Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the February 25 general election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has advised political officeholders to serve the people of Nigeria.
In his 2023 Democracy Day Speech, Adebayo said the government is not a place for the personalization of public assets. He said that government is not a place for revenge, personal reward, egoism and aggrandizement.
According to him, public office is more a place of service and humility. He said, “It is a place of servanthood on behalf of the rest of the citizens who cannot converge at the state house or converge at the National Assembly or judge every case in the judiciary.
“Every position in public service is a trust, a delegation and an attempt to do through few of us what majority of us desire.
“Therefore, on this day, I plead with the media to educate the public to understand democracy imperfect as it may be, it is the fairest and surest way by which the minority can have their say and a majority can have their way.
“And that the position of the majority and the minority would not be static, it will change from election to election. But the direction the country should be travelling is the direction we can say that we have unity, faith, peace and progress.”
Adebayo warned those in public office to be mindful of the fragility of the nation. “Today, on the 30th anniversary of June 12, many heroes have passed away including MKO Abiola, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Solomon Lar and many of the players are still around.
“We have learnt many lessons. There are citizen lessons. There are political parties lessons. There are civil society lessons. There are institutional lessons for the military and there is the lesson for the government of the day.
“Luckily, it is another opportunity to congratulate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was a key player as a Senator of the Social Democratic Party in 1993. So, no one can say that he did not know the travails of people looking for democracy.
“No one can say he does not know the fragility of democracy. No one can say that we do not have a documentary in recent history on how a people can come together and canonize democracy and a small group can come together and vandalize democracy.
“And the whole society can come together including ladies and gentlemen of the fourth estate of the realm to enforce and restore democracy and the role our military played in destroying that election and also in returning us to civil rule.
“All these bring the question of why do we have this republic. We have this republic so that we can determine our own destiny. We can come together and form a government that is meant to implement the provisions of our constitution especially chapter two of our constitution.
“Therefore, the rituals of election will come and go, what is important is whether are we making progress and the only way we can make progress is if the electorate gets enlightened and realise that the assumption that you have the right to vote is an assumption that you are a good citizen.
“And that you will study the issues and be motivated by the progress and desire for the development of your community.
“Therefore, vices like selling your votes and voting according to religious and tribal sentiments and all other distractions other than an attempt to give to ourselves a more perfect government, union and life. That is what the citizens should reflect upon election year after election year,” he said.
