Today May 29th Is Democracy day!


"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts off from its youth severs its lifeline."
-- Kofi Annan

Happy Democracy Day!

Is there 'democracy' in Nigeria - or demo-crazy a la demonstration of craziness??

Sorry, I can't keep up with a country where everything defies logic.. Nigeria works backwards.

Crazydemo day only remind Nigerians of government enrich themselves. Corruption in d land. Can anyone boast of devidend of democracy? Hw many people have been prosecuted over stealing our oil money? Have Jonathan fulfilled any promise? It is sad for me to find myself in naija. No government that cater 4 d people yet. Comes 2015, vote 4 who can serve us from local level 2 federal level.

Happy democracy day to all Nigerians at home and abroad for believing and supporting us over the year. we pray that this democracy ko ni baje o.

Green world

Democracy day my foot,nigeria is a kleptocracy!!!

All the time its complain complain complain! What did you do, what are you doing and what will you do to change the situation. As for me and my household,we will never go with the crowd and do the wrong thing but regardless of how hard it could be, we will never give or take bribe, urinate where we are not supposed to, throw dirts anywhere we like,take what does not belong to us,be partial in our dealings with people,lie and deceive for personal gain,involve in examination malprctices and we will try our best to look out for our fellow citizens regardless of their race,tribe and religion. What about you

Nigerians are still very gullible...

In 1999, we assumed the status of Africa's largest democracy with trepidation, wondering if the khaki boys who had hitherto b4 then festered on our oil wealth to the detriment of their contitutional role will allow the nascent democracy survive. It's now 13 years of gargantuan and monumental mismanagement of my once beloved nation that even the opium- football, that once made us forget our ethno-religious differnces has been relegated to the theatre of of homongous maladministration by men who claim to be parents. Nigerians, once the happiest people on earth and boisterous with life have to my utter dismay joined the league of suicide bombers. Why does My country defy every economic principle to make her work, why has our leadership, who cruised to victory on the premise of '' having no shoes'' now hell bent on amputating our leg to score cheap political goals?, why is our unending tales of having had good times and life in past tense while the nation rakes in billions of dollars of our earth's oil like never? my future, as a non-terrorist Nigerian can no longer run to a script due to the deluge of insecurity and bloodletting in the land yet my leaders have security votes big enough to tackle the challenges of one sector of our ailing economy. Will my children ever live to enjoy Nigeria beyond their growing-up years when i am their sole breadwinner and provider of their every needs and wants? HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY ALL THE SAME.[color=#990000][/color]

4reigningqueen: All the time its complain complain complain! What did you do, what are you doing and what will you do to change the situation. As for me and my household,we will never go with the crowd and do the wrong thing but regardless of how hard it could be, we will never give or take bribe, urinate where we are not supposed to, throw dirts anywhere we like,take what does not belong to us,be partial in our dealings with people,lie and deceive for personal gain,involve in examination malprctices and we will try our best to look out for our fellow citizens regardless of their race,tribe and religion. What about you

my brother, all those we have done from our youth- like the rich man that came to Jesus. All that is left is to sell all we have and give the money to Nigeria or our pastors. The country is just not getting it's mix right and a re-mix hasn't help either. I Tire !!

Happy Democracy Day!!!!!! We know in nigeria that what we practice is not democracy but Militocracy ... where citizens are oppressed by d government. I beleive we will get there some day

I would like to show my appreciation for those that died to make the blessings we have today in Nigeria possible. All the journalists that were killed so that our press can be free. The death of MKO Abiola that showed us once and for all that military dictatorship will NEVER again be an acceptable part of our government. The death on Ken Saro Wiwa that brought light to the suffering of minorities in Nigeria and gave strength to the plight of the suffering voiceless, and a thanks to those whose efforts have made Nigeria's election system fairer and freer. I do acknowledge our system is an immensely imperfect and frustratingly flawed one. I do acknowledge the war is not yet won and I do acknowledge the enemies or our progress are still alive and in power, but I'm not going to pretend that this generation shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that we seem to think saying 'there's no democracy in Nigeria is a fair contribution to a fight for democracy that our predecessors gave their lives for. Their sacrifice has not been in vein. there has been progress and If we can give thanks to and revere their spirit there will be more progress.

We've made more progress then most of our african counter parts and show more promise and will to strike forward than most of the 3rd world.

I would like to show my appreciation for those that died to make the blessings we have today in Nigeria possible. All the journalists that were killed so that our press can be free. The death of MKO Abiola that showed us once and for all that military dictatorship will NEVER again be an acceptable part of our government. The death on Ken Saro Wiwa that brought light to the suffering of minorities in Nigeria and gave strength to the plight of the suffering voiceless, and a thanks to those whose efforts have made Nigeria's election system fairer and freer. I do acknowledge our system is an immensely imperfect and frustratingly flawed one. I do acknowledge the war is not yet won and I do acknowledge the enemies or our progress are still alive and in power, but I'm not going to pretend that this generation shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that we seem to think saying 'there's no democracy in Nigeria is a fair contribution to a fight for democracy that our predecessors gave their lives for. Their sacrifice has not been in vein. there has been progress and If we can give thanks to and revere their spirit there will be more progress.

We've made more progress then most of our african counter parts and show more promise and will to strike forward than most of the 3rd world.

[size=18pt]Nigeria's official "Suffering and Smiling" day [/size]

Nigerians, ronu o!!!

When will everything be ok in this country? well que sera sera. There's really nothing worth celebrating.

4reigningqueen: All the time its complain complain complain! What did you do, what are you doing and what will you do to change the situation. As for me and my household,we will never go with the crowd and do the wrong thing but regardless of how hard it could be, we will never give or take bribe, urinate where we are not supposed to, throw dirts anywhere we like,take what does not belong to us,be partial in our dealings with people,lie and deceive for personal gain,involve in examination malprctices and we will try our best to look out for our fellow citizens regardless of their race,tribe and religion. What about you

U hv said it all and Tank u my bro...dats d spirit,it has 2 start sumwhr.D problem wit us 'NIGERIANS' is dat we complain too much wc i'm nt in anyway denyin dat i dnt.I do complain.we can write/talk bt we neva act.It has start 4rm u nd me.

When shall we celebrate the anniversaries of Boko Haram victims? When shall we celebrate the anniversaries of our prosecuted looters? When shall we celebrate one yr of non power outage. Chai! Another way for them to loot money. Anyway, I wish U safe loot.

Democracy day? When every average citizen has been abused by the govt that's supposed to provide and care for him/her.
What we Ђα̲̅v̶̲̥̅̊ε̲̣̣̣ as at this moment is a shallow demo of sell-outs slowly but diligently pulling the country into a labyrinth.
I wl pray for naija....sote sote sote ...they wl all climb into an aeroplane and only d black-box will be found.

People shouldn't talk anyhow about democracy because, even though it's not working perfectly, it's much better than what people experienced in the miitary era. In the 90s, no one would dare criticize government officials publically, as some are doing now.

Be grateful for what you have.

Where are dividends of democracy , 13 years after ?

100 million Nigerians still living below $1 / day

4reigningqueen: All the time its complain complain complain! What did you do, what are you doing and what will you do to change the situation. As for me and my household,we will never go with the crowd and do the wrong thing but regardless of how hard it could be, we will never give or take bribe, urinate where we are not supposed to, throw dirts anywhere we like,take what does not belong to us,be partial in our dealings with people,lie and deceive for personal gain,involve in examination malprctices and we will try our best to look out for our fellow citizens regardless of their race,tribe and religion. What about you

As admirable* as all what you said seems, it has nothing to do with democracy. This is a day set aside by our leaders to celebrate the struggle till 1999 and more importantly the fruits that struggle was suppose to have bore us. So I ask again, if one is not a politician or a corrupt government official, what exactly am I suppose to celebrate?

Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Tell Magazine, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, Chima Ubani, students of University of Ife, Unilag, Uniben, ABU, UNN, Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, heroes of the SAP Uprising, Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, etc.

Testimony of Colonel Roland Emokpae


I went through hell. If there was hell on earth, I saw it...apart from the initial mental torture, the agony I had to go through was enormous, because I was the only officer that was subjected to various cells transfer. I was taken to the worst cell and when I asked question, I was told Abacha directed that I should be kept in the worst cell. In fact, that cell...it’s dark, there is not light, it’s infested, it’s so narrow that in fact you have to stand both day and night...That was the first stage of the torture. And for two, three nights I spent there, it was harrowing. After complaining, they had to push me out to another cell. I think I went through about four or five cells in that place.

We were there for three months, and nobody came to talk to you so that you can even ask what was going on...They sent for me; with the usual chaining, arms shackles, whatever and took me to the interrogation centre somewhere in Ikoyi, off Bourdillion. We got in there and I met one of the panels. Omenka was there. One other officer, whose name I have forgotten, and Zakari Biu. And they asked me if I knew why I was there, I said no. They said they were surprised. They said okay, what was my movement like in the last two or three years?… They said, “Look, don’t you know why you are here? Don’t you know the plan you have to topple the government? I said, “This is news to me. I don’t know of that. I have never planned to overthrow any government right from the day I was commissioned”... they were very hostile and they said okay, since I was not willing to cooperate, I should go and put down my statement.

So...at about 6 to 6.15 p.m. a private soldier came and said he had instruction that we should come out. We got out. He said we should UnCloth. We took off our shirts and trousers. He said no, no, we should be naked completely. So, we took off everything. We were naked and we were chained, back to back, and that was how we walked into the open. We stayed there right from about that time till 7 a.m. We spent the night standing...Another funny thing was while they kept us there, Bello-Fadile was chained alone and kept close to us. Maybe they wanted to hear if there had been anything; maybe we could talk, they’ll pick it up. They sent out some men to monitor what was going on. And we kept asking Bello-Fadile, “What is going on? Please if you know, let us know and save us from this humiliation”. He said he did not know, so that was our first ordeal.

The following morning, when people started coming to work, they pushed us in, we wore our dresses; and we were still chained hand to hand, leg to leg and kept in the open field in the scorching sun. My colleague asked for water, he was refused water. At about 4 p.m. the second day, we were now thrown into one dungeon behind, so that nobody would see us… After some time, I heard nothing. And a week or two later, that was when they came picked me up, took me back to the same place, this time, me alone, to ask the same question. I said, “Please, I really don’t know what you people want”. They said well, it would appear I was not ready to cooperate. They claimed that in my movement, they observed that at a point in time, I spoke to Bello-Fadile in his office. I said, “Yes, but I told you, when I came, I had this tooth and eye problem. I went to Bonny Camp which was where Bello-Fadile was ad director of legal services, and we had just finished from Enugu, and he is my course-mate and friend, I felt like saying hi to him. And that was exactly what I did. In fact I spent less than two minutes with Bello-Fadile”. But they said no, no, we spent about two, three hours talking…They took me behind a cell and of course had to hang me. They call it the spider hanging - your hands up, the two legs all suspended, I was there throughout the night. They pulled my shirt off so, I was in my pant only. Look. Name all the kinds of insects, they preyed on me. I told them you are punishing an innocent man. The following day, they took me back to my cell...


About three weeks later, the same Zakari Biu came...With shackles on, I was blindfolded. The next thing, they pushed me into a waiting vehicle and sped off, driving roughly…I didn’t know where they were heading to. But somehow, having had a little knowledge of Lagos, through the cries in the various bus-stops, I was able to kind of guess where they were taking me to. They took me to that particular area and I heard shouts and cries, like some other people were being tortured. “Colonel”, they kept asking me, “tell us what you have done. Tell us how much Bello-Fadile gave to you. How much was promised you by some generals. And I said, “Look I’m sorry. Nobody ever gave me money”...They said okay, I am not ready to talk. This time, I was in chains. I had been blindfolded, I didn’t know what was going on. Then later, that other man that was being tortured was now… I heard a kind of silence, I believed he has passed out and they dropped him. They said I should come out.

In fact, they themselves just brought me out like a bundle of firewood and the next thing, they just threw me on the ground, folded my legs, folded my hands behind and they tied me like they tie logs and they carried me like that. All I knew was a pole was inserted under my armpit and like a barbecued chicken; I was there suspended for hours. In fact, by the time I passed out, everything about me, the limbs, all were gone. While there, they would strike a match and put under my nose, my eyes, to say something, to confess… so after almost about two hours of torture, I was finished, and by the time I regained consciousness, I could not shout, I couldn’t even move. They knew I was passing out. They just removed me, and dumped me like you dump… if you’ve been to abattoir, you must have seen how they throw a slaughtered cow...For 10 good days, I was lying prostrate on the bed. I couldn’t move my knees. Even eating, they had to spoonfeed me

At the end of Emokpae’s “trial” he was sentenced to death by firing squad. “As soon as he [Patrick Aziza] said it, I said, “I’m rejecting it in the name of the Lord”. Openly, he shouted at me, “Shut up and sit down”...Before we knew it, vehicles, tanks and all these things had been brought in, we were shackled again and we were taken back to the black Maria. It was on July 14, 1995 that the judgement was passed”.

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." (Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, from a House of Commons speech on Nov. 11, 1947)

How on earth can we explain this, a professor of my own calibre and age who has served the country for so
many years in different capacities being subjected to indignity and utmost brutality by some majors and privates
who are nitwits ordinarily. I’m not being boastful. It’s like you take a jewel and you start messing it up in the
mud. You cannot explain it. Any time I recalled the humiliation meted out to me by those nitwits I started
weeping, not for myself, but for Nigeria, country, which was being savagely reduced to nothingness.
Professor Femi Odekunle [Tell, August 31, 1998:20]

Yar’ Adua was hale and hearty inside Abakaliki Prison. Then some people came saying they were from Abacha
and they wanted to take Yar’Adua for medical check-up. They picked him up hale and hearty but he arrived
the University Teaching Hospital, Enugu dead. What happened between Abakaliki and Enugu nobody seems
to know. But something happened and if pressure is put on those people who picked him up they would give
an answer to the country.
Comrade Shehu Sani, a Northern Nigerian human rights activists arrested
for the 1995 phantom coup on the account of his human rights activism
[TheNews 7 Sept. 1998:15, 18].

Zakari Biu is an animal. He’s just wicked..he is dead to feelings. I fact, I don’t know why such people should
still be walking the streets of Lagos or this country. I am surpised as I am told that he has even been promoted,
even given special assignments. I am surprised at this government. Zakari Biu, for what, they know him to have
done, that they could still keep him. This government itself is culpable of all acts they committed...Omenka
started the whole thing. He co-supervised our torture. But the main actor in my case was really Zakari Biu. I
say both of them have the same instincts, if we compare them.
Col. Ronald Emokpae [Tell, April 12, 1999:24].

I have called for the arrest and trial immediately at the Abuja High Court the following government officials
for the atrocities committed against Nigeria and Nigerians in the course of the late Gen. Abacha’s
administration: Alhaji Ismaila Gwazo; Brigadier-Gen. Sabo [rtd].., Col. Frank Omenka..There are also Lt. Col.
M. Garuba..and Lt. Ibrahim who was one of the people beating Generals in Jos...For the purpose of true national
reconciliation and genuine peace, these people should be retired and be put on trial.
Chief Yomi Tokoya, a suspected coupist released on July 15, 1998 [The News 7
Sept 1998:19]

..the experience I had when the government decided to send Operation Sweep, a para-military outfit to break
up the farewell reception the human rights groups and pro-democracy activists organised for me, personally was
a vivid demonstration of the dehumanisation Nigerians were going through everyday under the General Abacha
administration. It was very surprising and careless about international protocol, hence they could break a
reception held for an ambassador.
Ambassador Walter Carrington, former US Ambassador to Nigeria [Tell, March 29
1999:25]

[size=20pt]Am still proud to be a NIGERIAN[/size]

In the wee hours of the morning, on Jan 2nd 1994, hundreds of heavily armed soldiers, policemen & SSS agents stormed the academy press in Lagos to seize all copies of Tell magazine that were there. Security agents had earlier raided Tell’s offices. They seized computers & other office equipment and about 50,000 copies of the magazine.


Academy press offices remained shut throughout the day. Newspapers, such as the Punch, that were printed at Academy press were not on the newsstands that day.


However, somehow, Tell magazine appeared on the newsstands (with the same front page headline story that the government was trying to suppress). They even ran an editorial criticising the actions of the government.

Only politician and his/her family can celebrate the day(count down to another election). To ordinary Nigerian, is just a normal day as they don't see any dividend of democrazy or what is it called self..... Democracy.

HAPPY DEMOCRACY DAY.

Ikengawo: I would like to show my appreciation for those that died to make the blessings we have today in Nigeria possible. All the journalists that were killed so that our press can be free. The death of MKO Abiola that showed us once and for all that military dictatorship will NEVER again be an acceptable part of our government. The death on Ken Saro Wiwa that brought light to the suffering of minorities in Nigeria and gave strength to the plight of the suffering voiceless, and a thanks to those whose efforts have made Nigeria's election system fairer and freer. I do acknowledge our system is an immensely imperfect and frustratingly flawed one. I do acknowledge the war is not yet won and I do acknowledge the enemies or our progress are still alive and in power, but I'm not going to pretend that this generation shouldn't be ashamed of the fact that we seem to think saying 'there's no democracy in Nigeria is a fair contribution to a fight for democracy that our predecessors gave their lives for. Their sacrifice has not been in vein. there has been progress and If we can give thanks to and revere their spirit there will be more progress.

We've made more progress then most of our african counter parts and show more promise and will to strike forward than most of the 3rd world.

GBAM!

Nigeria will be beter if we do our part.! United we stand, divided we fall!