DEMOCRACY DAY: Why i refused to recognise June 12 - Obasanjo
The EX-President Olusegun Obasanjo has drawn the ire of Nigerians over what they described as his failure to recognise the June 12, 1993 presidential election. They are furious that Obasanjo who rode to power on the waves of the June 12 annulment saga, never acknowledged the historic election and the winner, Chief MKO Abiola, at public functions throughout his tenure, Assisant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN reports.
THE struggle for the actualisation of June 12, 1993 presidential election started immediately the former Military President Ibrahim Babangida annulled the election won by Chief MKO Abiola and his running mate Ambassador Babagana Kingibe. Following the advent of the Fourth Republic and the election of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, Nigerians were optimistic that recognition would be given to June 12 as the authentic ‘Democracy Day’. That didn’t happen. Obasanjo who came to power on the crest waves of the June 12 annulment saga disdained the symbolic date and questioned its relevance of the date in the polity of the nation.
Obasanjo ruled for eight years, but he never acknowledged the role Abiola and June 12 played in his emergence as a democratically-elected president. Abiola sacrificed his life for democracy to thrive in Nigeria, but that did not mean anything to Obasanjo who chose May 29 as ‘Democracy Day’ against the popular demand that it should be June 12.
At the peak of the struggle for the actualisation of the June 12, 1993 elections, Obasanjo told the world that the acclaimed winner of that election, MKO Abiola was not the messiah that Nigeria needed. The comment was a reflection of Obasanjo’s perception of himself as the country’s ultimate saviour.
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