As Nigerians prepare to commemorate another Democracy Day on June 12, we do so under the darkening shadow of a systematic assault on the democratic space by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led APC administration.
What ought to be a celebration of freedom, popular sovereignty, and constitutional governance has instead become an occasion for sober reflection on the steady dismantling of the very ideals that inspired our struggle against military dictatorship.
Over the past three years, Nigerians have witnessed a deliberate and coordinated effort to weaken, fragment, and neutralise opposition political parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. Through manufactured leadership crises, orchestrated defections, political intimidation, and the abuse of state institutions, every credible opposition platform has come under sustained attack.
Institutions that ought to serve the Nigerian people impartially have increasingly been transformed into instruments of partisan warfare. Financial crimes agencies, the police, the National Assembly, and even segments of the judiciary have been deployed to harass, intimidate, and coerce opposition voices into submission or defection. The Electoral Act 2026 has further entrenched provisions that disproportionately favour the ruling party, while freedom of speech, freedom of association, and media independence have come under relentless assault.
These actions strike at the very heart of democracy and stand in direct contradiction to the spirit, sacrifice, and legacy of June 12.
I speak not as a distant observer but as one who paid a personal price in the struggle to enthrone democratic governance in our country. I resisted every attempt to be co-opted into military rule. Alongside other patriots, I stood firmly against dictatorship and paid dearly for that conviction. My businesses were confiscated. An assassination attempt was launched against me and my family in Kaduna. Several police officers lost their lives in that attack, and I was forced into exile.
In the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election—the foundation upon which this Democracy Day rests—I stepped aside for the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola to emerge as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party and the eventual winner of that epochal election.
The democracy we enjoy today was not gifted to us by benevolent rulers. It was won through sacrifice, courage, resistance, and blood. Politicians, pro-democracy activists, patriotic military officers, labour leaders, civil society organisations, students, journalists, and ordinary Nigerians united to confront military tyranny. Many paid the ultimate price. Chief MKO Abiola and Kudirat Abiola laid down their lives. So did Pa Alfred Rewane, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, scores of journalists, students, activists, and countless unnamed heroes whose sacrifices paved the way for the democratic order we now risk taking for granted.
Today, twenty-seven years after the military returned to the barracks, Nigeria finds itself confronted by a different but equally dangerous threat: the emergence of an increasingly authoritarian civilian order. Unlike military dictatorship, which ruled by decrees and brute force, this new authoritarianism seeks legitimacy through institutions it has steadily captured and weakened. Its methods may be more sophisticated, but its objective is the same: the concentration of power, the silencing of dissent, and the subversion of the will of the people.
The warning signs are everywhere.
A shrinking civic space. A compromised electoral environment. The intimidation of opposition figures. The weaponisation of poverty. The weakening of democratic institutions. The growing perception that the ruling party is more interested in retaining power at all costs than in governing for the benefit of Nigerians.
This is why June 12 must remain more than a public holiday. It must remain a living reminder that democracy is never permanently won; it must be continually defended.
Once again, Nigerians are called upon to stand up in defence of the Republic. The hard-won gains of democratic rule are being steadily eroded, and there is a growing and legitimate concern that the Tinubu administration is determined either to manipulate the outcome of the 2027 elections or undermine the democratic process itself if it cannot secure victory through the ballot.
I remain committed to working with all Nigerians of goodwill—across political parties, civil society organisations, labour unions, professional bodies, youth groups, and the broader public—to resist these authoritarian tendencies and defend our constitutional democracy.
The task before us transcends partisan politics. It is a national duty.
We must ensure that the sacrifices of June 12 were not in vain. We cannot celebrate the defeat of military dictatorship while tolerating the rise of civilian autocracy. We cannot honour the heroes of democracy while remaining silent as democratic institutions are weakened and captured.
For June 12 to retain its meaning, we must once again summon the courage of those who marched, protested, resisted, suffered, and sacrificed for freedom. We must stand up against bad governance, reject the politics of intimidation, and resist every manifestation of democratic backsliding.
The struggle continues.
And just as we marched before, we must be prepared to march again.
Signed:
Atiku Abubakar
Presidential Candidate, African Democratic Congress and Vice President of Nigeria, 1999–2007
Abuja
11 June 2026.
