South West States Declare June 12 Public Holiday

Chief M.K.O Abiola (GCFR)

Against the backdrop of latest development, the government of the South-eastern states of Nigeria have announced that it will go on with the usual observation of June 12 as a public holiday. The governments of the South-west states have declared June 12 as a public holiday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the annulled 1993 Presidential election adjudged to have been won by the late M.K.O Abiola. The states include Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, and Oyo states. The federal government on Wednesday announced that June 12 would become a national holiday for the celebration of democracy day starting from 2019, although the day had always been public holidays in the South west.

Abiola, Gani Families React To June 12 and Honour From Buhari

Mixed reactions have continued to trail President Muhammadu Buhari's action of honouring the late Chief MKO Abiola and the late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN). While some Senators and House of Reps members think the President stepped out of life, the families of both men have something different to say. Buhari has ordered that his proclamation of posthumous national awards of GCFR to Abiola and GCON to Gani, be gazetted immediately by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami. This is to enable the investiture go on as planned next Tuesday, the anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Abiola but which was annulled by the military government of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

BREAKING: Buhari Moves Demoracy Day to June 12 to honour M.K.O Abiola

President Muhamadu Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that effective 2019 Nigeria’s Democracy Day, marked every May 29 for the past 18 years, be shifted to June 12 to honour Moshood Abiola, the winner of the 1993 presidential election. Election data showed Mr Abiola won the polls but he was never formally declared winner and was not sworn into office by the military government of Ibrahim Babangida. Mr Abiola was later imprisoned by the Sani Abacha’s military regime as he struggled to actualise his mandate. He died in prison in 1998.

Read The Speech That Got MKO Abiola Arrested and Killed in 1998

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (M.K.O.) Abiola

 

The famous speech by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (M.K.O.) who was adjudged to have won the 1993 Presidential election before he was arrested and killed in detention has been brought to the fore. Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (M.K.O.) Abiola adjudged to have won the June 12, 1993 election, described till date as Nigeria’s “freest and fairest” election ever, died on July 7, 1998, on the day when he was to be released after four years in detention. His mandate was denied him first by then military ruler, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida who called for another election after annulling the one that produced Abiola. However, Sani Abacha came in the way after Babaginda left the government. Abacha declared himself military ruler. He then arrested Abiola for declaring himself “President and Commander-in-Chef of the Federal republic of Nigeria” and proclaimed “a new Government of National Unity”. Abacha threw Abiola into prison for four years where he later died on the day he was about to be released. Below is the full speech, delivered on June 11, 1994, and dubbed the ‘Epetedo Proclamation’, having been made in the Epetedo area of Lagos Island.

June 12: The Ghost That Refuses to Be Exorcised

Chief MKO Abiola

Nigerians are standing still to honour the legendary winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections in Nigeria. Would the socio-economic and political fortunes of Nigeria have been better if late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, had been allowed to assume power? Answers to this question are diverse and perhaps academic but a host of pro-democracy activists and leaders believe that if Abiola had been allowed to implement his 10-point ‘’Farewell to poverty’’ programme, the country will not be swimming in avalanche of problems that are at the verge of dismembering her. Although, the South-West, Abiola’s geo-political zone, has been allowed to produce the president (through Chief Olusegun Obasanjo also from Ogun State as Abiola) for eight years, some stakeholders insist that the ghost of June 12 has not been exorcised because our leaders are yet to banish poverty and ensure an egalitarian society where equity and justice will reign.