As the world celebrates another International Men’s Day (IMD), which thoughtfully highlights health issues, leadership and modelling roles, sacrifices, and other multi-layered responsibilities of men, including respect for women, President Muhammadu Buhari has warmly congratulated men, particularly in Nigeria.
Given their visible positions in families, governments, communities, and leadership in religious, traditional, and political institutions, men play a crucial role in ensuring a safe, peaceful, and progressive environment, the President reaffirmed in a statement released by his media assistant, Femi Adesina.
The President specifically urged men to be guided in protecting and promoting democracy in Nigeria by ensuring full participation in the upcoming elections in 2023, adhering to the rules of the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and investigating legal remedies. He did this while acknowledging the strong, influential, and significant position that women have played in building the nation over the years, as evidenced by their rising profiles.
President Buhari urged men to lead by example in safeguarding and protecting national assets and to abstain from acts of violence, such as targeting the offices and stores of the electoral body, which only raises the cost of governance and portrays the nation as unstable. This year’s IMD theme is “Men Leading By Example.”
President Buhari believed every citizen’s voice and vote matters in the choice of Nigeria’s leadership and governance, urging men in the country to provide the needed example of decency and decorum and mobilize for the greater good of nation-building.
The President commended the Local Organising Committee of the IMD for setting an agenda for the 2023 elections and remaining faithful in sensitising men to be more patriotic, responsive and inclusive in decision-making, at home and in the public.
