June 12: 23 years after

A few weeks ago, on May 29, Nigeria celebrated 17 unbroken years of democratic rule. In spite of the harsh economy, Nigerians found a reason to celebrate democracy.

While not many young Nigerians know that Nigeria was not always a democratic country, that for more than two decades citizens of this country were yoked under dictatorial, intransigent and repressive military regimes, with just a tinge of civilian interregnums, the older generation cannot easily forget. Indeed, they cannot also forget the battles fought against maximum military dictators and their oppressive regimes, and that the democracy the country enjoys today could not have come without the sacrifices of men and women, some of who eventually paid the ultimate price. June 12 has come to embody the spirit of that struggle.

Martin Luther King, Jr., the late American activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, once said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

It was also Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, an American retired professional basketball player, who said, “I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.”

At the heart of the Nigerian struggle for democracy was Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, popularly called MKO, an outstanding business mogul, media icon, philanthropist, pillar of sports and hero of democracy.

On June 12, 1993, MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) stood against Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in a presidential election widely adjudged as the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history. Though the results of the elections were announced halfway, Abiola was believed to have won overwhelmingly.

But Abiola would not become president as the election was annulled by the Ibrahim Babangida military junta. Abiola’s attempt to reclaim his mandate led to his arrest and incarceration by the Abacha regime and eventually cost him his life and that of his wife, Kudirat.

The annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election triggered agitations from pro-democracy groups who dared Sani Abacha’s iron grip on power to demand justice for Abiola. Neither Abiola’s death in 1998, nor Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999 could drown these agitations.

Today, 23 years after June 12 and 17 years after the country’s return to democracy, many pro-democracy activists believe that without Abiola’s sacrifice, which they say has earned him immortality and a permanent place in history, Nigeria might still have been wallowing in the throes of military dictatorship.

“The sacrifice he bore is what humiliated the military out of politics in Nigeria that in spite of the shenanigans of the politicians for the last 17 years, Abiola’s sacrifice is the reason why the military has lacked the testicular fortitude to stake a direct involvement in our politics,” said Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary of Afenifere, the apex pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation.

To this effect, June 12 has continued to be marked as a holiday in many parts of South-west Nigeria in memory of Abiola, with pro-democracy activists contending that the date should be the authentic Democracy Day rather than May 29 as currently in place.

MKO Abiola, CFR, who contested the 1993 presidential election with the Hope ‘93 political manifesto, was born on 24 August, 1937 and died in detention on 7 July, 1998 under very mysterious circumstances, on the day that he was due to be released.

CHUKS OLUIGBO