Agboola Bayo
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state has said that despite that the June 12, 1993, presidential election laid the foundation for the current democratic experiment in the country, the dreams of Late Chief MKO Abiola about the nation’s democracy were yet to be actualised.
The governor who stated this in a statement also declared June 12 as public holiday in Oyo state.
He stressed that it was unfortunate that 21 years after the June 12, 1993 election adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria, the ideals which the winner of the election, the late Chief M. K. O. Abiola, stood for that “ordinary Nigerian must be freed from the shackles of oppression, poverty, penury and want” were yet to be realised.
“The democracy that we all are enjoying today was made possible by the likes of Chief Abiola, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Senator Bola Tinubu, Gen. Alani Akinrinade and others too numerous to mention. This is why we must not allow any circumstance to wipe out the memory of June 12, the day that Nigerians put their ethnic and religious affiliations aside and decided to take their destinies in their own hands by voting for a man of the masses.”
He said the late Chief Abiola ran for election to ensure that Nigerian masses were free from their oppressors and that the destiny of the whole nation should not be held to ransom by a cabal, which forced him to stand by his mandate and to defend it to the last.
The governor said for the efforts of Chief Abiola and others not to be in vain, all hands must be on deck to ensure that good governance was further entrenched and that poverty was banished from the country.
He maintained that in Oyo state as at now, it was the ideal of good governance that is centred on development which Chief Abiola stood for that is the driving force of the present administration in the state, saying that “we believe that that is the only major way we can keep his memory alive.”
Ajimobi prayed for the repose of the late Chief Abiola’s soul and the souls of other unknown Nigerians that lost their lives in the struggle to actualise the annulled presidential election.
