Following the dogged fight by Nigerians against military governments, APC Chieftain has revealed the lessons learnt.
APC Chieftain, Bola Tinubu
All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Sen. Bola Tinubu, says
without the uncompromising resistance to military rule engendered by the
annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, there would probably not have
been a 4th Republic today.
Tinubu said this in a message on Sunday night entitled ‘What June
12 Taught Us’, to mark the 24th anniversary of the annulled presidential
election, believed to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola.
Abiola, who insisted on his mandate after the annulment by the then
military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, was later arrested and died
in detention on July 7, 1998 on the verge of being released.
Tinubu said: ”The annulment was a bitter pill to swallow,
especially for the millions of people who expended so much time, energy
and material resources to help ensure victory for Chief MKO Abiola.
”The annulment was meant to halt the unstoppable and
irresistible march to deeper democratic practice in Nigeria. That
objective failed woefully.
”That annulled free and fair election taught us once again to
organise. It tutored us new tactics and strategies of confronting and
ultimately overcoming forces of dictatorship.
”It revealed to us the imperative of forging working
relationships and diverse networks across ethnic, religious, regional
and partisan divides if we were to move forward.
“It is this invaluable experience we gathered in the struggle
to enthrone democracy and retrieve our country from the grip of
dictatorship that emboldens us today to warn those directly or
indirectly threatening our democracy through another military
intervention to perish the idea’’.
According to him, 24 years after its annulment, the spirit of June 12 lives on in the hearts and minds of millions of Nigerians.
“The blood of those who gave their yesterday and sacrificed
even their lives for the democracy and freedom we enjoy today was not
shed in vain, ” he said.
Tinubu described MKO as an embodiment of the eternal Yoruba adage
which says that ‘Death is better with honour than life without dignity’.
He said that late MKO selflessly committed so much of his substantial fortune toward ensuring his victory at the polls.
Tinubu said that Abiola, in doing so, was not motivated by personal, selfish or pecuniary considerations.
”Abiola could have chosen to abandon the mandate in order to
rebuild and resuscitate his disrupted business, but he opted for the
path of the true ‘Omoluabi’.
”He refused to sacrifice honour for an ephemeral mess of
pottage. Looking back, we can say, thank you Chief MKO Abiola for giving
your all that we may bask in the glow of democracy today.
”The lessons of that election still speak eloquently to us
today despite the utter lack of vision in governance between 1999 and
2015 that has fuelled the revival of separatist agitations and deepened
distrust among the component parts of Nigeria.
”One enduring truth that June 12 demonstrated is that given
inspirational, visionary and sincere leadership, Nigerians can rise
above divisive primordial sentiments to demonstrate high patriotism and a
belief in merit in their voting patterns, ” he said.
Tinubu also used the occasion to appraise two years of the
President Muhammadu Buhari led-administration, saying that it had
already taken impressive strides in addressing the country’s challenges.
”This year’s commemoration of the anniversary of June 12
coincides roughly with two years in office of the All Progressives
Congress at the federal level.
”Some critics, particularly of the opposition, are already
writing off the government as a failure. Well, that is their prerogative
and in accordance with their rights in a democratic polity.
”Two years into its term, any objective analyst will agree that
the APC has already taken impressive strides to clear the Augean
stables it inherited from the past administration.
”Concrete gains are being made in curtailing corruption,
reviving and diversifying the economy and strengthening national
security, even though much harder work still lie ahead admittedly,’’ he said.
According to him, there is no doubt that once the APC Federal
Government successfully contains these challenges, it can more urgently
begin to address other planks of its manifesto.
”But even in our darkest moments, let the torch of democracy be
our guide to the higher and nobler plains of good governance, strong
institutions, reverence for the rule of law and a continually-improving
and growing economy.
”It is only through strengthening the institutions, practices
and procedures of democracy that we, like the Americans, foremost
exemplars of the democratic ideal, can ceaselessly strive moment by
moment, day by day and year by year to continually aspire toward the
more perfect union of our dreams, ” Tinubu said.
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