So much has been said about the June 12 1993 presidential election which was on course to being won by late business mogul, MKO Abiola, before the process was truncated by the annulment of the elections by the Federal Military Government under the leadership of Ibrahim Babangida. MKO Abiola’s appeal was widespread and cut across ethnic and religious divides. A Muslim-Muslim ticket won overwhelmingly in Christian dominated States and most of our national ails seemed on the verge of becoming history. Then the annulment. The annulment of the June 12 presidential elections was wrong. Just like the non implementation of the Aburi Accord was wrong. And several other wrongs in our past and present. Personally, I believe Nigeria missed an opportunity. Nigeria has likewise missed a couple of other opportunities prior to June 12 (ranging from the botched Aburi Accord, to the murder of Murtala Mohammed, to the mismanagement of proceeds of the oil-boom era and so on) and continues to miss monumental opportunities till date. Eversince, June 12 has metamorphosed into a thriving enterprise. Those who pontificate most about it are incredulously the same characters who profit directly from the annulment. There has been all manner of ridiculous calls emanating from the vocal cords of elements who profited immensely from the annulment – inclusive of calls for the declaration of MKO as a posthumous President and the renaming of Nigeria after MKO! Indeed!! People who had unrestricted access to MKO Abiola’s funds to orchestrate national and international campaigns for the reversal of the annulment, who knew that they would be required to render account of their management of MKO’s funds if MKO ever emerged from detention without being declared President, put pressure on MKO to ensure that all avenues of dialogue was aborted. These people now populate the rulership of the so-called opposition alliance. Overtime, a national calamity was transformed into a sectional cause which has been manipulated to serve private pecuniary interests and extract a great toll on the country (primarily in the form of the emergence of an ill-prepared, intellectually challenged former ex-con as President of Nigeria. The real villains of June 12 are those who continue to profit from and desecrate the memory of MKO. Crying over spilled milk has never being a path to progress. The only option remains to restructure and renegotiate our contraption to ensure a repeat does not occur.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:02:30 +0000
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