The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, CACOL, has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to recognize the significance of the annulled June 12 1993 elections and posthumously honour the presumed winner of that presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola.
DAILY POST had reported that President Buhari on Wednesday conferred MKO Abiola with title of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, GCFR, in recognition of his contributions to the nation’s democracy.
CACOL hailed the President for his action, adding that the decision taken by Buhari was in response to the clamour by millions of Nigerians for the recognition of June 12, which it said symbolizes the enthronement of Democracy in the country.
The group’s statement on the development was signed and made available to DAILY POST by its Media coordinator, Adegboyega Otunuga.
According to CACOL, “The conferment of GCFR on Abiola even if belated or invalid, as it has been claimed by some legal practitioners, has thrown up the need to adequately immortalize Abiola who indisputably remains the nation’s icon for democracy because of his determination to stand by the resolve of the over 14 million Nigerians that voted for him on that fateful day.
“We however believe that rather than certify the date simply as a Democracy day, it would be appropriate and apt to term it as ‘MKO Abiola Day’ just as we have the Martin Luther King Jnr Day in United States of America (USA).’
“Considering the events preceding the June 12 Election, vis-a-vis how about 43 political associations were banned thus, preventing them from being registered as political parties, the two (2) political parties, NRC, SDP (National Republican Convention and Social Democratic party) were whimsically imposed on Nigeria by the ruling junta with their manifestoes and other operational documents written for them, Party Secretariats built by the Government and fully funded by same government, a major aberration and rape on the democratic rights of the people was flagrantly on display,” the statement read in part.
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