For The Record

Fellow Nigerians Today, we celebrate democracy and the enduring Nigerian spirit. For 27 unbroken years, since May 29, 1999, Nigerians have chosen their leaders through the ballot, witnessed peaceful transitions of power, and resolved disagreements in courtrooms and legislative chambers—not through violence. We have experienced the longest stretch of civilian rule in our history. Our democracy is not perfect, but it is ours, and we must continue to defend and strengthen it. In the coming days, Ekiti and Osun States will hold elections. I urge INEC, security agencies, and all parties to ensure these polls are peaceful and credible. Democracy…

PROTOCOLS On behalf of the Management, staff, cadets and students, I am very delighted to specially welcome the Representative of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, His Excellency Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola CON, the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Engr. Kehinde Akinola, and all the Council members, the Director General of the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Ifeanyi Okeke, and the other staff of the SON, and all other invited guests and gentlemen of the media to the Academy for the official presentation of Integrated Management System (IMS) certificate to the Maritime…

Following the deleting of the names of Sen. David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, of main opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from its portal, citing court disputes, the party's leadership met today in Abuja and reacted. Below, Sen. Mark’s full speech titled 'THIS ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY WILL NOT STAND': “On behalf of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and lovers of democracy, I welcome you all to this world press conference. “Since 1999, Nigeria has been under democratic rule. After 27 years, we thought we could proudly celebrate the…

Today, we gather joyously as a congregation of victorious men and women whose badge of honour remains the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party. Standing firmly with the umbrella, we overcame a tragic crisis of leadership, so huge that it threatened to destroy our beautiful party; together we fought against proponents of ethnic and geographic divisions; we trounced the naysayers who abandoned the core values upon which the party was built and in the process, arrested the party from the vice grip of those who abhor internal democracy and shun adherence to the rule of law. More importantly, we fought…