Democracy Day, June 12: ‘Hope’ is not alive yet

The man who directly benefitted from the blood of late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola was the one who was supposed to make June 12 our democracy day, because that was the only time in the history of our struggling country that Nigerians rose above religion and ethnicity to elect the person they believed could lead them into the future of Nigeria, but he did not do anything on it till he left the highest office in the land. Why didn’t he do anything about it?The reasons are best known to him.

He cooked up 29th May, making it our democracy day and for eight (8) years; each time he walked on a red-carpet, he was actually walking on the blood of MKO Abiola. He ended up leaving the office as those before him since the birth of Nigeria and after him, late Yar’ Adua became the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was a good man, but death did not allow him to finish his days in office, so I really cannot say if it was on his mind to right the wrong of 29th May being our democracy day.

After Yar’ Adua passed on, there was a lot of crisis in the country, birthed by those who wanted to hold on to power, playing a dirty breed of politics with the home-going of His Excellency, late Yar’ Adua. After some protests across the length and breadth of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was brought to power. Nigerians rose as one man—to make him the president of our greatly valued country, but for reasons best known to him, he chose not to work for Nigerians while he was in power. He too ended up not doing anything about changing our Democracy Day from 29th May to 12th June!

After he relocated to “Otuoke” from Abuja, PMB became our C-in-C. And what those who were before him chose not to do, he did it on the 6th June, 2018, eight (8) days after we marked the former lackluster Democracy Day of that year. Nigerians were at least happy that late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) was eventually recognized officially by a sitting president of Nigeria since he was wasted by those who hate and detest Nigeria.

How was Abiola wasted? One of the many conflicting records has it that Thomas Pickering; the special envoy from President Bill Clinton of the United States came to Abuja to press for Abiola’s release from prison. Pickering, under Secretary of State, was well-known to late Abiola for the envoy was once his country’s ambassador to Lagos. With him were Susan Rice, the Assistant Secretary State and Ambassador Twaddell. It was basically and principally a meeting between the American delegation and the elected President, but the normal contingent of spies and Junta’s officials was present, including Buhari Bala, the Minister of the State of Foreign Affairs under Abdusalam Abubakar.

Pickering told late Abiola what his purpose was. The military, he said, wanted some assurance on the June 12 mandate. “Let them free me first, then we can negotiate later,” late MKO told him. The security men also served tea round. Though the elected president was looking gaunt, boney, emaciated and skinny, but he was in good spirits. He was snipping his tea with familiar gusto, delight and zest. Then he coughed and took leave to go to the toilet. When he emerged again from the door, pulling his shirt off, he was looking pale and pastel and distant. He coughed violently and then collapsed on the couch.

The security men around appeared perplexed. Rice suggested that they had better call a doctor. Ten precious minutes later, while Abiola lay dying on the couch, a doctor finally came. Abiola was then carried, to the Aso Rock Clinic, after the doctor tried vainly to apply first aid. He was dead on arrival.” The autopsy reports has it that he died of natural causes! Col. Ajayi said he was tortured before his death. How precisely did Abiola die?

Late MKO Abiola was deliberately kept in prison, so as to invalidate his mandate. They knew quite well that keeping him in prison for years would cause his mandate to become expired and they were able to achieve that. See what late Koffi Annan said to Abiola, “Nobody in the international community would recognize you on the basis of a five-year-old mandate.”

Since 1993, we have not had another free, fair and credible election. And all the reasons that made Nigerians vote for MKO then, are still with us today. PMB is the 4th democratically elected president of Nigeria, but our people are still living in abject poverty and are still being killed like fowls on a daily basis. The profit of the land goes to a few, not to everyone. Power is being used to serve self, not the common man.True “Hope” was lost when the back of Abiola’s mandate was smashed on the ground of injustice and ended up dying when he was mysteriously killed. Till today, “hope” is not alive yet.

Today is another Democracy Day, but we do not have democracy yet! People are still being incarcerated for criticizing mere public servants. People are still more powerful than our Institutions of government. And Nigeria Police force, Nigerian Army and DSS are still being used to witch-hunt those who vehemently criticize those in power, forgetting that without heavy and objective criticisms, we cannot have a nation that truly works. Till this moment, those who count votes are more important than those who vote. “Hope” is not alive yet. We will be deceiving ourselves to believe otherwise.