their journalists for standing for free speech and civil liberties
Despite the lethal might of the military government, what appeared to be high and unyielding walls of dictatorship came tumbling down. The dismal fortress exists no longer.
The power of an idea, the power of the people proved more potent than all the guns and munitions, than all the guns, the munitions and the threats of the strongmen.
The nation exited the yoke of military rule in 1999 to become the most populous democracy on African soil, the beacon of democratic self-determination for the black race and one of the largest democracies in the world.
This change stands as a pivotal moment in human history. From this change, we shall never turn, nor shall the annals of mankind’s progress forget the sublime meaning of this great moment.
Today, 25 years later, we celebrate the silver anniversary of our journey in democracy.
We have steadied the course.
Democracy is neither a foreign nor abstract concept devoid of real-life meaning for us. Neither can we afford to reduce or minimalise it to being nothing but the mere holding of periodic elections where one candidate and party outdo another.
While elections attract dramatic attention, they are but one aspect of democracy. Democracy is a way of life that encompasses a broad outlook of which elections are but a part. As such, a nation can have elections without being democratic. But a nation cannot be truly democratic without holding elections.
That we have established a tradition of holding transparent, open, and fair elections gives credence to our democratic bearing. That we have experienced peaceful transitions of government affirms our democratic temperament.
Fellow Nigerians, true democracy shines its light into the daily lives of the people who live under its nurturing wings. It affords us the freedom and liberty to think as we want, live where we want and pursue whatever legitimate endeavour that suits us.
Democracy does not assume some false or forced unity of opinion. In fact, democracy assumes that conflicting ideas and differing opinions shall be the order of the day. Given the diversity and variety of the human experience, there must be diverse perspectives and viewpoints.
What democracy demands is that we do not resolve differences through force and repression. But we make allowance for the legitimacy of views that differ from our own.
Where other forms of government impose against the will of the people, democracy aims to make leaders sufficiently humble that they conduct themselves as servants of the common good, not as viceroys of the narrow interests of the mighty.
My dear compatriots, Nigeria faced a decision of untold gravity twenty-five years ago: Whether to veer toward a better destination or continue aimlessly in the fog of dictatorship.
We made the right choice then. We must continue with that choice now.
As Nigerians, we must remind ourselves that no matter how complicated democracy may be, it is the best form of governance in the long run. We must also be aware that there are those among us who will try to exploit current challenges to undermine, if not destroy, this democracy for which so much has already been given.
These people do this not to make things better but to subject all other people and things to their control and dominance until the point that, if you are not counted among their elite, then your life will be small and no longer owned by you.
This is the great battle of our day and the major reason we specially celebrate this Democracy day.
Fellow Nigerians, our Democracy is more than a historic fact. It is a living, breathing reality.
The true meaning of this day is not to focus solely on the great deeds of the past that have brought us to this point.
Yes, we pay eternal honour to those who laid down their lives, sacrificing everything to pave the way for the nation.
I stand uniquely placed in this regard. I was among those who took the risk to midwife the birth of our democracy. I am now a direct and obvious beneficiary of the fruits of those historic efforts.
As president of this nation, I am morally and constitutionally bound to preserve this precious form of governance. I vow to do my utmost best to protect your rights, freedoms, and liberties as citizens of Nigeria.
Even more than that, I pledge to do whatever is necessary to cement democracy as our way of life.
Although the challenges are steep and multiple, I am grateful to lead Nigeria at this moment in her history and point in her democratic journey.
I come before you also to declare that our most important work remains before us. This real test has never been whether we would rise to challenge the slings of misfortune and grievous pain of dictatorship.
The real test is whether we shall lower our guards as the shadow of despotism and its evident physical danger fade.
I say to you here and now that as we celebrate the enshrinement of our political democracy, let us commit ourselves to the fulfilment of its equally important counterpart, the realisation of our economic democracy.
I understand the economic difficulties we face as a nation.
Our economy has been in desperate need of reform for decades. It has been unbalanced because it was built on the flawed foundation of over-reliance on revenues from the exploitation of oil.
The reforms we have initiated are intended to create a stronger, better foundation for future growth. There is no doubt the reforms have occasioned hardship. Yet, they are necessary repairs required to fix the economy over the long run so that everyone has access to economic opportunity, fair pay and compensation for his endeavour and labour.
As we continue to reform the economy, I shall always listen to the people and will never turn my back on you.
In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organized labour on a new national minimum wage. We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.
In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict.
No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution.
Reasoned discussion and principled compromise are hallmarks of democracy. These themes shall continue to animate my policies and interaction with the constituent parts of our political economy.
I take on this vital task without fear or favour and I commit myself to this work until we have built a Nigeria where no man is oppressed.
In the end, our national greatness will not be achieved by travelling the easy road. It can only be achieved by taking the right one.
The words of the American President Franklin Roosevelt certainly ring true:
“There are many ways of going forward. But only one way of standing still”!
We dare not slumber lest the good things awaiting our immediate future pass us by. We dare not plant our feet in idle standstill in the middle of the intersection of hope and despair.
We know the proper way forward and we shall take it!
The initial rays of a brighter tomorrow now appear on the early horizon. An abundant future and our capacity to achieve that future lie within our reach. Democracy and the institutions it begets offer to take us to our profound destination.
Let us board this progressive train together. Together, let us move Nigeria forward.
Let’s continue to keep the fire of democracy burning. Let’s keep the torch lit for generations to come.
May God continue to bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria and preserve our democracy.
I wish us all a Happy Democracy Day.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has demanded clarification over who is currently exercising the constitutional powers of the President as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima remain outside Nigeria.
The opposition party, in a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said Tinubu’s continued absence had raised questions about compliance with Section 145 of the Nigerian Constitution.
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The ADC said the provision requires the President, when proceeding on vacation or otherwise unable to discharge the functions of his office, to transmit a written declaration to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, after which the Vice-President performs the functions of Acting President.
According to the party, Tinubu left Nigeria on August 30 and has now been away for more than 21 days.
“President Tinubu left Nigeria on 30 August and has now been away for more than 21 days. We therefore demand to know whether the required declaration was transmitted by the President,” the ADC said.
The party also questioned why the National Assembly had not addressed the issue if such a declaration had not been transmitted.
The ADC rejected the Presidency’s description of Tinubu’s stay abroad as a “working vacation”, arguing that the phrase does not create a separate constitutional category.
“There is no constitutional category known as a ‘working vacation’. Presidential authority cannot be transferred by convenience, protocol or press statement,” the party said.
The opposition party also dismissed the suggestion that Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, could effectively represent the President in the discharge of presidential responsibilities.
“Representing the President at events and ceremonies does not confer constitutional powers. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation is a mere appointee of the President,” it said.
The ADC stressed that attending official functions or delivering speeches on behalf of the President was different from exercising the constitutional powers of the President or Acting President.
“Representation is not governance. Attendance at official functions is not presidential authority,” the party added.
The controversy comes as Vice-President Shettima is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where he is representing Nigeria.
The ADC said the simultaneous absence of the President and Vice-President was particularly concerning given what it described as Nigeria’s security, unemployment and cost-of-living challenges.
The party also criticised Tinubu’s continued stay in Paris while French President Emmanuel Macron travelled to New York for the UN General Assembly.
“The irony would be amusing if it were not a national disgrace,” the ADC said, arguing that the situation created poor optics for Nigeria.
Macron had hosted Tinubu at a private dinner at the Élysée Palace in Paris before travelling to New York for the UN General Assembly.
The ADC therefore called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to answer what it described as a fundamental constitutional question.
“Who presently exercises the constitutional powers of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and under what provision of the Constitution?” the party asked.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on African countries to unite and end the export of raw mineral resources, urging the continent to focus on local processing, manufacturing and value addition.
Tinubu made the call on Tuesday in New York, United States, while declaring open the 3rd Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa, held on the sidelines of the ongoing 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The high-level meeting, which was chaired by Tinubu, was themed, “From Resources to Wealth: Continental Cooperation for Mineral Value Addition, Data Sovereignty, Innovative Financing and Critical Minerals Security.”
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Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, Tinubu told African leaders and stakeholders that the continent must move away from its long-standing position as a supplier of raw materials and develop industries capable of processing its mineral resources locally.
“For generations, Africa has furnished the materials of prosperity elsewhere. Our duty is to ensure that the future being fashioned from African minerals has room for African ambition,” the President said.
Tinubu expressed concern that mineral-rich communities across Africa continue to suffer from inadequate infrastructure, limited employment opportunities and insufficient participation in the wealth generated from their natural resources.
He noted that rising global demand for clean energy, artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing had made African critical minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium and rare earth elements increasingly important to global supply chains.
According to the President, Africa’s response should include mineral processing and refining, battery production, component manufacturing, African technologies and the development of competitive skills.
“The worth of a mine must be counted in the lives it improves,” Tinubu said.
“Jobs, industries, infrastructure, technology transfer, African enterprise participation and prosperity retained across generations must measure our progress from resources to wealth.”
Tinubu Warns Against African Fragmentation
The President said no African country could achieve the desired transformation of its mineral sector alone.
He warned that countries competing against one another by offering lower royalties, weaker local-content requirements and excessive concessions could undermine the continent’s collective bargaining power.
“Fragmentation leaves us exporting raw materials and buying finished goods at a premium. Cooperation gives our markets scale, our industries integration, our financing reach and our negotiations authority,” he said.
Tinubu called for greater continental cooperation, saying African countries must negotiate collectively where their interests converge and ensure that partnerships with external investors strengthen rather than undermine African industrial capacity.
“Reliability must never mean dependency, and partnership must never demand inequality,” he added.
President Highlights Nigeria’s Mining Reforms
Tinubu also highlighted reforms in Nigeria’s mining sector, saying the country must require local value addition for new mining licences, strengthen geological data and investor access, organise artisanal miners into cooperatives, combat illegal mining and improve regulatory accountability.
He disclosed that revenue from Nigeria’s mining sector rose from approximately ₦6 billion in 2023 to over ₦38 billion in 2024, and further to between ₦68.1 billion and ₦70 billion in 2025.
The President also pointed to major foreign investment commitments and the development and commissioning of large-scale lithium processing capacity in Nasarawa State as evidence of the opportunities available in the sector.
He said his administration’s mining policy was designed to ensure that minerals extracted in Nigeria contribute to the country’s industries, workers, skills and communities.
According to Tinubu, ongoing reforms have demonstrated that “firm terms can attract serious capital.”
Tinubu Backs Continental Minerals Framework
The President also endorsed the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration (CIEAD) adopted at the roundtable.
He said the declaration should create a predictable and investment-ready environment for Africa’s strategic mineral corridors through harmonised policies, responsible investment and shared infrastructure.
Tinubu, however, stressed that the declaration must go beyond a ceremonial signing and be backed by clear timelines, financing, implementation mechanisms and public accountability.
“Africa’s power resides in its people, markets and ingenuity. No outsider will organise our continent or place our industrial interests above their own,” he said.
“We must integrate our markets, mobilise African capital and negotiate with one voice wherever our interests converge.”
He added: “Our industrial growth can strengthen global prosperity, the energy transition and secure supply chains. Minerals confer no automatic prosperity; vision, investment and industry must earn it. Political will must turn mineral promise into enduring African wealth.”
Alake Calls for More African Countries to Join AMSG
Earlier, AMSG Chairman and Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the group was proposing the Continental Integration and Economic Assurance Declaration as a framework for establishing a unified architecture for Africa’s critical and solid minerals value chains.
Alake urged African countries that have yet to join the AMSG to become members, stressing the importance of coordinating efforts, ideas and resources to develop the continent’s natural resources.
He said Africa’s mineral ambitions could not be achieved through policy implementation alone, arguing that integrated partnerships covering financial transactions and infrastructure development were also necessary.
Kenya’s Minister of Blue Economy and Maritime Affairs, Hassan Ali Joho, also emphasised the importance of domestic resource mobilisation for solid mineral development.
Joho called for transparency, competitiveness and greater alignment of licensing procedures among AMSG members while respecting the sovereignty of individual countries.
Representatives of Liberia, Chad and Tanzania, alongside other stakeholders, also contributed to the discussions.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has questioned President Bola Tinubu’s third consecutive absence from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), demanding an explanation for the president’s decision not to attend the global gathering.
Atiku made the remarks in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, as Vice President Kashim Shettima leads Nigeria’s delegation to the 81st UNGA in New York.
According to Atiku, Tinubu was absent from the 79th UNGA in 2024 and the 80th session in 2025, and has again stayed away from the 81st session in 2026.
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The former vice president said the repeated absences could no longer be regarded as a coincidence or routine delegation, arguing that they required an explanation.
Atiku also questioned whether Tinubu’s documented history with United States law-enforcement agencies had become a burden on Nigeria’s foreign relations.
“The United Nations General Assembly is one of the world’s most important diplomatic gatherings. It brings together the representatives of the UN’s 193 member states and provides a unique platform for presidents and prime ministers to defend their countries’ interests, negotiate partnerships and shape global decisions on trade, security and development,” Atiku said.
He acknowledged that Shettima could represent Nigeria at the gathering but maintained that the vice president’s representation could not permanently substitute for the president’s personal authority and visibility.
“Vice President Shettima may represent Nigeria capably, but representation by delegation cannot permanently substitute for the personal authority, visibility and responsibility of the president,” he said.
“Tinubu cannot continue to treat Nigeria’s seat at the world’s biggest diplomatic table as though it were an inconvenient appointment that can be endlessly outsourced.”
Atiku further argued that UNGA was not simply a ceremonial event, noting that important bilateral meetings, investment discussions, trade negotiations and development-financing engagements take place on the sidelines of the gathering.
“Presidential absence on the global stage has consequences. UNGA is not merely a ceremonial gathering or an annual photo opportunity,” he said.
“Its side-lines are where leaders hold decisive bilateral meetings, court investors, negotiate trade partnerships, mobilise development finance and make the case for their countries.”
The former vice president said Nigeria could lose investment and other economic opportunities as a result of the president’s continued absence.
“When a president makes himself absent from that stage for three consecutive years, his country loses opportunities. Investment does not follow silence. International capital does not pursue a country whose leader repeatedly abandons the room in which consequential economic relationships are being built,” Atiku said.
He linked the issue to investment, employment and capital inflows, arguing that reduced investment could increase pressure on the naira and contribute to higher costs for Nigerians.
“The cost is eventually transferred to ordinary citizens: fewer investments mean fewer businesses and fewer jobs. Reduced capital inflows place additional pressure on the local currency,” he said.
“A weaker naira raises the cost of imports, production, transportation and food. These are among the economic pressures now punishing Nigerian families through the worst cost-of-living crisis in living memory.”
Atiku concluded by saying that while the president could regard attendance at UNGA as a matter of personal prerogative, Nigeria would ultimately bear the consequences of the decision.
“Tinubu may consider attending UNGA a matter of personal prerogative, but the economic and diplomatic consequences of his absence are being paid by Nigerians. A President may surrender his seat, but a nation cannot escape the bill,” he said.
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