Tinubu Cancels June 12 Presidential Broadcast, To Address Nigerians At NASS

President Bola Tinubu's June 12 Presidential National Broadcast, which was originally planned for 7 a.m. in observance of Democracy Day, has been canceled.

Segun Imohiosen, the Director of Information and Public Relations, made this announcement on Wednesday.


The statement claims that this is because the President is expected to attend Thursday's joint session of the National Assembly.



However, it is anticipated that Tinubu will speak at the National Assembly.


“Due to H.E President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, scheduled attendance at the National Assembly Joint Session, the Presidential National Broadcast on June 12 has been cancelled.

“President Bola Ahmed will deliver his address from the National Assembly. All other plans are in order as announced earlier,” the statement read in part.

The President had been scheduled to address the nation at 7 am on Thursday as part of activities to mark the celebration before attending a joint session of the National Assembly at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Democracy Day, in a statement issued by Abdulhakeem Adeoye on behalf of the committee’s Director, Information and Public Relations, on Wednesday, said Tinubu would, after his address, attend a joint session of the National Assembly at noon.

Adeoye also said there would be no Democracy Day parade while a public lecture on the Democracy Day celebration would be held at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, at 4 pm.

The theme of the lecture is “Consolidating on the Gains of Nigeria’s Democracy: Necessity of Enduring Reforms”.

Following the end of military government in 1999, Nigeria has enjoyed 26 years of continuous democracy, which is commemorated this year on Democracy Day.

In order to commemorate the annulled 1993 presidential election, which was won by MKO Abiola and is regarded as one of Nigeria's most credible polls, former President Muhammadu Buhari shifted the celebration of Democracy Day from May 29, the day the President, governors, members of the National Assembly, and state lawmakers were sworn in, to June 12 in 2018.

Since President Tinubu took office in 2023 following his victory in a fiercely contested presidential election earlier that year, 2025 will mark the third commemoration of Democracy Day.

But even though Nigeria has enjoyed unimpeded democracy for more than 20 years, some are beginning to doubt the nation's democratic principles.

Speaking on the Wednesday edition of Channels Television's The Morning Brief, Dele Momodu, a leader of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), cautioned that the nation was on the verge of becoming a civilian dictatorship.

"I am glad that today falls on the eve of June 12 (Democracy Day), because if we have any remaining conscience, we will realize that we have harmed this democracy," Momodu stated.