Army reaffirms support for democracy

Yekini Jumoh, Ilorin - 24.03.2008

THE Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Luka Yusuf, has assured Nigerians that the Army will uphold demo-cracy in spite of some failures recorded in some quarters, adding that democracy was the best if the country must develop.

Speaking at Omu-Aran, headquarters of Irepodun Local Govenment Area of Kwara State, on the occasion of Omu-Aran Day and the launch of a N1 billion development fund at the weekend, General Yusuf said democracy made it possible for the voice of the voiceless to be heard and for the down-trodden to be uplifted.

“On behalf of my constituency, the Nigerian Army, I want to pledge that we are not just partakers in democracy, but pillars of democracy,” he said. He said that though politicians might be having public wrangling and misunderstanding in Abuja and elsewhere, the army still believed in democracy and would uphold it.

He advised elected politicians in the country, especially state governors, to see themselves as governors of all their people and not for mem-bers of their political parties alone.

Yusuf commended the people of Omu-Aran for their spirit of self develop-ment and industry, urging them to keep the spirit.

Some personalities at the occasion were the governors of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke and Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, among others.