President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday directed that the
nation’s Democracy Day will, going forward, hold on June 12 of every year as against
the current arrangement where the ceremony holds on May 29.
Buhari also resolved to honour the winner of the annulled
June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, with the highest
national honour, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.
Late Chief MKO Abiola
The President disclosed these in a
statement he personally signed and made available to journalists. He said
he reached the decisions after due consultations.
Apart from Abiola, Buhari said he would also honour his
running mate, Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, and the late human rights activist,
Chief Gani Fawehinmi, with the second highest national honour, the Grand
Commander of the Niger.
He said their investiture would take place on June 12.
The statement read, “For the past 18 years, Nigerians have
been celebrating May 29, as Democracy Day. That was the date when, for the
second time in our history, an elected civilian administration took over from a
military government. The first time this happened was on October 21, 1979.
“But in the view of Nigerians, as shared by this
administration, June 12, 1993 was far more symbolic of democracy in the
Nigerian context than May 29 or even the October 1.
“June 12, 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 12 will be celebrated as Democracy
Day.
“Therefore, the government has decided to award
posthumously the highest honour of the land, GCFR, to the late Chief MKO
Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 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 12 elections and indeed for democracy in general,
the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, is to be awarded the GCON.
“The investiture will take place on Tuesday, June 12,
2018, a date which in future years will replace May 29 as a National Public
Holiday in celebration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day.”
The late Abiola died in detention while struggling to
actualise his mandate as contained in the annulled election.
The Peoples Democratic Party, however, said the national
honour to be conferred on Abiola by Buhari smacked of hypocrisy and political
desperation ahead of the 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 was not out
of genuine reverence and recognition for him.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday 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 12 election.
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 12 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.
“Even those who now masquerade as change agents were
opposed to the naming of the University of Lagos after Chief Abiola.
“If President Buhari genuinely wants to honour Chief Abiola,
he should do so by ending all anti-democratic proclivities of his
administration and allow for the rule of law and respect for our constitution.”
“The PDP, therefore, urges President Buhari to shed his
desperate actions in his quest to win the 2019 presidential election as
Nigerians can no longer be deceived by such antics.”
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