By Jude Opara
Top members of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) will on Saturday reconvene under the aegis of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to deliberate on the future of Nigeria’s democracy.
The event, themed “Reclaiming Our Moral Mandate: A National Democratic Conversation for a Reborn Polity,” will bring together some of the founding members of the AD.
Apart from the National Leader of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), Sen. Seriake Dickson, who is the chief host, other notable guests expected at the gathering include Chief Odurinde, Senior Special Adviser to the late Pa Ayo Adebanjo, who will also serve as the father of the day; the first National Secretary of the AD, Prof. Udenta Udenta; Amb. Mamman Yusuf; Comrade Usman Adamu Song; and members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the defunct party.
In a statement issued on Friday on behalf of the convening committee, former senatorial candidate and leader of the National Caucus of the AD, Dr Manzo Abubakar, said the gathering was essentially a political meeting aimed at reclaiming the values of the AD and what the party stood for.
“This convocation is neither nostalgia nor pageantry. It is a deliberate act of political reclamation. It proceeds from the conviction that the Alliance for Democracy, as the apotheosis of the pro-democracy struggle of the Fourth Republic, retains an unextinguished moral guardianship over the Nigerian project.
“In an age of transactional politics and eroded ideology, we must return to first principles and chart a credible, electorally resourceful pathway for the nation.”
According to the statement, the objectives of the convocation include interrogating the present democratic dispensation and seizing the moment to proffer solutions to the litany of political challenges facing the nation.
It added:
“This gathering shall constitute a National Democratic Conversation. Its objective is to positively impact the tenor of sociopolitical discourse, interrogate the present democratic dispensation, and seize the historic moment to proffer strategic direction towards credible, people-centred and electorally sustainable outcomes.
“We come to harmonise experience with vision, memory with mandate, and legacy with responsibility. Let this be the moment we move from commentary to construction, from lamentation to leadership.”
The statement further said that all stakeholders, comrades of the struggle and democrats of good conscience are cordially invited to the gathering.
It added that other leading lights, intellectuals and patriots from across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones are also expected to attend.
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