By Princely Onyenwe- 9News
Brendan Francis once said, “A quotation in speech, article or book is like a riffle in the hands of infantryman. It speaks with authority”.
This implies that when we understand ourselves and others, we are able to communicate more effectively, enjoy better relationship and create more effective teams, mechanisms and ideologies to salvage Nigeria. ‘It is unwise to keep cashing out from mere rhetorics and mundane distractions’
It is anomalous propensity of men in authority to think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism and find criticism subversive. I wish the authority will create room to constantly access the plus and minus in the political and developmental and economical advancement of the nation.
Few moments ago, Wednesday June 12, Nigeria witnessed a public holiday that reignited the history of democracy and respect for the forebears and Heroes of independence.
This piece will therefore interest our readers to catch up with the raw truth that surrounded the annulment of Abiola’s election declaration as a parallel winner of the presidential election that was inclusive some years back. Note: It was Abiola in a speech in Lagos Island, announced himself the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, having gathered several definitions and engaged many key factors of election annulment, the struggle for revalidation of some hidden facts of June 12 was more or less what led to the name tag “Democracy Day”. This special day is set aside to think about the remembrance of MKO Abiola’s presidential declaration annulment saga.
June-12 can be said to have some spiritual connotations and influence that affects the conditions of both the living and dead. The coloration from Abiola saga to democracy day is firmly reassuring and sensitive to agree with me that the spirit of Abiola and the conscience of the electoral umpires then are living.
Truth be told, recall that it was in 1993 that IBB annulled the presidential election of MKO because of his stubborn and blatant disobedience to accede to his request to make the former NLC leader, Pascal Bafyua as his Vice presidential candidate.
IBB actually warned MKO Abiola of the consequences of disobeying his request, though MKO was the most popular candidate of the masses in the presidential race.
The 1993 election was highly pressured by 14 Northern Governors who insisted on MKO choosing Babagana Kingibe as his running mate. Recall that Alhaji Bashir Tofa was a high contender in the presidential race, but Abiola defeated him in his own Kano constituency.
A year after the annulment of the 1993 presidential election, Abiola went ahead to declare himself Nigerian President at Epetedo playing ground, Lagos island Nigeria.
Meanwhile, during a nationwide broadcast commemorating the 25th anniversary of Nigeria’s democracy, President Tinubu announced that his government is finalizing a draft legislation for a unified minimum wage, which will be presented to the National Assembly for approval in the near future among other promises he made to pacify the burning fire the state of economy has brought.
The president said, “I understand the economic difficulties we face as a nation.
“Our economy has been in desperate need of reform for decades. It has been unbalanced because it was built on the flawed foundation of over-reliance on revenues from the exploitation of oil.
“The reforms we have initiated are intended to create a stronger, better foundation for future growth. There is no doubt the reforms have occasioned hardship. Yet, they are necessary repairs required to fix the economy over the long run so that everyone has access to economic opportunity, fair pay and compensation for his endeavour and labour.
“As we continue to reform the economy, I shall always listen to the people and will never turn my back on you.
“In this spirit, we have negotiated in good faith and with open arms with organised labour on a new national minimum wage. We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.
“In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict.
“No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution.
“Reasoned discussion and principled compromise are hallmarks of democracy. These themes shall continue to animate my policies and interaction with the constituent parts of our political economy.
“I take on this vital task without fear or favour and I commit myself to this work until we have built a Nigeria where no man is oppressed”.
Bringing this context to an LCM status, If MKO Abiola had not win the 1993 presidential election that its declaration led him to incarceration by Abacha military junta, from 1994 to 1998, when he died in detention under suspicious circumstances at the age of 60years, Ex- President Mohammadu Buhari would not have given him a posthumous honorary award of GCFR, the country’s highest honour reserved for only Presidents.
MKO was charged for treasonable felony and he died while serving his jail term under Babangida’s administration.
The coinage of name to Democracy Day is a reverberation of the pains that bedeviled his immediate family, friends and well meaning Nigerians who voted for transparency and decency in the governance system but was rift of it through a calculated attempt.
Before the conversion to democracy day, this day has remained a model exercise in the South West, where progressive administrations declared a public holiday to commemorate the exit of Abiola’s love for the nation- a lost Democrat. It was a hot game between the SDP and NRC and better still ,June-12 is the anniversary of the annulled 1993 election.
Another significant factor was that a Professor of political science and the INEC Chairman Humphrey Nwosu stated that out of 14, 396, 917 votes cast in the election, MKO Abiola who was the candidate of Social Democratic party , polled a total vote of 8, 323, 305 against the 6,073,612 votes polled by Alhaji Bashir Tofa of National Republican Convention Party.
More so, the election result was inconclusive before it was annulled on June 23,1993. The election was after a transition program to return the country to a democratic rule after ten hot years of military rule. It was General IBB military government that initiated the transition government but surprisingly same government allegedly voided the result of the poll and the story had continued infinito.
I pray for the souls of our departed Heroes to keep resting in peace as we continue to hail Nigeria our fatherland. So help us God.
©️PrincelyOnyenwe
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