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#June12: Afenifere Warns Against Bloodshed, Atiku Preaches Restructuring

As Nigerians today mark the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere has cautioned against actions that that can lead to another civil war in the country, The Guardian reports.

The election adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the country , and believed to have been won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, was annulled by the then military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

Afenifere which is led by prominent Yoruba leaders who resisted the annulment lamented that 24 years after, Nigerians were marking the day under a climate of fear.

In a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, Afenifere said: “As Nigeria marks the 24th anniversary of the cleanest elections, presumably won by Abiola, unhappily, the country is still labouring under intense strain, palpable uncertainty and extreme apprehension because it has failed to learn the lessons of history.”

The Yoruba leaders said while Nigeria had wobbled through 18 years of pretending that its unity was settled, mouthing hackneyed phrases like indissoluble union and non-negotiable unity, the country had fallen more and more into pieces on a daily basis.

“We now mark another June 12 amidst an October 1 quit order to Ndigbo of the south east by Arewa youths of the north, who have also secured endorsement from the Northern Elders Forum, with the Arewa Consultative Forum conceding what they called the frustrations of the youth with Ndigbo.

“While the primary targets of the Arewa youths’ quit order are the Ndigbo resident in the north, we are not deceived that when the rubber hits the road, the Almajiris and the Mujaheedins would pick and choose among all southerners in their region for the baying of blood.”

Noting that no country has ever survived two civil wars, Afenifere recalled how events cascaded in the 1960s from the moment emergency rule was imposed on the Western Region until war broke out in 1967, warning against actions that could lead to another war.

“The same arrogance of power, insensitivity and atrocious impunity that were at play then are still very much at play today. The same section of Nigeria that rejected the outcome of Aburi is still shouting down the strident calls of most peoples of Nigeria for restructuring today, because command and control is more important to them than equity, justice, fairness, peaceful co-existence, harmony and a progressing country,” the Yoruba leaders said.

They also lamented that not one member of the coalition of northern “youth” organisations, who had unfettered access to Arewa House to threaten the unity of the country, has been arrested, saying “it is a clear signal that the butterfly that is dancing on the surface of the Arewa River is dancing to some drummer beneath the water surface.”

“When we attained independence in 1960, Nigeria’s pot was standing on a tripod. Two legs out of the three are now in a near-war face-off. It would be an illusion of grandeur to think that this pot can continue to stand in this way!

“To this end, we Afenifere restate the Yoruba belief that the only way that Nigeria would be able to fulfill its destiny as one country is that all Nigerian nationalities should be able to run their lives according to their civilisations in a restructured polity that practices federalism in its truest form. That remains the unchangeable preference of the Yoruba nation.

“If, however, our compatriots from the north and east are not averse to the continuation of Nigeria as a country, the only acceptable path toward this end is political restructuring. Fortunately, we have a roadmap in the recommendations of the last confab, which must now be pursued and implemented.”

Lagos State government which also declared today as a public holiday said it remained committed to the ideals of the annulled election.

In a statement, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said the holiday was in honour of the ideals which the election represents, being adjudged as the freest and fairest in the country’s history.

The governor said 24 years after, the ideals of June 12 commemoration were worth celebrating, describing the day as one of the most defining moments of the country’s political history which positively shaped its democratic rule.

Ambode said though the peoples’ hope was dashed with the annulment by the military junta, the lessons of the elections could not be wished away despite subterranean efforts by many to do so, describing June 12 as the real Democracy Day in the country.

Former Vice President and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar reiterated his call for the restructuring of the country.

He said the clamour for the restructuring would surely consolidate democracy and give greater impetus to the unity and development of the country.

In a statement conveying his goodwill message to Nigerians on the occasion of the anniversary of the June 12, Atiku argued that restructuring of the country would lay a solid foundation for prosperity and self-reliant development across by introducing healthy competition among the constituent parts based on the principle of comparative advantage.

Atiku described Abiola as a national “hero and patriot deserving of accolades and honour by Nigerians”, adding that it behoved the authorities to immortalise him by naming a befitting national institution after him.

Former Lagos State governor and APC national stalwart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, underscored the importance of the June 12, 1993 election and the agitation that followed its annulment, saying it was the precursor of the existing democracy in the country.

“Without the uncompromising resistance to military rule engendered by the annulment of the June 12 election, there would most probably be no 4th Republic today and we would still be groaning under the jackboots of military dictatorship,” he said.

In a statement yesterday, Tinubu poured encomiums on the late Abiola, describing him as an embodiment of “the eternal Yoruba adage, which says that death is better with honour than life without dignity.”

He also used the occasion to appraise the two years of the current administration, saying any objective analyst would agree that the Buhari administration had already taken impressive strides to clear the Augean stable it inherited from the past administration. He said critics labeling the administration a failure were not being objective.

In the statement entitled ‘What June 12 Taught Us,’ Tinubu said: “The blood of those who gave their yesterday and sacrificed even their lives for the democracy and freedom we enjoy today was not shed in vain. The truth is June 12 is the mother of May 29th.”

 

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Copyright 2017 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

 

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