20 years after June 12 election

On Wednesday, Nigerians from all walks of life marked the 20^th anniversary of June 12 elections which was won by late Chief Moshood Abiola with different activities. 

Precisely 20 years ago, Nigeria had a presidential election, which was widely adjudged by political analysts and the then National Electoral Commission, NEC chairman, Prof. Humphrey Nwosu as the freest and fairest ever conducted on June 12, 1993 and won by late Chief Moshood Abiola.

As usual activists and other political analysts marked this year’s memorial with different activities ranging from lectures, symposia, rallies amongst others.

President Goodluck Jonathan during the inauguration of the Police Service Commission, PSC, at the State House, Abuja, described the day as a unique date in the history of the country.

President Jonathan said the struggle has affected the political landscape of the country and the trajectory of its conduct of the affairs of state.

He said: “June 12 is a unique day. It is a date that has changed the political history of this country in one way or the other. We appreciate what happened on this day. I think it is a unique date.” 

In most parts of the western states where the late businessman turned politician hailed from, Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, Osun and Ondo States, the day, June 12 was declared public holiday with symposia and rallies.

Those who spoke at harped on the need to strengthen the current democratic dispensation in Nigeria, which the struggle for the revalidation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election results helped to achieve.

As it is the norm every year, speakers at the event urged the federal government to immortalise Abiola. Others expressed concern about the state of the nation, after the events of June 12, 1993 the rebirth of democracy in 1999.

They argued that the effort of late Abiola is being jeopardised by politicians who have failed to live up to their promises and billings, a course Abiola died for.

In Lagos, the Governor, Babatunde Fashola faulted the decision of President Jonathan to rename the University of Lagos, UNILAG after the late Abiola.

He said the decision was designed “to mock his memories as the name of the institution was changed to MKO’s name without changing the law.”

Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN national leader, Senator Bola Tinubu, who was represented by CODER’s National Coordinator, Chief Ayo Opadokun, although, lamented the state of the country’s democratic institutions, 14 years after transition from military regime but disclosed that the country has made progress.

During his campaign

He said: “We are here to assess our progress. Our 14 years of democratic rule coincide with 20 years of June 12. We have made progress, though it is very slow. When Abiola won the June 12, 1993 election, we thought we had put electoral fraud behind us; 20 years after, we are still grappling with it.

“INEC has not witnessed any serious structural change, but vast results of fraud that forced progressives to go to court. The court exposed the fraud and gave back the people their mandate, especially in the South-west and Edo State. Elections in the 21st century are made to reflect the technology of today.”

Human rights activists and members of the civil society group, organised by the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, demanded that steps should be taken to ensure a posthumous declaration of the late Abiola as a former president.

President of the Campaign for Democracy, CD, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, who made the case for the posthumous declaration of Abiola as a former president, also demanded that the election be de-annulled.

Congress for Progressive Change, CPC vice-presidential candidate in the 2011 general election, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said the country has witnessed many changes, for better and for worse. 

However, former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, faulted the Jonathan administration’s anti-graft drive. He also lamented the rate of unemployment in the country, adding that present and past governments have not been serious about job creation.

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said though the nation might not have moved as fast as it should, it had made significant progress, especially under Jonathan.

In Abeokuta, Ogun State, late Abiola’s hometown, the Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, as part of activities to mark the day, led dignitaries, including the late Abiola’s daughter, Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, to participate in the 2013 Democracy Walk.

Amosun said described the election as a watershed in the history of Nigeria. He noted that the current civil rule was a product of the sacrifice made by people like Abiola and urged Nigerians to work towards entrenching democratic norms in the country. He also urged the federal government to declare June 12 a national holiday and immortalise the late Abiola.

Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, however cautioned that the June 12 celebration should not be a regional affair but a pan-Nigerian celebration because of the significance of the day and what it represents in Nigeria’s history.

He said: “June 12 is a pan-Nigerian mandate. It is not about Abiola or Yoruba race. It is about the collective desire of Nigerians from various walks of life and political divides to say no to military dictatorship.

“It was a day when all Nigerians came together, forgot about sentiments, be it ethnic or religious, and came together to act as one. We must therefore impress it on the federal government to make June 12 celebration a national event.”

In Ekiti State, the Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi said June 12 is remarkable because it was a game changer and a paradigm shift that broke the mould clearly and decisively on such a scale that it became necessary to revise assumptions and stereotypes about the electorate.

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola urged the federal government to make public details of events that led to the death of Abiola. The governor stressed that the crises that emanated from the June 12 election annulment brought to the fore the fundamental political cracks in Nigeria's polity.

Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Walter Carrington, said: “Mr Aregbesola needs to be thanked for remembering what too many states seem too willing to forget.  It seems that only four others stand with Osun today in declaring this 20th anniversary of June 12 a public holiday.”

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka said Democracy Day in Nigeria should be celebrated on 12 June of every year and not on 29 May as federal authorities want it to be.

“What June 12 possesses is exactly what May 29, or any other day, lacks. The former was a spirit of unified purpose, the latter simply an egotistical appropriation of the gift of the former,” Soyinka said in a statement.

He said it is a “futile undertaking” by some individuals who attempt to deny or crush the June 12 date. “We need to remind ourselves what June 12, 1993 represents. It is neither mere date, nor sentiment. It is simply Human Spirit,” Soyinka said.

However, some politicians, who attended a similar event organized by the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos State Council, called on Nigerians to stop reducing every anniversary of the annulment of June 12 presidential election to a day of lamentation.

Frank Kokori took a swipe at the Judiciary and other sections of the society for allegedly betraying the struggle for a truly democratic nation. “Celebrating June 12 is celebrating a generation of Nigerians who sacrificed themselves for the democratization of Nigerians.

Similarly, former Ogun state governor, Olusegun Osoba said, they at NADECO made the mistake of not having a political wing like the IRA in Northern Ireland. “If Tinubu had listened to our leaders who did not want us to participate in the transition programme, he would have remained in America and he would not have been a governor. We have learnt our mistake. It is not worthwhile that the civil society should continue to lament bad governance 20 years after. I want the civil society to support the emerging political platform of progressives in the country.”

Founder of Oodua Peoples’ Congress, OPC, Dr. Frederick Fasehun berated the presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention NRC, Alhaji Bashir Tofa who contested against Abiola in the June 12, 1993 election for attempting to rubbish and belittle the June 12 historical event.

The OPC leader stated that when someone in the calibre of Tofa, attempts to belittle that historical event, then Nigeria is in trouble. “A foreigner may ask us to forget June 12 and he will be forgiven. A child may ask us to forget June 12 and it will be forgiven.

“A dim-wit may ask us to forget June 12 and it will be forgiven. However, when someone in the calibre of Alhaji Bashir Tofa, Presidential Candidate of the National Republican Convention, NRC, and Abiola’s opponent in the 1993 election, attempts to rubbish and belittle that historical event, then Nigeria is in trouble,” he said.

It would be recalled that Tofa, last week, said June12 was dead and should be forgotten.