The Federal Govern- ment has been urged to immortalise the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presi- dential elections, the late MKO Abiola, in the most befitting and rancour-free manner.
A legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), La- teef Fagbemi who made the call said the immortalisation of Abiola should not have any political undertone like it purportedly occurred when the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to rename the University of Lagos(UNILAG) as Moshood Abiola University(MAU).
Delivering the annual June 12 Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State council at the Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan in honour of Abiola, he said: “I would like the
Federal Government to officially recognise the day and the man, in a situation devoid of any po- litical undertone, as was done when the University of Lagos was reportedly renamed in honour of M.K.O Abiola. The government as a matter of urgency must im- mortalise him in the most befitting and rancour-free manner, as he is a man of peace and unity.”
The lecture was entitled, ‘June 12, 1993 and March 28, 2015: Similarities, Dissimilarities and Expectations’.
Comparing the historical June 12 presidential election that presumably produced Abiola with the March 28, 2015 presi- dential election that produced President Muhammadu Buhari, the SAN appealed to Nigerians to keep the spirit of June 12 alive by supporting Buhari in his quest to provide transformational leader- ship for the country.
“On the whole, with the new dispensation, I see a Nigeria that would be a pride of everyone, a Nigeria where we shall all have good life aplenty, where opportunities shall abound and ultimately where the views of the masses shall, never again, be taken for granted. To me, that is what the last election has bequeathed to all of us. We must therefore, strive to guard it jealously as it is by doing so that we can keep the spirit of June 12 alive,” he said.
Condemning the roles played by Ibrahim Babangida, the then military president, in the an- nulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Fagbemi described it as a legislative judg- ment that defied any common sense and rational logic.
In his words: “The decision of the IBB government to annul the election therefore remains one of the most unjustifiable and provocative decisions ever taken by a government anywhere around the globe. It was such a legislative judgment that defied any common sense and rational logic. I cannot find any other conclusion upon an array of the contending issues leading to the unpopular annulment.
According to him, “the an- nulment clearly stood reason on its head. Here was a govern- ment that enacted a decree specifically for the conduct of an election. Apart from that, it also set up, like every other civilised government, an election peti- tion tribunal, saddled with the responsibility of addressing any perceived irregularity that may arise from the election.
“Instead of allowing the con- testants to approach the tribunal with their grievances, Babangida simply wiped out everything that has to do with the election. He blocked any access to the tribu- nal, which he unilaterally created. It was an era of pure legislative, executive and judicial rascality, all rolled in and personified in just one mortal,” Fagbemi noted.
REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan
