June 12: ‘We Must Guard Democracy’- Gov Ortom Says In Tribute To MKO Abiola

The governor of Benue State, Dr Samuel Ortom, Sunday, paid glowing tributes to Chief MKO Abiola.

Ortom stated this in his Democracy Day message to the people of Benue State. According to him, Chief Abiola is Nigeria’s ‘democracy martyr’.

He also prayed that what led to the ill-fated Third Republic would not occur again in Nigeria.

Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election, died under mysterious circumstances while in the custody of the Nigerian state.

Ortom also urged Nigerians to guard against the nation’s democracy jealously.

According to him, “We must guard our democracy jealously. By deliberate efforts and design, Nigerians opted for the presidential system of democracy because it is participatory and representative enough. It is a way of life that must be held sacrosanct.

“Never again shall we allow undemocratic forces to take control of our collective destiny.”

Ortom solicited the strengthening of democratic institutions ‘so that the practice of democracy should not be at the dictates or the whims and caprices of a few individuals who think they will lord it over the general public but the wishes of the people’.

He decried the state of insecurity in some parts of the country, where, according to him, ‘armed Fulani terrorists are seizing our sovereignty’. He described the scenario as a threat to ‘our hard earned democracy’.

He said, “Democracy should be our way of life. It is freedom to exercise our franchise in an uninterrupted environment.

“But insecurity has forced a majority of our people away from their ancestral lands and made their living conditions less than humans because they are now forced to live in shanties.

“This is why the federal government must wake up to their responsibilities and tackle the menace headlong.

“We cannot be celebrating the democracy day when our citizens are now slaves and not free in their homes, schools, worship centres, workplaces and cannot go to their farms or even travel freely on our roads or by train. We must tackle the issue of insecurity courageously if we are to practice democracy freely.”

Governor Ortom said his administration had ‘in the last seven years provided dividends of democracy in education, health, agriculture, infrastructure and other critical sectors of development, in the face of daunting economic and security challenges’.

In his words, “We appreciate the people of Benue State for the support given us and assure them that our administration will not waver. We will sustain the tempo in this remaining year.”