In his first address to Nigerians on the occasion of the 2023 Democracy Day, on Monday June 12, President Bola Tinubu said the “intensely contested” 2023 general elections showed that democracy is “well and alive” in Nigeria.

Democracy Day is celebrated yearly on June 12 in honour of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola and other heroes of democracy.

Addressing Nigerians on Monday, Nigeria’s newly inaugurated President said the heroes of democracy paid the supreme price for the gains enjoyed in the country currently.

Tinubu said the 2023 general elections showed that democracy is well alive in Nigeria.

According to him, the beauty of democracy is that winners today can lose tomorrow and losers today can later win elections.

The President said, “This year, we held the seventh in the cycle of elections that have become sacred rituals of our democratic practice in this dispensation since 1999.

“That the polls were intensely contested is in itself positive evidence that democracy is well and alive in our land. It is only natural that even as those who won and experienced victory in the various elections are elated and fulfilled, those who lost are disenchanted and disappointed. But the beauty of democracy is that those who win today can lose tomorrow and those who lose today will have an opportunity to compete and win in the next round of elections.

“Those who cannot endure and accept the pain of defeat in elections do not deserve the joy of victory when it is their turn to triumph. Above all, those who disagree with the outcome of the elections are taking full advantage of the constitutional provisions to seek redress in court and that is one of the reasons why democracy is still the best form of government invented by man.”

Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) came out tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Atiku, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.

Both Atiku and Obi are challenging Tinubu’s victory in court, alleging electoral fraud.