National Conference Rejects Motion To Honour MKO For June 12

It was June 12 yesterday and some states including Lagos marked the day with a public holiday for government workers.

June 12 1993, it’s a day marked in history, when the north and south all freely voted for one man Moshood Abiola, before his erstwhile friend Ibrahim Babangida  who was then the head of state annulled it.There has never been any other election as free and as fair of that of June 12, 1993.

Thursday at the national conference,  a motion was moved  seeking national recognition for the presumed winner of the poll, the late Chief Moshood  Abiola.

The motion was moved by Orok Duke.  The delegates however were divided along regional lines as those from the southern Nigeria favored the motion while those from the North rejected it.

Those who were opposed to the motion, led by a representative of the civil society, Mallam Nasir Kura, were shouting “no!, no!”

 Duke, said that apart from Abiola, others that died as a result of the annulment of the election deserved to be honored. He specifically asked for the permission of the plenary to pay tributes to all those who died, including Abiola, who he described as the one who spearheaded Nigeria’s democracy.

He  added that the conference should cause the authorities to always remember “June 12 as a watershed in the history of Nigeria.

“I suggest that a monument in tandem with what the conference had proposed for other heroes and heroines should be recommended in honour of MKO Abiola.”

His motion did not go down well with some delegates as they continued with the shouts of no, no. But for the quick intervention of the Chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, the disagreement might have probably led to a free-for-all among the delegates.

The anti-June 12 delegates, which included Umaru Mohammed Hadejia, representing Jigawa State, continued their opposition to the motion, but Duke refused to be intimidated.

He argued that the country could not afford to carry on as if June 12 never existed, and further argued that many Nigerians died on that day.

“June 12 is a preamble as to why we are here today, it is for the continuation of an unfinished business of 1993 that we are here. Moshood Abiola paid that ultimate sacrifice and it is not something we can wish away and assume that it never happened to us.

“I was an active participant, and some of the delegates here were victims of June 12. If we forget history it will repeat itself as a tragedy. Those who fell for the sake of June 12 should be remembered today.”

His motion was supported by chief Ayo Adebanjo, amongst others but the opposition remained adamant.

 Hadejia described the motion as “irrelevant” and an attempt aimed at wasting the time of the conference.