By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu on Wednesday branded himself a “die-hard democrat,” urging Nigerian politicians across party lines to embrace true democratic principles and submit to the rule of law—no matter the personal or political cost.
Speaking at an interfaith breakfast hosted for All Progressives Congress (APC) executives, National Working Committee (NWC) members, and the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) at the State House, Tinubu highlighted his decades-long democratic credentials, from detention and exile to co-founding the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
“We are all democrats and we all subscribed to this democracy voluntarily, willingly, and we’ve been at it selflessly in the last 26 years. Some of us have the bruises from it, struggling for it. We went to detention, we protested… We went on exile and all of that. We formed NADECO. We got here,” Tinubu told the gathering.
He framed his commitment as a lifelong philosophy tied to national unity. “I followed the leadership destiny that God has done and chosen for me, there’s no doubt about that. I’m a die-hard democrat, and I follow that belief wholeheartedly, committedly, to a united country; Nigeria. That principle and that philosophy will live and die with me,” he stated.
Addressing IPAC National Chairman Yusuf Dantalle directly, Tinubu insisted party affiliation remains voluntary, even under pressure.
“We are all democrats, voluntarily, party alliances, party ideologies or no ideology, party boat, party platform, in whichever form, it’s voluntary. Be persecuted for it. So no threat from any democrat,” he said.
The remarks come amid backlash over the Electoral Act amendments, which Tinubu signed into law on February 18 following overwhelming National Assembly approval.
Critics from opposition parties and civil society highlight provisions like optional electronic result transmission, new party membership register rules, direct or consensus primaries (abolishing delegate voting), a 21-day pre-primary submission deadline for digital registers, and limits on court interventions in electoral processes.
Tinubu defended the rule of law as democracy’s core. “The Rule of Law must prevail in any democracy. Yes, Rule of Law. Majority will have their say and their way, and minority will have their say and might not have their way. That is the sweetness, the essence of democracy,” he asserted.
He called for intellectual debate over confrontation: “Argue it, debate it intellectually, interrogate each other, honestly and sincerely, but we are committed to the same thing, peace and stability of the country, and we adhere to it.”
On signing the Act, Tinubu addressed IPAC concerns head-on. “That I signed the Electoral Act, I have no choice. I don’t want to throw the country into turmoil of argument… there is an overwhelming majority by the National Assembly that passed the law. If I had serious question or reservation about it, I would have raised it. But I have none, I submitted myself to the principle of Rule of Law, democracy. I signed, the rest is history. We’ll meet at the polls,” he stated flatly.
Recalling his opposition days, he added restraint was key—except against military rule. “I’m a registered voter. I’m on the same platform with you, or not, I’m going to stick to my platform. When it was against me years past, I toed the line.”
Earlier, Dantalle hailed Tinubu as a “listening father and an inclusive president” but flagged Act flaws.
He noted IPAC’s quiet work with INEC to avert 2023 election chaos and appealed for tweaks: easing the 21-day membership register deadline with National Identification Numbers (to avoid disenfranchisement), restoring indirect primaries for smaller parties, and reinstating government subventions for party administration.
“We are not saying give us money to go and spend, no, but prudently what we can use to take care of administration of our political parties. You are a product of multi-party democracy, Your Excellency,” Dantalle pleaded.
He also sought federal help to relocate IPAC from its rented space, citing buried crises to aid governance.
Tinubu closed on a firm yet conciliatory note. “The game is sweet only when you are winning. It’s alright we must accommodate one another, we must help one another. We must strengthen the platform. But democracy is it? Yes, there must be peace, stability and commitment to Rule of Law,” he observed.
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