The Northern Leaders and
Stakeholders Assembly, NLSA, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari’s
declaration of June 12 as new date for Democracy Day in honour of the late
Chief MKO Abiola, has political undertones.
Secretary of NLSA, Dr Umar Ardo,
who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, said although
making the declaration in honour of the late politician, Moshood Abiola, was a
good idea, the motive behind it was questionable.
“I have absolutely no problem
with honouring them. They have done a whole lot in honouring the democratic
process of Nigeria. My only problem is the motive, because I have been
following President Buhari’s politics since he came into politics in 2002.
“I never heard him say anything
about June 12. Neither in 2003, 2007, 2015 or even 2018 on the 29th of May when
he addressed the nation,” he said.
According to him, the President
never hinted of his plans and as such, the rather unexpected declaration was an
indication of his attempt to score political points especially in the
Southwest.
He also noted that the move may
be an attempt to “rubbish” past presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim
Babangida, with whom he (Buhari) is said to have some political friction.
“Before coming into politics, he
worked with General Sani Abacha as the PTF chairman and you know that Sani
Abacha was central in denying the actualisation of June 12 and incarcerating
MKO Abiola so for him to just come out and put out the issue of June 12, like a
bolt out of the blue, it gives a lot of serious reason for concern.
“If you have not led a background
on something and out of the blue you just came out with it, that means either
you are in a desperate state and you want to achieve something or that you are
being schemed by somebody who also wants to achieve something.
“Also, you may want to make rubbish. For
example he has a running battle with President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is a key
beneficiary of June 12 and President Ibrahim Babangida who annulled the June 12
election – he has key issues with them, so I believe he must be thinking that
if he comes up with this that not only will he regain his lost popularity in
the country, especially in the southwest but he will also be able to rubbish
these two former presidents on the grounds that they were responsible for it.”
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