OPC leader calls on FG to declare June 12 a national day

The leader of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Gani Adams has called on the Federal Government to declare June 12 a national day.

He said “It is indeed sad that apart from the Southwest states of Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, and Osun, which have doggedly continued to celebrate the hero and later martyr of that battle, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, there has been studied indifference to the June 12 phenomenon by the Federal Government and remarkably, the rest of Nigeria.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria, should as a matter of honour to the late politician and business mogul, Abiola, who fought and died for the current democracy, make June 12 of every year a national holiday.”

Adams said this while speaking at an event organised to honour Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12 elections.

June 12, 1993, was the day the electorates went to the polls, in what international observers termed Nigeria’s freest and fairest election.

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According to him, “It is sad today that those that benefited most from MKO Abiola’s martyrdom do not want to be reminded of him. And those who used to talk about injustice have since, given the opportunity, inflicted their own injustice on the people.

“Those who used to swear by Abiola’s name have since found new political patrons. Those who proclaimed Abiola as the symbol of democracy and the rallying point for the peoples’ hopes have since been dancing on his grave.”

Recently, Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Late Gen. Sani Abacha, alleged that Abiola was killed in detention.