The Senator made this appeal while receiving an award conferred on him by the Senate Press Corp in Abuja on Friday, and recalled that the media played a frontline role in the campaign against the military regime which eventually culminated in democratic governance in 1999.
He stressed that the media did not just act as a midwife for the nation’s democracy but had worked assiduously with its operators to ensure its growth and development over the years.
He further said that the political class is delighted that the media is active in deepening democratic governance in the country, and while calling for effective collaboration between the political elites and the media, he appealed that democracy must not be abandoned by the politicians alone.
He also observed that the legislature is at the heart of the process of deepening democracy without which there would be no democracy, stressing that “we, the politicians are aware of our duty to collaborate with you at all times because the task of deepening, protecting our democracy can not be left to politicians, the political parties or the citizens of our country alone.
“In this task of deepening our democracy, the legislature is at the heart of the nation’s democracy because without the legislature, we don’t have a democracy anymore, and we appreciate all Senators, and indeed all of us who are operatives of our nation’s Democracy, the role, that the Nigerian media continues to play, previously, now and in the feature.
“We are aware of our duty to collaborate with you at all times, because the task of deepening, and protecting our democracy can not be left to politicians, the political parties, and even the citizens of our country alone, without the participation of the Nigerian media, and we are delighted that the Nigeria media has been very active in this regards.
“The media fought in the days of the military, played a key role, a leading role in ushering in our nation’s Democracy, and we are also grateful that they did not just act as the midwife of our nation’s Democracy but did n9t abandon the fledgling baby of our nation’s Democracy to its operatives.
“The media has behaved as dutiful nurses working with all other operators to nurture and deepen our Democracy. And we appreciate the work that the Nigerian media has been doing and will continue to do. And we encourage you to fulfil your constitutional responsibility of informing and educating the Nigeria People, but also upholding elected leaders to account, that you have been doing.”