At a time when the Office of the Citizen has become the highest office in the land, Nigerians cannot afford to go back to those dark years of stifled voices and limited liberties.

Eighteen years of uninterrupted democracy has given every citizen of this country a power that nothing should take away, not even a military regime that promises heaven on earth.

You see, when a man without honour makes a promise, he won’t fulfil it. His word, like they say, is not his bond. When members of the armed forces take over governance, and get to experience uninhibited power, they lose their honour. Once honour is lost, all their promises of change goes down the drain.

In our nascent democracy, one thing we have learnt to do is to hold our leaders to their words. Citizens and civil societies are asking hard questions and getting answers. When they are not answered, they ask again.

That is the beauty of democracy; the “again and againness” of it, the freedom it gives us to try again. When our leaders don’t answer us, we ask again; they don’t listen to us, we talk again; they are not doing what we want, we vote again. It is about us. No matter how they try, it can never be about them. It’s a different case in a military regime.

Therefore, we must not forget that we fought hard to get here. On our way here, patriots like M.K.O. Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Dele Giwa, Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni eight lost their lives to the fight. Patriots like you and I got us this far. So let us guard what we now have jealously, for we have become too free to be stifled once again.

Ayomide Ekerin