By Abdulfatah Babatunde
Jibrin Baba Ndace, the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, on Wednesday, reflected on the 25-year Democratic Journey of Nigeria, saying the country has remained consistent in deepening democratic values.
Ndace made this assessment in an interview with TheNewsZenith on Wednesday in Lagos.
He described democracy as a marathon or journey of life rather than a mere spring race.
“Democracy is not a sprint race; it is a marathon, it’s a journey.
“The fact is that Nigeria as a nation since 1999, at the emergence of the fourth republic has come of age.
“It has remained very consistent in deepening democratic values, conducting elections and getting better at every election.
“This is even when clearly, the world didn’t give us a chance,” he said.
He recalled many landmark scenarios that featured in the nation’s democratic journey from 1999 uptil the last election processes of 2023 that produced President Bola Ahned Tinubu.
At every stage of the democratic journey, he said there were many agitating moment and negative predictions about Nigeria, but “thank God that we survived them…….”
The VON boss, particularly recalled the 2015 general election, which he said, coincided with predictions or scenarios…..
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“It was a scenario that many developed countries do. They look at geo-political regions and look at countries and do pamutations and simulations.
“And they come up with scenerio and say A B C happen, this may likely happen.
“And that scenario building by a tink tank in the US coincided with 2015 elections and many predicted that it was going to be the end of N igeria. That didn’t happen.
“Nigeria conducted the elections. And for the first time, peherps in the history of many African countries, there was a peaceful transition.
“And the first time a sitting president would loose an election. And even put a call to his successor who defeated him……
“So, for me, the Nigerian democracy at 25 years, has come of age… For me, it’s been a great journey,” Ndace said.
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