Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in his evaluation of Nigeria’s democratic history, has said that June 12, not May 29, captures the nation's evolution in the struggle for freedom.
This position by Tinubu is contained in a statement he signed to commemorate the June 12 celebration titled, June 12: The truth that sets democracy free in our land. He maintained that May 29 only stands for Nigeria's transition from military to democratic rule in 1999, adding that the date does not reflect the woes the country suffered even before 1993 as a result of dictatorship, PM News reports.
A letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda Tinubu said: “Without those who stoutly stood on June 12 and sacrificed life, limb, freedom, economic ruin, psychological devastation and more in the battle against tyranny, there would most certainly not have been any May 29, 1999, handover to commemorate,” he said. “June 12 must serve as a continual reminder to Nigerians on the imperative of pursuing the cause of justice in all spheres of our lives at all times as a necessary condition for peace, prosperity and progress.
“As we kick off from today the annual celebration of June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day, let us renew our commitment to utilizing democracy as a vehicle for eliminating poverty in our land as well as providing prosperity and life more abundant for the teeming millions of our people. “It was indeed his deep aversion to poverty and the avoidable suffering of the majority of our people that compelled Chief MKO Abiola to contest Nigeria’s presidency and thus his campaign slogan was ‘Farewell to Poverty.” Meanwhile, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, had described the celebration of June 12 as Nigeria's Democracy day as a well-needed closure for himself and others involved in the struggle to actualize the 1993 mandate. Soyinka in a statement on Tuesday titled, “Democracy Day Primer (1),” kicked against people attempting to reduce the June 12 struggle to an ethnic project.