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The National Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriake Dickson, is set to host an epochal homecoming reunion of surviving members and leading figures of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) as part of efforts to revive ideological politics and deepen the conversation on Nigeria’s democratic future.
The gathering, themed “Reclaiming Our Moral Mandate: A National Democratic Conversation for a Reborn Polity,” is expected to bring together former members of the AD’s National Executive Committee and National Working Committee, as well as prominent democrats, intellectuals and political actors from across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
According to a circular issued on Friday by Dr. Manzo Abubakar, former AD Senatorial Candidate and Leader of the Northern Caucus of the Alliance for Democracy, the event is being organised under the aegis of the NDC in what the organisers described as an “epochal homecoming” of the old guard.
The organisers said the gathering was not intended as an exercise in nostalgia but as a deliberate effort to reconnect contemporary democratic politics with the principles and values that shaped the pro-democracy movement.
They argued that the Alliance for Democracy, which emerged as one of the major political platforms associated with Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, represents an important part of the country’s democratic history and retains lessons that could contribute to addressing the challenges confronting the present political system.
The organisers said the convocation would provide an opportunity for participants to examine the state of Nigeria’s democracy, reflect on the erosion of political ideology and develop strategic approaches capable of producing more credible, people-centred and electorally sustainable outcomes.
Chief Michael Odurinde, Senior Special Adviser to the late Pa Ayo Adebanjo, described as a seniormost Afenifere chieftain and founding father of the Alliance for Democracy, is expected to serve as Father of the Day.
The Chief Host is Senator Seriake Dickson, National Leader of the National Democratic Congress.
Among those expected at the gathering are Ambassador Mamman Yusuf, Comrade Usman Adamu Song and Professor Udenta Udenta, identified by the organisers as the first National Secretary of the Alliance for Democracy.
Other prominent former AD members, intellectuals, political figures and patriots from across the six geopolitical zones are also expected to participate in the convocation.
The organisers said the gathering would serve as a National Democratic Conversation aimed at positively influencing the quality and direction of sociopolitical discourse in the country.
They said participants would interrogate the current democratic dispensation while drawing from the experiences of the past to develop practical ideas for strengthening Nigeria’s democratic institutions and political processes.
The organisers emphasised the need to combine the experience of the old guard with the aspirations of a new generation of democrats.
“We come to harmonise experience with vision, memory with mandate and legacy with responsibility,” the statement said.
The convocation is also expected to provide a platform for participants to move beyond criticism of the current political order and explore constructive pathways towards national renewal.
“Let this be the moment we move from commentary to construction, from lamentation to leadership,” the organisers declared.
The NDC and the convening committee called on stakeholders, former comrades in the democratic struggle and Nigerians committed to democratic values to participate in what they described as an important national conversation.
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