Nigeria’s democracy risks losing the very values that gave birth to it, National Leader and founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriake Dickson, has warned, urging the country to reclaim the political ideals, discipline and sense of public duty that shaped the early years of the Fourth Republic.
Dickson spoke in Abuja at a reunion of former Alliance for Democracy (AD) leaders and associates, a gathering that brought together veterans of the political movement to reflect on their role in Nigeria’s democratic journey and the direction of the country’s politics.
For Dickson, the gathering was not an exercise in nostalgia. It was a reckoning with what has happened to a political culture in which men and women with little money could challenge powerful establishments because they had something they considered more valuable—ideas and conviction.
He recalled that the AD was built at a time when political mobilisation depended largely on ideology, sacrifice and personal commitment rather than the enormous financial resources now associated with electoral politics.
“At that time, nobody had money to give to anybody. Money was not the most important currency of politics at that time. What was important then was ideals, values and commitment.”
Dickson said the electoral victories recorded by the AD demonstrated that political power did not always belong to those with the deepest pockets or control of state resources.
“We had our Alliance for Democracy. We were winning elections—six states. The people who had money, those who controlled the establishment, the resources and the power, could not stop us.”
The NDC founder drew from his own experience as a young politician in Bayelsa, where he said he confronted established political interests with little financial backing.
“How could I, a young, loyal, idealistic ideologue and activist, lead a party against a big establishment politician in Bayelsa and yet become a senator and produce three members of the House of Assembly?”
Then came his answer:
“None of these people had money.”
When politicians financed politics with personal sacrifice
Dickson recalled how party members routinely committed their personal resources to sustain the political movement.
He said he once used his personal chequebook to pay electoral deposits for candidates who could not afford them.
“I took my chequebook. I took my cheque and paid the deposit to INEC. Yes, I gave them the deposit and cheque.”
But the sacrifice, he said, was never about personal reward.
“The candidates didn’t have money. They didn’t even know about it. But our joy was in building a country and winning for our people.”
He also recalled receiving ₦60,000 from South-West leaders to support his political activities during the formative years of the AD, describing the gesture as an example of how members of the old movement supported one another despite their limited means.
The contrast with contemporary politics, he suggested, is profound.
‘The people benefiting today did not pay the price’
Dickson lamented what he described as the fading memory of the sacrifices made by the generation that fought for Nigeria’s return to democratic rule.
“Very often, when the story of Nigeria’s return to democracy and this dispensation is told, the little sacrifices that we made are conveniently left out.”
He said many of those now occupying positions of authority are beneficiaries of a struggle in which they did not participate.
“A number of people in positions of authority today are beneficiaries of the hard work and sacrifice that we all made. A number of them didn’t pay any price. You did. All of you were there.”
Some, he recalled, paid an even greater price.
“Our leaders and others who have gone to be with the Lord, indeed, some had to pay with their lives.”
“They didn’t have money, but they had their vision and their values. They paid for it. They started it.”
The former Bayelsa governor also challenged a political culture in which politicians, he said, increasingly find it difficult to operate outside the party controlling government.
For Dickson, political independence is fundamental to democratic practice.
“If we support what you do, we say we are supporting you. If we disagree with what you do as politicians, we speak against you. We organise against you.”
“That is the calling of a politician.”
He said the AD generation was driven by ideas such as true federalism, constitutional democracy, restructuring, equitable allocation of resources and environmental justice.
Those ideas, he argued, were not political slogans but principles that attracted a generation of activists and professionals into partisan politics.
Dickson said his present political engagement through the NDC was partly informed by lessons learnt during his years in the AD.
“I am learning from you all the art of selfless service, the art of sticking to values, principles and ideals, and working to build teams.”
“And that’s exactly the same way we started the NDC.”
He described the reunion as the beginning of a wider attempt to reconnect the surviving members of the old political movement and draw on their collective experience.
“Today, we are taking the very first step of reconnecting ourselves.”
According to him, several former colleagues who were unable to attend had already called for another gathering that would accommodate more members of the old political network.
“They are requesting that we have another meeting in the not-too-distant future so that more and more people can come.”
The event, convened under the aegis of the NDC, was themed “Reclaiming Our Moral Mandate: A National Democratic Conversation for a Reborn Polity.”
Participants observed a minute’s silence for deceased AD leaders and founding figures who contributed to Nigeria’s democratic transition, while tributes were paid to Professor Udenta Udenta, the party’s first National Secretary, and other members of the old political establishment.
Dickson said the surviving members of that generation still had a responsibility to preserve their history and transmit its lessons.
“We are here to share old memories, to recount our experiences and to remind ourselves of the journey we have taken so far.”
He maintained that ideological commitment should outlive political parties and changing circumstances.
“True ideologies don’t separate. Time and circumstances can, but we find time to reconnect.”
The message from the reunion was unmistakable: for Dickson and the political veterans gathered in Abuja, Nigeria’s democratic crisis is not merely about who wins elections or occupies political offices. It is about whether politics can once again become a contest of ideas, values and service rather than a marketplace for power.