Atiku Abubakar, Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP has described the celebration of June 12 as the “soul of Democratic struggle”
The former Vice President in a statement he personally
signed and made available on Wednesday said June 12 is not merely to be
declared a Democracy Day, but that the idea behind the event of June 12, 1993
“demands Nigerians as democrats to do a soul searching and ask the salient
question of all time: how better off are Nigerians?
According to Atiku, it is not enough to declare June 12 a
Democracy Day when the government of the day is disrespectful of the rule of
law and wantonly disregards court orders.
The statement reads: “June 12 is at the soul of our
democratic struggle; a threshold in our national life.
“The significance of the celebration of June 12, 1993,
Presidential Election is a reminder of our history to becoming a democratic
country. On this day twenty-six years ago, Nigeria voted for democracy against
the jackboot notion of oppressive totalitarianism.
“The collective decision by Nigerians to elect democracy on
that day was not to aggrandize the political elite or to replace the military
dictatorship with civilian autocracy. No! The choice of democracy was to
restore power to the people.
“Suffice it to state that the idea of June 12 is not merely
to declare it as a Democracy Day – much as celebratory and commendable it might
seem.
“The idea behind the event of June 12, 1993, embodies
something much bigger than that. It was a threshold moment in our national life
that demands of us as democrats to do a soul searching and ask the salient
question of all time: how better off are Nigerians?
“It is not enough to declare June 12 a Democracy Day when
the government of the day is disrespectful of the rule of law and wantonly
disregards court orders on issues that border on fundamental human rights.
“ It is not enough to declare June 12 a work-free day when
the ordinary people of Nigeria still don’t have the freedom to find a better
life from the suffocating grip of poverty, when Nigeria is now the global
headquarters of extreme poverty.
“It is not enough to declare June 12 a work-free day when a
disproportionate number of citizens are not sure of where their next meal will
come from and when the sanctity of their lives is not guaranteed.
“It is not enough to declare June 12 a work-free day when
freedom of the press, and of speech, fundamentals of democracy is being
assailed.
“As a compatriot who stood shoulder to shoulder with the
icon of the June 12 struggle, Chief MKO Abiola of blessed memory, I know
first-hand that the choice of HOPE as his campaign slogan wasn’t merely a
populist tokenism.
“ He didn’t mean to deceive Nigerians with a hope he could
not deliver upon. And, today, the minimum requirement for any June 12 convert
is to demand of them wherever they may be – either in government or in private
lives – to deliver on the promises they made to the people.
“It is therefore not acceptable that an administration which
had an opportunity of four years to deliver the promise of change to Nigerians,
not only reneged on that promise but propelled the country into a near-comatose
state will lay claims to being a true friend of the June 12 struggle.
“To be a lover of June 12 is to believe in the common good
of the people. June 12 is about the political leadership having the focus to
retool the Nigerian economy. It is about having the skills to create wealth and
jobs for the teeming mass of unemployed. It is not about the inclination for
shared pains; it is about shared prosperity.
“As we celebrate yet another episode of the June 12
struggle, the desire for hope is more preponderant today much as it was
twenty-six years ago. So, for all true lovers of democracy, let us keep the
HOPE alive.”
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