Former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, said on Friday that there was no democracy to be celebrated on the occasion of the country’s 2020 Democracy Day.

Fayose said that genuine democratic governance would only return to Nigeria after the exit of the president, Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), from office.

The former governor, in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, on the June 12 Democracy Day celebration, said, “Today,  there is no democracy to celebrate and I have not stopped wondering how we got here in Nigeria”.

The People’s Democratic Party chieftain said, “It was painful that the “legacy of free, fair and transparent elections bequeathed to Nigeria by the PDP government has been destroyed with elections in the country now being held at gunpoint.”

He decried the alleged “open display of contempt for free, fair and transparent election” by the All Progressives Congress government, saying, “Peace and prosperity can only be achieved when leaders earn legitimacy through the ballot”.

He said, “Democracy will return to Nigeria again after President Buhari’s tenure. I am sure Nigerians will still recall that I warned them in 2015.

“The people mourn when the wicked are in authority while they rejoice when the righteous are in leadership. Today, Nigerians are mourning.

“Nevertheless, we must all keep hope alive because, after darkness, there will definitely be light.”

count | 3

June 12: Democracy to return after Buhari’s tenure – Fayose