Before the outspoken wife of Chief M.K.O Abiola, widely adjudged to be the winner of the annulled 12 June 1993 presidential elections, she had been briefly
On a Tuesday, 4th of June, 1996, around 3:05 pm something unbelievable happened that shook the core of the struggle for democracy in Nigeria. Kudirat Abiola was gunned down as her car slowed down around 7-Up Depot/Bus Stop in Ikeja – Lagos state. She was instantly killed along with her chauffeur and assistant. Many people who knew her opined that her death brought a beautiful, brilliant and bold life, which she was generally believed to have lived to an untimely end.
She is one of several Nigerians that paid the supreme price in their quest for a better, freer, and democratic Nigeria. Another of such martyrs was Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. After serving in the military and as the Third Republic beckoned, Yar’Adua and his group formed the People’s Front of Nigeria. Its members included current President Bola Tinubu, Babagana Kingibe, Atiku Abubakar, Magaji Abdullahi, Ango Abdullahi, Ahmadu Rufa’i, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Tony Anenih, Chuba Okadigbo among others.
Just five days after the country celebrated her independence on 1st October 1995, a prominent pro-democracy activist and business man was murdered at his Ikeja residence in Lagos state. He was Alfred Rewane, a major financier of the National Democratic Coalition and close associate of Obafemi Awolowo. In the 1990s, his residence was the venue of political meetings that led to the formation of NADECO which was quite vocal in its opposition to the military regime.
Reviewed to be celebrated annually from May, 29 to June 12 by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018, it is very important for President Tinubu to use his inaugural democracy day to honour the heroes who championed the struggle and made extra-ordinary sacrifices for the enthronement of democratic rule we currently enjoy.
The June 12 struggles was the realization on the need for everyone to get involved in politics and governance. It awoke the political consciousness of Nigerians and as President Tinubu puts it “was the equivalent of the battle against colonial rule by our founding fathers that resulted in the gaining of Nigeria’s independence in 1960.
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