Restructure Nigeria Now to Avoid Disintegration, Coalition Tells FG
Ambode canvasses peaceful credible election
A coalition of pro-democracy groups yesterday asked President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently look into various reports of previous constitutional conferences as a road map to restructure Nigeria to a true federal democratic state and avoid breakup of the country.
Also, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has canvassed the need to uphold democratic principles and culture by participating in democratic processes such as voters’ registration exercise and avoiding anything that could disrupt peaceful conduct of election.
The pro-democracy groups canvassed the position at a symposium the state government organised to mark the 24th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election yesterday at the Lagos TV Complex, Agidingbi where they called for political restructuring.
The presidential election, which was peacefully conducted on June 12, 1993 and extensively adjudged to have been won by late Chief MKO Abiola, was annulled by former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (rtd) annulled against people’s will.
But at the symposium, yesterday, such pro-democracy groups as the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and June 12 Coalition for Democratic Formations, among others, called on the president to embark on the process that would lead to a true federal democratic state.
The NADECO Chairman, Rear Admiral Ndubusi Kanu, said even though a thick cloud “is hanging in the horizon, the situation can still be salvaged. But that can only happen if we restructure. Restructure is no reinventing wheel. It is a return to a federation of different peoples.”
Citing the significance of June 12 in the political history of Nigeria, the acting Chairman of June 12 Coalition, Commodore Linus Okoroji, demanded that the Buhari administration should look into the reports of various constitutional conferences to restructure Nigeria.
Okoroji also demanded that the president should ensure that justice “is done to the people of Nigeria and the memories of all the martyrs of democracy who paid the supreme price by immortalising and declaring June 12 Nigeria’s true democracy day.”
Likewise, the June 12 coalition leader demanded that the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election should be honoured and immortalised for his supreme sacrifice.
He demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should formally release the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and MKO Abiola be declared as the winner of the process and recognised as Nigeria’s posthumous president.
Ambode, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, also emphasised the need to immortalise MKO Abiola and all martyrs of the annulled elections for paying supreme price in the quest to actualise the popular will of the people.
He noted that the day and the events that followed would remain evergreen in Nigeria’s political history, being a process through which Abiola and others laid down their lives in order to actualise the popular will of the people expressed through the ballot box.
Yoruba Leaders Know Killers of Abiola, Says Al-Mustapha
Former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, yesterday alleged that some Yoruba leaders, led by Chief Ayo Opadokun know those who killed the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola.
The former CSO was remanded in prison for 14 years while standing trial for allegedly having a hand in the murder of Abiola’s wife, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola.
In an interview with journalists shortly after a meeting to broker peace between the North and the Igbos, Al-Mustapha alleged that the Yoruba leaders received bribe in dollars from killers of Abiola.
According to him, Opadokun led others to the Presidential Villa to meet Abiola’s killers, but came out laughing after receiving dollars, just a day after MKO was killed.
Al-Mustapha who claimed to have video taped how Opadokun and others collected the bribe over Abiola’s death, disclosed that a copy of the video had since been submitted to a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Mojisola Dada.
Al-Mustapha maintained that Opadokun was someone he respected so much as an elder.
“But what came out in the newspaper is his own imagination and falsehood against me. If you know my character, you will know that, I will not be scared to say the truth, it does not matter who, it does not matter where, but you will later realise that I told you the truth.
“I initially didn’t want to reply him, but now that you have asked, I will tell you what happened.
“When Abiola died, a day after, he (Opadokun) was invited to the presidency and he came to the villa alongside his friends, he came with anger into the villa.
“Those who killed Abiola invited him to the villa. At that material time, they came to fight the government; they wanted to set the country ablaze, considering the tone they came with.
“They went into the meeting, they came out laughing, yelling and jeering as if nothing happened in the country.
“A day after Abiola’s death, if you remember, the country was on the verge of collapse. But seeing what was going on and the things around Abiola led me to suspect them. I had not handed over the villa to the Abdulsalami Abubakar government then, so I decided to video tape what they were doing and I have the tape and I have tendered the tape before a court of law, before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court.
“In that tape, money exchanged hands and they traded with Abiola and that is my anger. The tape is in that court, anybody that wants to watch it can get it and watch, it is now a public document. I didn’t want to talk about it before, but money was brought from CBN in my presence and it was shared.
“So, if I talk about Abiola’s wellbeing and safety and that of his family, I am telling Nigerians what really happened. Why should a person from the same South-west, who is supposed to protect Abiola’s interest, now be seen to be angry with me? He should be happy with me for saying the truth, so that it will not happen again in Nigeria.
“Now, they have forgotten about Abiola but the moment I talk, they will come to the pages of the newspapers and start insulting me, I didn’t want to respond to them, but since you have asked, I have to say this.
“All they have done is that they took money and the moment you talk about Abiola, you become their enemy and they will abuse you in the papers, that is what they are doing to me, but I don’t care.
“In Yoruba land where culture is the watchword, MKO Abiola was the last Aare Ona Kakanfo and for a Yoruba man of Opadokun’s standing, going against Aare Ona Kakanfo, what is that thing, I tell you, it is dollars. Thank you very much, I will speak more on this much later God willing” Al-Mustapha said.
Ondo Renames Democracy Park After Abiola
The Ondo State Government yesterday renamed the state’s Democracy Park located in the heart of the state capital, Akure, Chief MKO Abiola Democracy Park in honour of the late business mogul who was presumed to have won the June 12 1993 presidential election.
The state Governor, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), made the pronouncement yesterday while speaking a lecture organised to commemorate the 24th year of the presidential election that was annulled by the military President, Ibrahim Babangida.
The Democracy Park built by the immediate past administration of Dr Olusegun Mimiko had hosted major political events held in the state capital.
Akeredolu said the renaming of the park was the list that the state can do immortalise a man whose sacrifice bequeathed the current democratic order to the nation.
He said the significance of June 12 cannot be wished away because that was the day that Nigerians from all walks of life and in all parts of the country spoke with one voice irrespective of tribal, religious and ethnic differences.
The guest speaker at the lecture, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), said June 12 celebration would soon become a national event that would necessitate national holiday.
He said only two states declared holiday for May Day when the celebration started in Nigeria but today it has become a national public holiday when many people realised the importance of the day.
Falana, who mentioned some of those that struggled to ensure that June 12 mandate was realised, said Akeredolu could not have done less because he led the struggle at Ibadan, Oyo State end.
In his opening address, the Chairman of the event, Mr. Wale Osun said if the federal government refused to immortalise Abiola, the Akeredolu should liaise with other South-west governors and build monument in honour of the martyr of democracy.
Osun said the governors should not bother even if any person or group of persons described their action as localised.
Faparusi: Annulment of MKO’s Victory Ruined Nigeria’s Democratic Strength
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Hon Bamidele Faparusi, has declared that the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election supposedly won by Chief MKO Abiola derailed the country’s programmes toward making Nigeria a strong democratic nation.
Faparusi said the country would have been strong politically with all institutions working as stipulated by laws, if the military regime of Gen Ibrahim Babangida had allowed Abiola’s victory to subsist as expressed by Nigerians in the poll.
Faparusi disclosed that the Nigeria’s democracy cannot be said to be infallible, adding that the country could have developed better, and would have by now gained global recognition if the election was not annulled.
He said this in a statement in Ado Ekiti yesterday to commemorate the celebration of June 12, 1993, presidential poll.
ADP: June 12 Election was Rejection of Ethnic, Tribal Politics
The Chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP), Mr. Yabagi Sani, has said the June 12, 1993 presidential election, believed to have been won by late Chief MKO Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) reminded Nigerians and the international community of the day that the people’s collective trust was betrayed and insulted and how the hope of many was sacrificed for the interet of a few who couldn’t imagined being without power.
Sani also added that if there are things about that election that should serve as lessons to the electorates, the electoral commission, and the entire country, it is the fact that Abiola was a Yoruba man from the South West, while his opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa was from the core North; but on the strength of a campaign based on ideas, people-oriented promises---a campaign devoid of ethnicity, tribalism and name-calling, Abiola was overwhelmingly voted in every part of the country.
Yabagi Sani, also said that President Muhammadu Buhari- led government is confused, advising Nigerians to help mobilise for the task of building a better society and country.