President Bola Tinubu will address the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday to mark 25 years of unbroken democracy and legislature in Nigeria.
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Sani Tambawal, announced this on Monday in a statement. Tambawal also said the president would commission the newly built library complex in the National Assembly.
“This is to inform Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members that, as part of the event to commemorate 25 years of unbroken democracy and the Legislature in Nigeria, there will be a joint sitting of both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, will address the joint sitting on the State of the Nation and also commission the National Assembly Library. Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members are expected to be seated by 9 a.m.”
Over the years, the address of the joint session of the National Assembly has been reduced to just the annual budget presentation.
However, the 25 years of interrupted democracy seem to have presented a milestone for celebration.
Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 with the swearing-in of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. This current republic is the longest since independence in 1960, as it has existed without military incursion.
Tinubu, a member of the short-lived Third National Assembly, was one of the victims of the military incursion on November 17, 1993, when the Sani Abacha junta dissolved the legislature.
Similarly, a statement by Bayo Onanuga, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not give a broadcast to the nation on Wednesday to celebrate his first anniversary as the leader of Nigeria.
