The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday dismissed the national honour proposed to be conferred on the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential poll, Chief MKO Abiola, by President Muhammadu Buhari, as not only hypocritical but also an act of political desperation ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
The party accused President Buhari of seeking to use Abiola’s name and person to gain political capital, insisting that the gesture was not out of genuine reverence and recognition for the late business mogul.
President Buhari on Wednesday announced June 12 as the new Democracy Day in Nigeria.
In a press statement he personally signed, the president said Nigerians believe that “June 12, 1993, was and is far more symbolic of Democracy in the Nigerian context than May 29, or even October 1.”
The President equally decided to award posthumously the highest Honour in the land, GCFR, to Abiola who won the 1993 presidential election.
Abiola’s running mate, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, is also to be awarded a GCON just as late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, will be posthumously awarded a GCON for the role he played in the futile attempt to actualize the June 12, 1993 elections.
The commemoration and investiture will take place on June 12, 2018.
But in a swift reaction shortly after the announcement, PDP recalled that “President Buhari, who was serving in the military administration of General Sani Abacha during the travails of Chief MKO Abiola, did not associate either by words or actions with the late winner of June 12 election.”
The party further stated that history did not record President Buhari as sympathetic to the Abiola family when his wife, Kudirat, was gruesomely murdered by the agents of a government which President Buhari served.
“It is therefore a sign of political desperation for President Buhari to seek to use Chief Abiola’s name as a tool to sway Nigerians in less than 12 months to an election where he, (President Buhari) is seeking a second term.
“It is also shocking that the respectable grave of Abiola can be dishonoured by granting a posthumous award on him along with someone who denounced the June 12 mandate and preferred the company of his (Abiola’s) traducers.
“Even those who now masquerade as change agents were opposed to the naming of University of Lagos after Chief Abiola.
“If President Buhari genuinely wants to honour Chief Abiola, he should do so by ending all anti-democratic proclivities of his administration and allow for the rule of law and respect for our constitution.
“The PDP therefore urges President Buhari to shed his desperate actions in his quest to win the 2019 presidential election as Nigerians can no longer be deceived by such antics.”
