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Thursday, 13 June 2013 03:33
OGUN State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has described the June 12, 1993 presidential election, won by the late Chief MKO Abiola, as a watershed.
He said the election was internationally adjudged as the “freest and fairest election to have ever been conducted in Nigeria.”
The governor spoke in Abeokuta, on Wednesday, during the 2013 Democracy Walk to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1993 poll.
Amosun, according to a statement by his media aide, Funmi Wakama, said Nigerians across ethnic and religious divides turned out in millions to vote for MKO Abiola in the 1993 election.
“Muslims, Christians, women and youths above the age of 18 all over the country cast their votes for Chief Abiola in a peaceful, free and fair atmosphere. That election marked a watershed in the history of Nigeria,” the governor said.
Amosun 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.
Make June 12 a pan-Nigerian event —Mimiko
Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, called on the Federal Government to elevate June 12 to a pan-Nigerian event, submitting that the June 12 victory is a pan Nigerian mandate.
Governor Mimiko made the call in Akure, on Wednesday, at a symposium organised by the state government to mark the 20th anniversary of the annulled 1993 election.
Mimiko said despite the fact that Chief Abiola and his running mate, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, contested the June election on an all Muslim ticket, Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for them.
“It is the desire of our people, even in our diversity, to come together, irrespective of our religious and ethnic bias, to vote for a leader of their choice,” he said.
Abiola watered democracy seeds in Nigeria —Akpabio
Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, on Wednesday, paid tribute to late politician and business mogul, MKO Abiola, saying that “Abiola watered the democracy we are enjoying today.”
Akpabio made the declaration in a speech delivered at the 20th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, organised by the June 12 Movement, at Toyin Street, Ikeja residence of the Abiolas.
Akpabio, in the programme chaired by a prominent Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said “Abiola paid the supreme price. He died so that we may live and savour the joy of free people.”
Represented by his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Aniekan Umanah, Akpabio also debunked the rumour that he rigged election in favour of a member of the National Assembly, adding that “I did not rig any election and, in fact, I have never and will never rig any election, because I am a product of free and fair elections, which Chief Abiola stood, fought and died for.”
According to Akpabio “Abiola fought and died for freedom and we must not allow that death to be in vain.We must continue to engage our leaders until our collective dignity as a people are fully realised and restored.”
Speaking further, Akpabio said “because democracy cannot be said to have thrived without its fruits, which are democracy dividends, my administration, in the last six years, did its best to live MKO’s dream of a better society for Nigerians, by turning around the living conditions of my people for good.”
Personalities who graced the occasion included speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji; Honourable Abike Dabiri; president, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shetima; coordinator, Ijaw Monitoring Group, Joe Evah, among others.
June 12 Movement calls for national dialogue
Eminent Nigerians and leaders of thought, who gathered at a special assembly hosted by the June 12 Movement, in conjunction with Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), decided to commence massive mobilisation across the nation for the convocation of an urgent national dialogue to resolve the crisis in the country.
Reading the communiqué of the assembly at the residence of Chief MKO Abiola, the national coordinator of the June 12 Movement, Olawale Okunniyi, said the forum took the position in the light of subsisting emergency rule and insecurity in the country, orchestrated by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North and youth militancy in the South.
The gathering further planned to engage the government in bringing about a negotiated settlement before the end of the year.
The leaders commended Governor Akpabio for taking courage to associate with the progressives and the June 12 Movement, in spite of his membership of a conservative party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In the communiqué, the assembly approved the forthcoming national political summit to be held from July 1 to July 4.
Others at the event were Honourable Oladapo Adeleye, Dr Kesiah Awosika of Pro-National Conference (PRONACO), Mr Lekan Abiola, son of the late MKO Abiola; Alhaji Aminat Irawo, Mr Mohammed Fawehinmi, among others.
Democracy has lost essence in Nigeria —Utomi
Former presidential candidate of Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) and political economist, Professor Pat Utomi, on Wednesday, said democracy in Nigeria has lost its legitimacy over the years.
He disclosed this at the special parliamentary session in commemoration of second anniversary of the seventh Assembly and 20th anniversary of June 12, 1993 election, held at Lagos State House of Assembly.
This was as he insisted that the people must be given the chance to speak through the ballot.
Speaking on “Democracy, the rule of law and role of the legislature,” Utomi said “our democracy has lost its legitimacy over the years. Unless we have a clear democracy, where people speak through the ballot box, we cannot have the kind of legitimacy that we need. We are determined as people; we can prevent abusers from leading us to where we are today.”
He affirmed that June 12 should be a day to celebrate the passion, commitment and courage of a man, Chief MKO Abiola, who won the 1993 presidential election.
Utomi, who recalled the role played by the defunct National Electoral Commission (NEC), demanded that Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the chairman of the body during the election, be remembered whenever June 12 is being celebrated.
Utomi charged the legislature to be closer to the people, in order to reflect their ways and desires, adding that “legislature has a critical part to play in putting an end to impunity.”
In his welcome address, the speaker, Honourable Ikuforiji, lamented that Nigeria had not consolidated on the June 12, 1993 election, adding that the country could only progress through concrete democratic actions to build the country.
Tofa got it wrong on June 12 —Erubami
Human rights activist and the convener, Nigeria Voters’ Assembly (VOTAS), Mashood Erubami, on Wednesday, declared the opponent of the late MKO Abiola in the presidential election of June 12, 1993, Othman Bashir Tofa, as “a dead politician,” for declaring the June 12 phenomenon dead.
Tofa contested the said election on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), while the late Abiola flew the banner of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Erubami, who led a procession of rights activists, including labour leaders, as well as members of his organisation from NTA junction, Agodi, Ibadan, all through Oje, Beere to Mapo Hall, while speaking with journalists, said “anybody not talking about June 12 is not better than a dead person, because, it was the election that manifested the transfer of power from the military to the civilian, it was the election that manifested in the transfer of power from the North to the South, it was the election that had become the yardstick to measure the success or otherwise of subsequent elections in the country, it was the election that had, so far in the history of the country, produced a pan-Nigerian mandate.”
Recognise MKO as ex-president, group charges FG
A Warri-based rights group, the Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence (FJHR), has joined the request for the recognition of winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, as a former president of Nigeria.
National coordinator of the group, Mr Oghenejabor Ikimi, who made the request known to journalists in Warri, Delta State, insisted that in addition to recognising the late Abiola as an ex-president, June 12, the date of the annulled election by former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, should be mandated as the actual Democracy Day.
Describing Abiola as the true symbol of democracy in Nigeria, Ikimi added that a national institution should be named after the late business mogul as a way of immortalising him.
“We call on the presidency to recognise the late Chief MKO Abiola as a former president of Nigeria. We call on the presidency to declare June 12, a democracy day or, better still, a public holiday.
“We call on the presidency to immortalise the name of Chief MKO Abiola by naming one of our national institutions in his name, as he remains a true symbol of democracy,” the lawyer stated.
June 12 still significant —Osunyikanmi, others
A university lecturer, Dr Bukola Osunyikanmi, at a symposium organised by the Ondo State government to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the election, condemned the attempt by some politicians to trivialise the significance of June 12.
Osunyikanmi, a lecturer with the Department of Political Science, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), also took a swipe at those he described as “self-styled progressives.”
Canvassing that June 12 was about the collective desires of Nigerians to agree that indeed they must be free, through the election of a government of their choice, the don said the significance of the day was in its democratic credentials and the hope it unleashed on Nigerians’ political, social and economic fabrics.
Dr Osunyikanmi said though the election of June 12, 1993 was annulled, the myth and significance of the event of the day remained a watershed in the nation’s history, adding that events thereafter were shaped and defined by the singular act of June 12.
In a paper entitled “Sustainable Democracy In Nigeria: Issues and Challenges,” Dele Adetayo of the Department of Political Science, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, posited that the undemocratic behaviour of the political class in Nigeria could neither eventuate in nor translate in democratic consolidation.
Affirming that no other forms of government had the benefit of politics of inclusion like democracy did, Adetayo said that was why the political and beauracratic class should make it a duty to ensure the entrenchment of democratic ethos in their various endeavours.
In another presentation, an associate professor in the Faculty of Law, AAUA, Olubayo Oluduro, identified the gains of democracy in Ondo State in the areas of health, education, agriculture, community development, housing, peace and security, as well as the judiciary.
He also listed corruption and bad governance, lack of free and fair election and delayed justice at the federal level, among others, as the challenges facing the growth of democracy in the country.
Only June 12, 1993 election was free, fair in Nigeria -Kalu, Adams, Okei-Odumakin
Eminent Nigerians, including a former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu; Joe Okei-Odumakin, Gani Adams, Ahmed Shetima and others harped on the importance of equity, justice and fairness to the realisation of the ideal of June 12.
Kalu, speaking during the 2013 commemorative programme of June 12, organised by the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), posited that June 12 had continued to be the only free and fair election in Nigeria.
The former Abia governor, speaking on “20 Years after June 12 : Options for survival,” averred that the Nigeria needed to uphold free, fair elections and social justice.
He described June 12 as “the day Nigerians spoke with one voice to reject religious bigotry, by voting massively for a Muslim -Muslim ticket” and a day that Nigerians overwhelmingly rejected ethnic politicking.
Kalu canvassed for all elections in the country to be conducted the same day and asked for an amendment on the Electoral Act in this effect
OPC leader, Chief Adams, the chief organiser of the event, reiterated his belief that June 12 represented equity, fairness and justice in the Nigerian history.
“I want us to remember that June 12 represents ballot integrity, as it was a day Nigerians spoke with one voice and went beyond primordial interest,” Adams said.
Okei-Odumakin, in her remark, said “we have not had any free and fair election, 20 years after the 1993 presidential election.”
Don’t drag Abiola’s name into controversy, Osun PDP warns
Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has advised the state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, not to bring the name of the late Chief MKO Abiola into controversy, by naming the Ido Osun Airport, a Federal Government’s project that predated his government, after him.
State chairman of the party, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa, in a press release, noted that it was absurd for the state government to rename a Federal Government’s project, which commenced during the administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, after the late Abiola, adding that it would amount to bringing Abiola’s name into ridicule.
Alhaji Olaoluwa said if Aregbesola should have known that a road had been named after Abiola in Osogbo, adding that “the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) or Aregbesola do not have the moral right or authority to name the edifice after Abiola, because they criticised President Goodluck Jonathan when he named UNILAG after Abiola.”
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