Across the length and breadth of the country, Nigerians of voting age, came out to elect Chief Moshood Abiola on June 12, 1993, who despite running alongside a fellow Muslim, garnered sufficient votes to win the presidential poll.
However, persistent advocacy to have June 12 declared a public holiday over the years, fell on deaf ears as successive administrations stuck with the May 29 handover date for years. Only the South-West States of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti, then in the grip of the defunct Alliance for Democracy honoured the heroes and heroines of June 12 by observing the day as a public holiday.
Speaking exclusively with The PUNCH, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a June 12 campaigner, Mike Ozekhome, said June 12 beautified Nigeria’s democracy, arguing that in the history of post-independent Nigeria, no election has come close to the June 12, 1993 presidential poll. “The significance of June 12 is that Nigerians were able to discover that the worst form of democracy is better than the best of dictatorship.
His words: “The significance of June 12 Democracy Day is the freedom of choice which democracy confers on the people on how they want to be governed, and for which MKO Abiola died. The election of June 12, 1993 was regarded as the freest and fairest that produced Chief Abiola as the winner, yet the elections were annulled by the military regime.
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