Gathering for June 12

Proponents of June 12, 1993 elections gather to commemorate the day and strategise for the future

By Emma Maduabuchi

The day had a clear sky at the heart of Ikeja, last Monday June 12, 2006, when coveners of the day’s event cheerfully welcomed their members and guest into the air-conditioned hall.
It was a gathering in honour of Chief Moshood Abiola, acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential elections.
For many people, who thronged the Oranmiyan Hall of the Lagos Airport Hotel, that day, it was an event most attended and celebrated since 2003, when five south west states were taken over by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The event which was chaired by Anthony Enahoro, the octogenrian, who headed the Nation Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which fought the military out of power, had in attendance such important personalities as Ndubuisi Kanu, a retired Rear Admiral of the Nigerian Navy; Frank Kokori, the former leader of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN); and Segun Olusola, a former Director in the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and also a former Ambassador.
Others at the occasion included: Honourable Uche Onyeagocha of the Federal House of Representatives; Femi Falana, a Lagos based lawyer, and president of the West African Bar Association; Osagie Obayuwana, Chairman, National Conscience Party (NCP); Remi Adiukwu Bakare, a Lagos Stae governorship aspirant and leader of O’odua People s Congress Fredrick Fasheun, a medical doctor and several other notable personalities.
Wole Soyinka, the nobel laureate was not present as he was said to have traveled out of the country on a very serious national matter. The governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was absent, but was represented by his Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dele Alake.
Also present for the celebration was Benjamin Adekunle, known as Black Scorpion, during the 1967-1970 civil war, Bamidele Aturu, Lagos based lawyer and leader of the People’s Forum (PF) Yemi Kuforiji, Speaker of the Lagos State Assembly; and Hassan Olukoba, leader of the coalition of Self-Determination Groups (COSEG).
Many organisations present at the occasion included: Pro-National Conference Organisation (PRONACO); Yoruba Youth Assembly; Campaign for Democracy (CD); Nigerian Labour Congress; Peoples Forum (PF); and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
Others included: O’odua People’s Congress (OPC); Igbo Youth Congress; Federation of O’odua Self-Determination Groups and many others.
The day was one in which many great speeches were made and messages given. Among those who spoke was Uche Onyeagocha, who lamented that the nation was regrettably drifting towards 2007 as if all was well, and contended that there were danger signals all around. According to him, as long as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was not independent, the electoral brigandage of the 2003 would be a child’s play.
Onyeagocha celebrated the defeat of the tenure elongation scheme, which he claimed had revealed the hollowness of certain people that they had held in high esteem.
Also present at the occasion who made what was considered by many as one of the greatest speeches was Professor Pat Utomi, of the Lagos Business School, who is equally a presidential aspirant in the current political dispensation.
He told his audience that the Nigerian nation had sadly drifted to a situation where two nations exist within one. He called them the nations of those who lead, which he said, is distinct from that of those who are led.
He then declared: “Unless we begin to lead as servant leaders… we will not have the progress that Nigeria deserves”.
Segun Olusola drew the attention of the audience to another direction, the direction of the issue of reparation, contending that Abiola’s death was masterminded by those who did not want Abiola as a leader in Nigeria that would be in the vanguard of the battle for reparation.
Olukoba, who lead a singing crowd of COSEG into the hall told the audience that June 12 did not belong to the aircondition halls. He advised therefore that from next year, that the organisation must endeavour to bring it to the streets where the people whose will were scuttled by the annulment reside.
Enahoro, in his opening remarks as the chairman seemed to have sumed up the speeches of the day when he stated: “what we shall remember is that he (Abiola) fought as a hero, fought and died a herohs death”.
The day's event was concluded with the unfolding of a scroll which contained more than 200 names of people (living and dead) described as heroes of democracy.