From Ibrahim Shuaibu in Dutse and Gboyega Akinsanmi in Lagos, 05.30.2010
Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has described former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as a symbol of democracy in Nigeria.
Lamido said this yesterday in Dutse when the former Vice-President visited him as part of this year’s Democracy Day celebration.
He said "The main symbol of democracy is today in our midst. And that symbol is the former Vice president to Obasanjo at the dawn of democracy in 1999".
Lamido said Atiku single-handedly restored Nigeria's battered democratic image by his steadfastness and struggle to the enthronement of the system in the country.
"We are all aware of his efforts in which he restored Nigeria's soiled democracy," said Governor Lamido, pointing out that with the likes of Atiku, democracy will continue to thrive.”


Reacting to the accolades, Atiku said the missing link in the contemporary Nigeria is the inconsistent electoral system, bad leadership and utter neglect of the educational sector by successive governments.
Atiku spoke at a round table discussion organised by the Jigawa State government to mark this year’s democracy Day celebration with the theme : “The contemporary Nigeria: where is the missing links” .
According to him, the missing link in the country is bad leadership and values. He insisted that the electorate and politicians must ensure credible elections in 2011, which according to him, is the only solution to sustain our democracy.
Former Minister of Information during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Professor Jerry Gana also called on Nigerians to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2011 to correct the past mistakes.


Gana said that: “The two missing links in our democratic system is the level of leadership and values. We are people who have lost our values; we have plenty of religious people but no righteousness, plenty of piety but no holiness, plenty of education but no character, plenty of leadership but no vision.”
He also observed that the military regimes changed the mode of leadership in Nigeria when it introduced their hierarchical nature of leadership which is now being adopted by politicians.
Meanwhile former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 general election, Alhaji Bashir Tofa yesterday said successive administrations since the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999 only succeeded in entrenching culture of corruption.

mbulela:

From Ibrahim Shuaibu in Dutse and Gboyega Akinsanmi in Lagos, 05.30.2010
Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has described former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as a symbol of democracy in Nigeria.
Lamido said this yesterday in Dutse when the former Vice-President visited him as part of this year’s Democracy Day celebration.
He said "The main symbol of democracy is today in our midst. And that symbol is the former Vice president to Obasanjo at the dawn of democracy in 1999".
Lamido said Atiku single-handedly restored Nigeria's battered democratic image by his steadfastness and struggle to the enthronement of the system in the country.
"We are all aware of his efforts in which he restored Nigeria's soiled democracy," said Governor Lamido, pointing out that with the likes of Atiku, democracy will continue to thrive.”


Reacting to the accolades, Atiku said the missing link in the contemporary Nigeria is the inconsistent electoral system, bad leadership and utter neglect of the educational sector by successive governments.

Sycophancy at its best !!!