 |
| Chief Moshood Abiola |
June 12 is 18 years today. Ordinarily, 18 years in the life of an individual or an organisation is not a milestone. However, the case of June 12 at 18 is very different. It is the day Nigerians without giving a hoot about tribe, religion or language voted overwhelming for the late business magnate, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola to rule the country.
The business mogul turned politician, who was the Social Democratic Party standard-bearer, defeated Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention. The outcome of that electoral victory did not see the light of the day as the then military head of state, Gen Ibrahim Babaginda, who superintended over the exercise, cancelled the poll. The annulment came despite the wide acceptability of the result by both local and international observers. Indeed, observers hailed it as the biggest and the best-conducted election ever held in the country.
Although what the cancellation resulted in is now history, the day has remained indelible in the minds of the citizenry. It is partly against this backdrop that a few commentators and analysts are still talking about June 12 with enthusiasm. For instance, in Lagos and Ogun states, the authorities have not only acknowledged the day as Democracy Day, they have since declared it a public holiday.
In keeping the day alive too, a few other groups and well-wishers of the late politician as well as a handful of apostles of what the day stands for have always devoted it to one kind of symposium or another.
Beyond this subtle acknowledgment of what the day stands for, many other lovers of democracy feel that the date has not received enough recognition, considering what it has done to the country’s democracy. Indeed, for this school of thought, there are so many questions begging for answers over what has become of June 12. For instance, the adherents of the day ask, why has the promotion of the day taken a back seat and suffering from recognition? Should June 12 not have been as prominently encouraged by government, even much more than is currently done? Why is it that all that government is able to do is to issue a public holiday in a few states?
Insofar as these Abiola-must-live-on apostles are concerned, these posers are relevant, especially as they consider the late politician as the epi-centre of the nation’s renascent democracy. From the leadership of Olusegun Obasanjo, to Umaru Yar’Adua and to the incumbent president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, these ardent democracy followers hold the view that all these administrations are indirect beneficiaries of June 12 largesse.
Attesting to this, a lawyer and human rights activist, Mallam Shehu Sani, says the democracy the nation savours today cannot be divorced from the event of 1993, particularly the supreme sacrifices made by the ilk of Abiola and others.
He said, “This democracy is a product of the struggle against military dictatorship of which the June 12 struggle represented. Without the sacrifice made by principled Nigerians in 1993, our dream for a democratic and free society could have since been extinguished.
“This democracy is not a gift given to us by the military, it is not by sheer good luck that we have a democracy today, but by the sweat and blood of the heroes and heroines who defied the consequence and matched forth for a free society.
The ultimate sacrifice made by chief MKO Abiola nourished the seed that freed Nigeria from the york of the military.
Like Sani, a former Director-General of the defunct Centre for Democratic Studies, Prof. Omo Omoruyi, insists that issue of June 12, 1993 has remained unresolved.
In his thinking, if the issues arising from the day had been articulated and resolved, the many cries of political restructuring in the polity would have since ended.
Little wonder, the professor of Political Science tasked President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a committee of experts to restructure the nation’s political system.
Omoruyi said, “Jonathan needs to put together a committee of political scientists to fundamentally restructure the political order. This political order need be restructured.
“Why should somebody say it is the turn of this people or that people? It is sad because one of the things June 12 solved was that two people were voted in and nobody cared about where they came from. All these things you are reading about zoning are part of the hangover of the annulment.”
Even as this argument goes on, Sani also believes that what the nation has experienced in the last 12 years is convenient leaders who cared more of themselves than the led.
He added, “Unfortunately, a gang of self-serving, opportunistic, greedy and parasitic elements whose vision and mission in power is to enrich themselves at the expense of the nation hijacked the democratic process. Hangmen rule the nation. We fought for democracy. MKO Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Bagauda Kaltho, and Shehu Yar Adua died for democracy, but what we did not bargain for is the criminality and banality that has become of it.”
Agreeing also that the event of 18 years ago contributed significantly to altering the face of the nation, a Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, described it as the fertilizer that has nurtured the democratic settings.
According to him, the experience of June 12, 1993, is helping in keeping and sustaining the country’s democracy.
He said, “It is because of this that our democracy is surviving. I doubt if the country will today be practising democracy without the experience of June 12. So, as far as I am concerned, it is the manure that accounted for the country’s democratic progress.”
Keyamo, who acknowledged that the past 12 years has not been out of this world in delivering democracy dividend to the people, canvassed the fine-tuning of the democratic process.
He noted, “I agree with the people who hold the view that the Peoples Democratic Party leadership in the last 12 years has not been fantastic. We have not got there yet. We need to fine-tune our democratic process. All we have seen so far, especially following the last election, is a slight improvement of what is obtainable in the past. For me, therefore, this does not suggest that we have arrived. It is not yet Eldorado.”
still in need of some information? search this site:
LOVE THE ARTICLE ABOVE?
Receive Updates: subscribe to Imo Herald in a reader or sign up for Free Email Updates
No comments:
Post a Comment