In order to immortalise the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, Ekiti and Osun state governments on Saturday, set the date aside as public holiday.
Chief Press Secretary to the Ekiti State governor, Yinka Oyebode, said the holiday was in line with the decision of the state to accord June 12 election its rightful place in the political development history of the country.
He said the seed that germinated into the current democratic dispensation in the country was sown and watered by the annulled June 12 presidential election.
Similarly, the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Sunday Akere, said Abiola should be accorded presidential honour.
He said they are declaring June 12 as public holiday in Osun because of the immense contributions the late philanthropist, businessman, sports promoter, politician made to our democracy.
Abiola factor and June 12 politics
By Tuesday this week, it would be 19 years since the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by the then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.
As at the time Babangida annulled the election, which, since then has been described as the freest and fairest in the history of the country, the results confirmed that the presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, convincingly won the election.
As would be expected, his teeming supporters from across the country could not be intimidated even by the armoured cars that were rolled out as the masses protested the decision and trooped to the streets, demanding the declaration of Abiola as the duly elected president. The military government was not cowed either.
What followed was pandemonium that claimed many lives across the country, especially from the south-west geo-political zone.
As fate would have it, both Abiola and General Sani Abacha, the military Head of State, who held him in detention after the exit of Babangida, suddenly died in very mysterious circumstances.
First to go was Abacha. At his demise, Abiola’s supporters thought it was only a matter of time before Abiola would walk out of detention, a free man and his mandate handed over to him.
That was not to be for his mysterious death in detention was soon announced to a shocked nation.
Since then, his supporters have continued to remember him as a democracy martyr. They have therefore been calling on the federal government to bequeath on him a well deserved honour and recognition as Nigeria’s hero of democracy.
Abiola and the politics of honour
The call to honour the late MKO Abiola is a major demand that has fueled the politics of June 12, which in Nigeria can be described as the most sustained political battle in recent times.
During the eight years of the civilian government of Olusegun Obasanjo, June 12 advocates thought Obasanjo would acknowledge Abiola’s election and should have gone ahead to honour him by at least recognising him as a former president.
Their expectation, according to Comrade Segun Akin, was predicated first on the fact that the Obasanjo’s government was the first after the military annulled the June 12 election and the fact that Obasanjo was from the same South-West zone as Abiola and is believed to have emerged civilian president at that time partly because of Abiola’s ultimate sacrifice.
Since this was not done until 19 years after, there has been mixed reactions since President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan decided to honour Abiola, by renaming the University of Lagos after him.
The controversies that have trailed the renaming of the University of Lagos confirmed Abiola’s political relevance up till date.
While all agreed that the task of honouring Abiola is of prime importance, most June 12 advocates said naming of the University of Lagos after Abiola was neither appropriate nor legitimately done.
Some are insisting that he deserves an honour that will clearly show that he was a national hero, not a regional champion.
But some others have acknowledged the wisdom in honouring the acclaimed winner of June 12 presidential election.
June 12 and other elections:
Nineteen years have passed but the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was highly commended by the international community, has been described as a model and the freest in the history of Nigeria.
Till date, that election, supervised by Professor Humphrey Nwosu-led electoral body, has remained the reference point for other elections in the country. Its Option A 4 strategy, which implied open balloting, amongst other innovations, was both novel and practical enough to reduce rigging significantly.
Today, common Nigerians, experts and activists alike, still identify the conduct of the election itself as one of the greatest breakthroughs in the country’s democratic journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment