Ekiti State Governor,Dr. Kayode Fayemi has described June 12, 1993 as Nigeria’s second most significant national unrest after the Civil War.
Fayemi also advocated a new conversation around democracy as the nation celebrates June 12, 1993 Anniversary which also is Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
“Arguably, June 12 was the second most significant national crisis after the civil war of 1967-1970, because of the reverberating effect that it had on the polity of the nation. The whole nation was crippled to a standstill after the annulment of the election as a result of the strike action by organized labour and the sustained daily protest by the mass of the public. In response to this, the panicked regime moved military tanks to the street to mow down defenseless crowd of protesters”, the governor posited.
Fayemi, in his commentary on June 12 entitled “REMINISCENCES ON JUNE 12 STRUGGLE AND ITS IMPERATIVES”, noted that the greatest takeaway from June 12 was the the possibility of a new Nigeria where “our so-called fault lines would no longer matter as our best lines.”
The Governor maintained that celebrating June 12 affords Nigerians the privilege of looking back at the journey so far and to recall the historic moment, the heroes/heroines that made this possible, lesson and significance of the Day in our national life”.
Fayemi once again thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for righting the historic national mistake by not only declaring June 12 as Nigeria’s official Democracy Day but acknowledged the late Moshood Kasimawo Abiola as the indisputable winner of the landmark Presidential Poll.
He said: “One of the things that President Muhammadu Buhari would be fondly remembered for, after his tour of duty, would be the recognition of the significance of June 12 and its rightful placement in our national diary.
“It is even more satisfying that the symbol of the struggle for the enthronement of democratic order in Nigeria, Basorun Mashood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola, the winner of the June 12, 1993 election whom the previous administrations had refused to recognize as the winner of the June 12 1993 election, has now been duly acknowledged by the President as indeed, the undisputable winner of the election.”
“He did not stop there, he also awarded, posthumously, the highest honour in the land, generally conferred on presidents, the award of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), on him”, he noted.
Fayemi stressed that: “The greatest take away from June 12 is that of the possibility of a new Nigeria where our so-called fault lines would no longer matter as our best lines.”
“I therefore urge that we start a new conversation around a democracy that instills confidence in the citizenry, enables unrestrained breathing and holds a promise of a better life for all irrespective of whom they are or where they come from. This, for me, was the most significant lesson of June 12 and we must teach it, learn it and keep it etched in our subconscious in the certainty that a new Nigeria, a better Nigeria is possible.”
According to Fayemi; “This symbolic gesture has provided a psycho-social healing for the people who sacrificed, including their lives, for the enthronement of democracy.”
“Human life is generally ritualized and practised and that is the reason we talk of culture as an established conduct that has gained repeated and entrenched value for some time among a people.”
“The declaration of June 12 as our National Democracy Day therefore, means for me, a significant and courageous move to further enculturation accountability even about knotty and unresolved historical issues of national importance. One therefore has to commend the president for this historical ‘righting’ of a wrong past.”
“As one of the protagonists of the June 12 Struggle myself, one caught in the maelstrom whilst completing my doctoral studies outside the country, I appreciate what the token of this Day meant to my self-fulfillment if one were to reminisce on the cluster of dangers that we confronted during the time.”
“Those who have read my exile memoirs, Out of the Shadows: Exile and the Struggle for Democracy and Freedom in Nigeria will recall many of these hair raising moments that I and many others encountered in our determination to rid our country of military jack boots”, the governor added.
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