Posted by By LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja on
Vice President Atiku Abubakar returned to Abuja from the United States to a tumultuous welcome by his teeming supporters, political associates and admirers on Sunday and declared that the struggle had just begun.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar returned to Abuja from the United States to a tumultuous welcome by his teeming supporters, political associates and admirers on Sunday and declared that the struggle had just begun.
Apparently overwhelmed by the size of crowd that welcomed him home, Atiku, whose chartered private aircraft touched down at the presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at 3.43 pm, beamed with smile, waving to the few aides and friends allowed into the presidential wing of the airport.
After the airport reception, the vice president declined to ride in the official vehicle provided him by the authorities and instead rode in a private car driven by one of his drivers and headed straight for his official residence accompanied by an intimidating crowd ever seen in recent times.
At the airport junction, where hundreds of his supporters and associates waited to welcome him, the vice president stopped to acknowledge their cheers and waved at them. At his residence, where another huge crowd waited, he emphasized the need for a change in the country's polity.
Expressing immense gratitude to his supporters for standing by him even in the face of threats and intimidation, he urged them not to rest, but to continue to fight for the survival of democracy.
To ensure the survival of democracy, the vice president told them to be prepared to effect the necessary change in the country's polity as it was the only way to secure the hard earned system. He said that what was in place in the country was anything but democracy and asked Nigerians, particularly lovers of democracy to brace up for a change in the polity.
He said: 'Imagine in a country that is supposed to be free democratically and where all state governments have autonomy, but they are being ordered, like soldiers, not to belong, not to associate and all that.
'We need true democracy and true democracy we must have because it is our right given to us by God, by the constitution and even by ourselves."
Atiku promised to address the issue of protection and sustenance of democracy, while thanking Nigerians for the solidarity and encouragement.