June 12 still strong and alive 19 years after ... THE immediate family of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election in Nigeria, Chief MKO Abiola, has called on the Federal Government to declare the late business mogul an ex-president of the country.Speaking with newsmen after a "Democracy Walk" organised by the Ogun State government in honour of Abiola on Tuesday, Chief Abiola’s younger brother, Alhaji Mubashiru Abiola, said the only way the family could feel fulfilled is when their breadwinner is duly recognised.
The state governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun had led top government functionaries, members of civil organisations and residents of the state in a long trek to major areas, including Abiola's family house.
Mubashiru said his late brother was a sacrificial lamb for democracy in Nigeria, saying that the family was happy with the renaming of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) after him, but insisted that the honour was not enough.
He lamented that the family had since been insisting that the only way that could make the late business mogul "rest in peace" is for government to give him a higher honour.
He said, "Since the death of MKO, our family members have been living in penury. It is a known fact that my brother, during his lifetime, was our breadwinner. No assistance is coming from anybody, including governments, except the Ogun State government.”
Governor Amosun, while addressing Abiola's family members, described the late politician as a man that represented the democracy Nigerians are enjoying today.
He said that Abiola was the man that laid down his life for peace and tranquility in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare Abiola as the winner of the annulled June 12 1993 presidential election in the country.
The NSCIA Secretary General, Dr Abdullateef Adegbite, in a statement on Tuesday, also urged the president to confer posthumously all the honours due to an elected president of Nigeria, including the award of the national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Abiola.
He urged government to declare June 12 MKO Abiola Day, which should be observed as a national holiday, to replace May 29 as Democracy Day.
He also called on President Jonathan to officially release the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
According to him, the gesture would compare to that extended to Dr Martin Luther King Jnr in the United States of America.
While noting that June 12 was worth more with Nigerians, Adegbite recalled most passionately the glory of that date in 1993.
However, he lamented that the Nigerian authorities were yet to accord due recognition to the historic day and therefore, urged President Jonathan, whose election as president last year was the closest in fairness to that of June 12 1993, to kill several birds with one stone by considering the NSCIA requests.
In a related development, eminent Nigerians, including Chief Gani Adams, Tony Uranta and Comrade Joseph Evah have appealed to the the Federal Government to look beyond the renaming of UNILAG in honouring Abiola.
They also carpeted former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for what they described as his total disregard for June 12 despite the fact that the death of Abiola paved way for his emergence as president.
Adams, Uranta, Evah and others, while speaking at the commemorative programme for the annulled June 12 1993 election on Tuesday, urged President Jonathan to declare June 12 as Democracy day and a public holiday .
Adams, whose organisation, the Oodua People’s Congress, organised the event, stated that Nigerians found the death of Abiola to be “more shocking as many had thought that he would be released to claim his mandate, after the death of General Sani Abacha.”
He, therefore, urged Nigerians not to “forget the fact or lose sight of the fact that whatever democratic norm that we enjoy today must be credited to the martyrdom of Chief Abiola.”
The OPC chief also commended President Jonathan for the renaming of UNILAG after Abiola as a mark of honour for his self-sacrifice for democracy in Nigeria.
Adams said: “The renaming of the institution is particularly commendable, if you realise that for eight years, the administration of former President Obasanjo, a fellow Yoruba and Egbaman ignored even the most strident call for the immortalisation of the man who laid down his life for democracy to thrive in Nigeria.”
Uranta described Abiola as “not just a Yoruba hero”, but a Nigeria hero and called on President Jonathan to name more places in honour of Abiola.
He noted that the nation has not started honouring Abiola, because they still see him as a Yoruba hero and that the nation will begin to honour him the moment they see him as a national hero
The president of Ijaw Monitoring Group Joseph Evah called on President Jonathan to name the Eagle Square, Abuja after Abiola and equally said June 12 should be declared as Democracy Day and a public holiday.
The Ijaw leader berated Chief Obasanjo when he declared that “shame on Obasanjo for not honouring the man who sacrificed his life for democracy in Nigeria.”
He also reiterated his call for Sovereign National Congress and advised President Jonathan to relocate to either Port Harcourt in Rivers State or Yenagoa in Bayelsa State to avoid being killed.
June 28, 2013, 08:12:11 AM