PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu will address the nation at 7 am on Thursday as part of activities to mark the 2025 Democracy Day celebration.
Tinubu will also attend a joint session of the National Assembly at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Democracy Day said this in a statement on Wednesday.
Abdulhakeem Adeoye, who issued the statement on behalf of the committee’s Director, Information & Public Relations, said Tinubu will, after his address, attend a joint session of the National Assembly at noon.
However, Adeoye said there will be no Democracy Day parade. Later in the day, there will be a “Public lecture on Democracy Day celebration at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. Time: 4 pm,” the statement read.
The theme of the lecture is “Consolidating on the Gains of Nigeria’s Democracy: Necessity of Enduring Reforms”.
This year’s Democracy Day event marks Nigeria’s 26 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria following the end of military rule in 1999.
Previously celebrated on May 29, the swearing-in day for the president, governors, National Assembly members, and state lawmakers, the Democracy Day event was moved to June 12 in 2018 to honour the annulled 1993 presidential election won by MKO Abiola and considered one of Nigeria’s most credible polls.
The 2025 Democracy Day celebration will be the third since President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, after winning a highly contested poll earlier that year.
Despite 26 years of unhindered democracy in Nigeria, critics are questioning the country’s democratic values.
A publisher and chieftain of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu, is one such person.
Speaking on Wednesday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Momodu warned that the country is sliding into civilian dictatorship.
“I’m very happy that today coincides with the lead-up to June 12 (Democracy Day), so that if we still have any iota of conscience left, we’ll realise we have damaged this democracy,” he said.
“The summary of it all is that on the eve of June 12, Nigeria is virtually back to civilian dictators who don’t care how you feel or what you think. Nigerians are hungry.
“We’ve damaged this democracy, and I hope we’ve not damaged it beyond repair because the audacity, the effrontery of this set of politicians—whether in the executive, legislature, or local government—is totally unbelievable.”