Democracy is in distress — Esther Okereke speaks truth on June 12

Presidential candidate of the National Rescue Movement, Esther Okereke, has dropped a powerful statement on Democracy Day that Nigerians need to hear. She said June 12 should not just be a date on the calendar, and that the heroes like MKO Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, China Ubani, Gani Fawehinmi, and Beko Ransom-Kuti did not die for rhetoric. They died for a Nigeria where children learn without fear and mothers heal without begging.

Okereke said, and I quote: “Democracy is in distress. The court you seek for justice may sometimes fail to deliver it. The vote you cast in hope may sometimes vanish along the way. The market where a mother sells garri sees her profits consumed by inflation before the day ends.” She also said 100 million Nigerians living in poverty is not a statistic — it is our neighbor, it is you and me. She told the youth not to flee Nigeria but to flee from fear, that their skills in coding and music are the new oil. She called on the diaspora to return home in partnership, not pity.

Now here is the question nobody wants to answer. If democracy is truly in distress, why are we still pretending that voting every four years is enough? Be honest — are we ready to make the sacrifice she is asking for, or are we just going to keep arguing on social media while the system eats us alive?