The House of Representatives was in commotion, yesterday, as members disagreed over President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to declare June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
While some lawmakers supported the move, others asked the president to rescind his decision.
Other lawmakers also kicked against the honour given to the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Moshood Abiola.
Some lawmakers who also spoke on the issue said there was need to ensure the rule of law was followed regarding the matter, while others spoke in favour of the president’s decision.
Also, the Senate, yesterday, gave President Muhammadu Buhari three conditions for which the posthumous award he recently accorded late MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election would not be considered a Greek gift.
It would be recalled that Abiola contested the annulled poll under the Social Democratic Party, SDP.
This resolution followed an adopted order 42 and 52 raised by Senator Biodun Olujimi representing Ekiti South Senatorial District.
In her words, “Mr. President, my distinguished colleagues, I want to thank Mr. President for the feat he scored yesterday by posthumously honouring late MKO Abiola for winning the annulled 1993 presidential election.
“To make good his intentions, Mr. President should ensure the release and declaration of the annulled results of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. Also, Abiola’s family should be paid reparations and all other entitlements due to him as former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And that Ambassador Babagana Kingibe should be recognised henceforth as former Vice President of Nigeria and be paid his accompanying entitlements.”
However, the lawmakers have agreed to the submission by the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, saying that for the award to be real, it must be backed by constitutional amendment.
The Senate similarly asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
The Senate made the request, yesterday during plenary.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday declared June 12 to replace May 29 as Democracy Day, in honour of late MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the election.
Buhari said that June 12 was more symbolic than May 29 and also conferred a posthumous GCFR title on Abiola.
A Second Republic lawmaker, Junaid Mohammed, yesterday, lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring June 12 as the new Democracy Day and posthumously awarding Chief M.K.O. Abiola, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).
Mohammed maintained that Buhari’s recognition of Abiola at a time elections were close was “deceitful”.
Speaking with newsmen, the former lawmaker stressed that Buhari’s “sinister antics” was aimed at amassing votes from the South-West in 2019.
The fierce critic of the current administration said Buhari should be, “ashamed of himself” for waiting till 2018 before correcting a past “injustice.”
According to Mohammed, “This is deceitful politics, Buhari is doing that in anticipation of the forth coming election in 2019 but those who know him like I do will tell you that he has never respected or admired Abiola. So doing this now shows that he is so desperate and is prepared to do anything deceitful and dishonourable to motivate votes.
“Buhari has no other arithmetic because the bulk of the votes Abiola got did not come from the South West, they came from the North and the East, so he thinks this action is the master’s stroke that will win him the election but he is mistaken.
“Nigerians are smart enough to see through this deceitful antics, Buhari was one of those against Abiola. To confirm this deceit, he took a traitor of Abiola, Babangana Kingibe to honour him too.
“I don’t understand why anybody who was familiar with that election will honour Abiola and Kingibe, who is a traitor never known to be loyal to anybody than himself.
“As we speak, Kingibe is an employee of the Presidency and he is part of the cabal, so this is sinister because 2019 is around the corner.
“Buhari has been in power since 2015, he didn’t remember to rectify an injustice but only now that elections are coming that he remembered to do so, he should be ashamed of himself.”
Daughter of the late MKO Abiola, Mrs Hafsat Abiola-Costello hailed the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day by the Federal Government.
Abiola-Costello, in a statement, yesterday, in Lagos, said the declaration had ended the family’s long wait for government to recognise their father.
She described the declaration as succour and triumph of justice after 20 years of waiting.
She thanked Buhari for recognising their father at last, praying for “more days of triumph of justice over injustice”
Also, the leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo said that the declaration though belated was a welcome development.
He, however, urged the government yields calls for the restructuring of the country as that was what June 12 stood for.
“Although belated, it is a welcome development, but we believe that the June 12 struggle stands for restructuring of the country and that is what we want the government to do”, he said.
Reacting to the new development, Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, took to his Twitter page, noting that the greatest honour by Buhari would be to conduct free and fair elections even as he commended him.
“MKO Abiola is worthy to be honoured and we in Ekiti honoured him with a public holiday on June 12, 2017, we will do it again this year.
“However, the greatest honour anyone can bestow on MKO Abiola is total respect for the rule of law and conduct of free, fair & credible elections,” Fayose wrote.
The Muslim group, in a statement by its Director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, said the recognition of June 12 as democracy has quenched their grievances towards the marking Democracy Day on May 29 by previous regimes, adding that celebration of democracy on May 29 was fraudulent and that June 12 was far more truly symbolic of Democracy in the Nigerian context.
Akintola further called on Buhari to also honour Ken Saro Wiwa even as he commended the tireless struggles of Gani Fawehinmi and other SANs, including Femi Falana and Beko Ransome Kuti.
“Yet like Oliver Twist, MURIC will ask for more from the father of this great nation, President Muhammadu Buhari. The declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day will definitely heal wounds and we appeal that another giant step should be taken to heal more wounds. We are referring to the case of Ken Saro Wiwa, the environmental activist of the Niger Delta. His case still hurts the Ogoni people in particular and the Niger Delta region in general.
“We in MURIC believe that the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa was extra-judicial, unlawful, illegitimate and unconstitutional. Ken was murdered in his prime before his appeal was due. His killing was one of the unwise and unpatriotic actions taken by the military to fuel the hatred of one Nigerian ethnic group for another. We appeal to Mr. President to review his case, grant him presidential pardon, compensate his family adequately and give him a posthumous award of no less a status than the one given Gani Fawehinmi.
But the Peoples Democratic Party said the national honour proposed to be conferred on the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993, Chief MKO Abiola, by President Muhammadu Buhari, smacks of hypocrisy and political desperation ahead of 2019 presidential election.
PDP said that President Buhari’s action merely sought to use the name and person of Abiola to gain a political capital and not out of genuine reverence and recognition for him.
In a statement issued in Abuja and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, the party recalled that President Buhari, who was serving in the military administration of General Sani Abacha during the travails of Abiola, did not associate either by words or actions with the late winner of June 12election.
Ologbondiyan further stated that history did not record President Buhari as sympathetic to the Abiola’s family when his wife, Kudirat, was gruesomely murdered by the agents of a government which President Buhari served.
He said: “It is, therefore, a sign of political desperation for President Buhari to seek to use Chief Abiola’s name as a tool to sway Nigerians in less than twelve months to an election where he, (President Buhari) is seeking a second term.
“It is also shocking that the respectable grave of Abiola can be dishonoured by granting a posthumous award on him along with someone who denounced the June 12 mandate and preferred the company of his (Abiola’s) traducers”.
Buhari had last Wednesday announced that Democracy Day would henceforth be celebrated on June 12 of each year.
The president said after due consultations, the Federal Government has decided that henceforth, June 12 would be celebrated as Democracy Day.
A statement signed by the president said for 18 years, Nigerians had been celebrating May 29 as Democracy Day, saying that was the date when for the second time in Nigeria’s history, an elected administration took over from a military government, adding that the first time was October 21, 1979.
“But in the view of Nigerians, as shared by this administration, June 12th, 1993, was far more symbolic of democracy in the Nigerian context than May 29th or even the October 1st.
“June 12th, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful election since our independence. The fact that the outcome of that election was not upheld by the then military government does not distract from the democratic credentials of that process.
“Accordingly, after due consultations, the Federal Government has decided that henceforth, June 12th will be celebrated as Democracy Day. Therefore, government has decided to award posthumously the highest honour of the land, GCFR, to late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12th, 1993 cancelled elections.
“His running mate as Vice President, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, is also to be invested with a GCON. Furthermore, the tireless fighter for human rights and the actualisation of the June 12th elections and indeed for democracy in general, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, is to be awarded posthumously a GCON,” he said.