Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has described June 12, 1993 as the most suitable and proper day to mark democracy day in Nigeria.
The governor, who made this position known in a statement issued in Osogbo, the state capital to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the annulled 1993 presidential election, said it was the date Nigerians freely expressed their choice on whom to be their leader and a day of unequivocal affirmation of the unity of the country by Nigerians across all divides.
Aregbesola called on Nigerians and lovers of democracy to remain committed to June 12 as a political watershed in the annals of the nation, noting that May 29, officially recognized as Democracy Day, only symbolises the day the military handed over the affairs of the country to a democratically elected government.
According to the Osun Governor, June 12, 1993 was a day Nigerians united to vote the acclaimed winner of that presidential election, late Chief M.K.O Abiola without recourse to religion, ethnicity or ideology.
He stated that the unity with which the multi-ethnic groups spoke and acted was what is being celebrated till today.
Gov. Aregbesola, however, noted that since the annulment of that election 23 years ago, Nigerians had to wait for another 16 years for a leader that would take them to the Promised Land in the person of President Muhammad Buhari.
“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 locality.
“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”.
He said further: “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”.
