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Equity, justice are templates of June 12, 1993 election –Erubami

Human rights activist, Comrade Moshood Erubami, speaks in this interview on the significance of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and the possible lessons learnt 29 years after. WALE ELEGBEDE reports

 

As one of the actors of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and subsequent struggles over its annulment, what is your biggest satisfaction and disappointment 29 years after?

 

My greatest satisfaction is in being able to pressure the government to recognize the day as democracy day to disgrace previous leaders who had ruled and thought the day will just go by its name alone.

 

My disappointment resides in our inability to turn the military transition from civil rule to real and genuine democracy, where there will be guaranteed human rights, rule of law, equality of rights and opportunities, and equity and fairness in government and governance.

 

Twenty-nine years after, the politicians of today are so vociferous, despotic and more vicious than those who sentenced June 12, annulled its principles, murdered the wife of its winner, Chief MKO Abiola and cleared out his business empire. Zoning has not been what it’s supposed to be; the features and mode of the election had not been painstakingly established.

 

Those who arrange elections do not understand how delegates are used to vote for candidates in elections in most states like Oyo State, list of delegates was withheld and was not released even on election day for the aspirants to be able to canvass for their supportive votes as was done in the last presidential election held in Abuja.

 

Not only was the list of delegates released, but aspirants also went round the delegates and were able to freely solicit their votes.

 

Were you surprised about two years ago when suddenly there was some recognition for June 12, with its declaration as Democracy Day?

No, I was not surprised because the struggle we were waging then was not an end but a means to achieve an end of such recognition. The struggle was not only to secure the expected dividends of hopes for Nigerians but to build capacity that can bid farewell to poverty and hunger in every nook and cranny of Nigeria.

 

What I can only see as a partial surprise is the source of the recognition given the suspicion that Chief MKO participated in the coup that sent Muhammadu Buhari out of power as a military dictator. One would not have expected him to be the one that will honor him but he did, surprisingly.

 

However, the honour was not enough if the struggle that Nigerians put into the disannulment of June 12 were to be duly compensated. Governance should move forward to bring about new hopes for a better tomorrow and set a new template of governance equity and fair play among the citizenry and where hunger, anger and poverty will not be part of our experience again.

 

Do you agree that the President ought to have indeed declared that MKO Abiola as president to ensure complete recognition?

 

Yes, this is part of our agitations. Not only to declare him the winner but also to hang his pictures as a past head of state at the federal, state and local government levels. His complete recognition will be when all that he stood for are realized in the lives of our people including reparations from the colonial masters.

 

After 29 years, has the botched election made any impact and have we learnt any lessons in our democratic practice?

 

No, I said it earlier we do not appear to have learnt any lesson from the annulment of June 12, we are still tribalized and troubled by religious bigotry, and do not vote for competent personalities as was the case with Chief MKO Abiola, when Nigerians were believed to have made their choice with one voice with no recourse to religion or tribe.

 

It was unique in a way such that for the very first time we had a Muslim- Muslim ticket for the presidency and that didn’t in any way affect the voting pattern. Right now, with the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is possible that the era could replace itself because the new presidential candidate of the APC is not only competent, courageous, compassionate, but also committed to the oneness of Nigeria in whom everybody seems to be well pleased.

 

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC) were the two parties during that process and some people are saying today that perhaps it is better to have a two-party system and that if that system had been allowed to stand we would have something close to a two-party system against where we now have many political parties. What do you think about that?

 

I will not advocate for twoparty system, I will rather advocate for a genuine multiparty system where there this concept of winners takes all, instead of multi-party system where the principle of ‘ me firstism’ me first, prevail at all times.

 

Do you see light at the end of the tunnel for Nigeria’s democracy?

 

Yes, of course, if Tinubu will be courageous enough to recheck all the proceeds of past national conferences and come out with bold solutions as entrenched in the proceedings for the growth, progress and sustainable development of Nigeria and Nigerians.

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