Osogbo, the Osun State capital, yesterday came alive as activists, labour leaders and politicians converged in the town to celebrate the 18th anniversary of the annulled June 12 presidential election. The state governor, Rauf Aregbesola had, on May 29 this year during the Democracy Day lecture held in Osogbo, declared June 12 as the recognised Democracy Day which should be celebrated in the country.
At a symposium organised yesterday by the Osun State Civil Society Coalition, in collaboration with the state government, to mark the anniversary, Mr Aregbesola described the 1993 election as the fairest and most credible in the history of the country.
Represented by his deputy, Grace Laoye-Tomori, the governor said no justifiable reason has been given for the annulment of the election.
"After 18 long years of suppression of the truth of the June 12 1993 presidential election, Nigeria still refuses to recognise and acknowledge her heroes and late President Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola. The huge debt we owe the memory of MKO is not just to declare him as winner of the military annulled June 12 election, but also to officially acknowledge him as president posthumously," Mr Aregbesola said. "We must restructure Nigeria along the lines of true and genuine federalism, we must uproot unitarism and headmaster/pupil relationship between the centre and all federating states."
Mr Aregbesola said although the Nigerian government has adopted May 29 of every year as Democracy Day, "we are of the view that it would have been better to honour those who gave their lives for democracy and that June 12 be made the National Democracy day." He noted that a mandate similar to what MKO Abiola got in 1993 and the hopes and confidence that came with him are necessary ingredients for growth and development of Nigeria, adding that it was a mandate that cut across religion, region and ethnicity.
Speakers at the symposium called on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega to correct the anomalies of the last general elections in the future elections.
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