Okei-Odumakin wants June 12 campaigners’ reunion

As Nigeria marks the 30th anniversary of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election widely believed to have been won by the late MKO Abiola, a sociopolitical activitist, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, has called for a reunion of all pro-democracy activitists, who battled the military over the annulled election.

Okei-Odumakin, alongside the late human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi, Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana, Frank Kokori, among others, led protests attempting to force the hands of the military junta to free Abiola from detention and hand him his electoral victory. In a statement on Sunday titled, “June 12: An activist as President,” Okei-Odumakin said while it was good that Bola Tinubu, one of the champions of democracy, had become President, other activists who confronted the military to demand democracy deserved being recognised as well. She said, “On June 12, there should be a healthy reunion of erstwhile June 12 activists. The one in Aso Rock and those in other rocks. “This is germane, since the annulment of June 12 election results was the worst kind of rigging to ever occur in Nigeria. “Bola Tinubu was a National Democratic Coalition member. What NADECO did was to ask Abacha some uncomfortable questions. “He had to escape through the NADECO route when he was being asked for his life as an answer. Others were served the same compliments. “Yet, the story today is not what Tinubu did or failed to do. I just reflected on the ‘others’. Where are we? Where are the others who have not rested and not turned political moguls? Why has Tinubu attained the heights alone? “Did he walk right and the other chieftains walked wrong or they walked right and he changed path, that one could not follow the other?” Okei-Odumakin said the gathering she craved was not targeted at “any juicy appointments but to rise in duty and in dignity to make offerings of the mind.” Meanwhile, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has urged Nigerians to keep faith with democracy despite setbacks experienced in the country’s democratic sojourn. In a statement to commemorate the 2023 Democracy Day, the governor hailed the resolve of Nigerians to work collectively for the advancement of democratic ideals. He said, “As we mark this year’s Democracy Day, it is imperative to underscore the unwavering resolve of Nigerians to work collectively for the advancement of democratic ideals in our nation. “Though we have experienced setbacks and challenges as a democracy along the way, I applaud the indomitable Nigerian spirit because we have continued to trudge on and demand a more transparent, just and fair system. This is even as our faith in the merit and relevance of democracy grows stronger.”