For Abiola’s children, it’s June 12 with a difference…

Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s formal recognition of June 12 as the nation’s Democracy Day, public reactions have been overwhelming. Some of Abiola’s children are not left out as examined by TUNDE BUSARI.

It had been a relatively long time the family of the winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections, the late Chief MKO Abiola was in the public glare for any reason. The Abiolas seemed to have unanimously settled for a low profile in a country which leadership had conspired against the sacrifice made by the patriarch of the family in the enthronement of the current democratic journey which took off in 1999.

Except those who have flare for Nigerian history, few Nigerians born after 1993 have a full grasp of what Abiola symbolizes and his place in political history. That vacuum has, however, been consigned into the dustbin of the past as everybody is now awake to whom Abiola was before he paid the supreme price in June 1998.

And to President Muhammadu Buhari, who had suffered some image summersaults over what some critics called his flippant style of governance, belongs the credit for the feat.  On June 6, President Buhari rose and most unexpectedly declared June 12 as Democracy Day in contrast to May 29, a date which ushered him into power.

The President did not stop at that, he also announced the posthumous conferment of the highest national honour of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR) on Abiola. Whether the executive order was a political gimmick or genuine respect for the late philanthropist, the public welcomed it and momentarily played down some unveiled shortcomings of the President. Most of the reactions are affirmative and good image laundering to him and his administration.

Also aroused, some children of Abiola joined the ovation and also expressed their gratitude for catching them unawares. So, on Sunday, June 10, the family, consisting wives and children of Abiola, were guests of the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in his Ikoyi residence.

Tagged ‘Thank You Visit, it was an opportunity explored to formally acknowledge the role played by Tinubu in the struggle to place Abiola in his rightful place in Nigerian history.

At Bordillon, the eldest child, Mrs Lola Abiola-Edewor lamented the frustration of the family over the failure of past administrations to, in her words, do what is right.

“The Lord bless President Buhari for this singular honour that he’s done this family and that’s really why we have come to see Asiwaju, to thank him for the role he played in the whole saga, which turned out to be a watershed made right. To thank him for standing in, standing firm and standing strong,” she remarked.

Earlier, specifically on June 7, the eldest son of Abiola, Alhaji Abdul-Lateef Kola Abiola had written a letter to President in appreciation of his gesture. In the said letter, it was revealed that the family had on June 12, 2016 sent a request to the president on the same subject matter, thanking President Buhari for heading the family plea.

He wrote: “The award was the only befitting recognition of the importance of Chief Abiola’s fight for democracy for Nigeria which culminated in 4 years in incarceration/solitary confinement and decimation of his business and financial interests, before the ultimate sacrifice, being his life on July 7 1998 at the age of 60.

“Your Excellency, your decision to also designate June 12 as Democracy Day rights the wrong done to all the nation-builders and heroes that produced the democratic credentials on which the Nigerian polity now thrives.  We are profoundly grateful to the people from all corners of Nigeria that worked tirelessly to ensure the most free and fair elections in our nation’s history in 1993, fought valiantly for the Hope ’93 mandate given to Bashorun Abiola by the Nigerian people and died trying to protect the mandate.”

Human right activism in her vein dictated the tone of Hafsat Abiola-Castelo’s remark on President Buhari’s executive order. She wondered why past government decided to ethicize her father’s struggle and feigned its significance to the positions they occupied.

She said: “What the past leaders have been telling us since 1999 was that the June 12 issue is a South- West issue and I wondered why an election in which vast majority of Nigerians voted for one person could be so described. “I have been wondering over the years if Nigerian leaders are so petty and without moral compunction as to limit and confine such activity and date to regional affair.

“President Buhari has, however, done the right thing and acceded to the yearnings of Nigerians and made it a national issue. I believe more Nigerians will now be ready to re-dedicate their lives to Nigeria and be ready to commit themselves selflessly and sacrificially to the nation like late Moshood Abiola did.

She also revealed that sign of what was ahead for the memory of her father emerged at the inauguration of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the Eagles Square on May 29, 1999 when she had thought that Obasanjo would ask the country to observe a minute of silence in memory of MKO, Kudirat, Alfred Rewane, Umaru Yar’Adua, Bal Kaltho, the thousands of students, the tens of journalists, traders and politicians who lost their lives fighting to actualise an unjustly annulled election.

Hafzat recalled: “There was a time we had a president in 1999 whom Nigerians begged to recognise the date but refused and remained insensitive to the yearnings of Nigerians for eight years. The good Lord has proven that such insensitivity has limit and has raised another president who has now done the right thing 25 years after while that former president is still living to witness the glory he should have taken go to another president with a large heart. There is an arrogance to power but leaders should realise that the only thing that tempers the arrogance of power is the temporariness of power.

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“The first four years passed and it became clear that the goal was to erase the name of the man whose sacrifice paved the way for our democracy. Those four years set the tone. And I got tired of waiting. It slowly became clear that to wait was to wait in vain. May we live to witness many more days when justice triumphs over injustice, when sacrifice and service win over arrogance and fraud, and when the blood of our heroes reach from across time to boldly claim the reward that their actions wrought. I stopped expecting my country to do the right thing by my father and instead began to understand why Nigeria struggles to find patriots among its leaders.”

Another son, Alhaji Jamiu Abiola was ecstatic and indeed emotional admitting his joy at the development and drawing a comparison between her father and Julius Caeser of the Roman Empire who also suffered conspiracy of the elite and paid with his life.

He also disclosed that at a point he got frustrated because, according to him, some people were trying to rewrite history by ignoring his father.

Jamiu said: “Right now I can say that I am the happiest man, not just literally, but factually. I am the happiest man because for so long I felt that my parents died for nothing because there is nothing worse than somebody making a sacrifice and the sacrifice not recognised. It was recognised by Nigerians but those that got power after June 12 found it convenient to sweep it under the carpet for reasons best known to them.

“I want everybody in Nigeria to give special respect to President Buhari. He is very fantastic. I am not flattering him because that is the truth. Some say that the truth is bitter, but in this case, the truth is sweet about President Muhammadu Buhari. In this case, he is not only a good person but a perfect person. He is not a Yoruba man. He is from Katsina and has proven that he is more detribalised than any other Nigerian. He is of the same calibre with people like Mandela and Chief Abiola.

“Now he has shown that it is not about where anyone comes from, but about the fact that we are one. That is the symbolic meaning of what he has done. 25 years ago the election was held and nobody that got to power did what he has done. President Goodluck Jonathan tried by naming the University of Lagos after him but people felt that, UNILAG was too small for Chief Abiola. I was very happy when he did it because I believe that if someone is going somewhere, he must start from somewhere.”

Wura Abiola was somehow economical with words, writing: “Dearest Daddy, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola GCFR. Wonderful to finally be able to write this, 20 years on! Thank you President Buhari.”