Why June 12 Should Be Democracy Day – Aregbesola

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said that Democracy Day in Nigeria should be celebrated on June 12 and not May 29.

The Governor stated this in his address marking the 23rd anniversary of the annulled June 12, 1993 election, which was believed to have been won by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

Aregbesola said that June 12, 1993, was the day Nigerians put aside their ethnic and religious differences and united to vote MKO as their leader, which unequivocally affirmed the unity of the country.

He said May 29 only symbolises the day the military handed over the affairs of the country to a democratically elected government, noting that Nigerians and lovers of democracy would remain committed to June 12 as a political watershed in the annals of the nation.

The Governor however said that since MKO’s election was annulled 23 years ago, it took Nigerians another 16 years to choose a leader that would take them to the Promised Land in person of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Aregbesola said: “We will never drop our commitment to June 12. Nigerians, in their heterogeneity, on June 12, 1993, voted for Chief Abiola in a pattern that defied ethnicity, religion, ideology and local.

“It was a pattern that made mockery of the fabled fault-lines and fissiparous tendencies of the Nigerian federation and projected a nation united behind a popular leader.

“May 29, in 1999, was the date the military handed over power to civilian administration and will remain symbolic for the transition to civil rule and the opportunity it presents for realising a truly democratic government that approximates the yearnings and aspirations of the people for a leader that will lead them to the Promised Land of security and life more abundant.

“We waited for 16 years for that leadership to emerge and we thank God for the election and coming to power of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“A government with a human face is here at last. He represents the aspirations and symbolism of June 12 in that he also got a pan-Nigerian mandate that once again defied the divisions in our country.

“He represents hope for change and national rebirth. He is on that path. God willing, he will lead us to the Promised Land”.