Abiodun Nejo, Ado Ekiti
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Afe Babalola, on Tuesday, called on the Federal Government to work towards making June 12 the inauguration day of future presidents and state governors.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and recognition of the late MKO Abiola were good steps to the realisation of true democracy in Nigeria.
Babalola made his position known in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
“To attain true democracy which is our hope, the government should now go further and make June 12 the day for the inauguration of all future presidents and governors.
“Secondly, the government is advised to follow up the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day with positive directives to restructure the country,” he said.
Babalola asked that the 1999 constitution, which he said was bequeathed to the country by the military, should be replaced with what he called a true federal constitution similar to the 1960 Independence Constitution and the 1963 Republican Constitution.
He added, “The pronouncement of President Buhari in 2018 (25 years after) declaring Chief MKO Abiola as the winner of the election, June 12 as Democracy Day and honouring him with GCFR are no doubt good steps in the right direction.
“But the declaration does not ipso facto amount to return of true democracy which we need in Nigeria for which M.K.O Abiola and others made huge sacrifices.
“I see those actions by President Buhari only as important milestones in our march to attain true democracy.”
Babalola, who said Nigeria lost the rare opportunity of installing Abiola as the President, said happenings in the nation at present, were confirmation of his statement during the June 12, 1993 debacle that “we are at the beginning of a journey, the end of which nobody knows.”
The present happenings, the elder statesman said, included “insecurity, kidnapping, unemployment, unpaid salaries and allowances, transactional leadership in the legislative houses, ineffective local governments
“We lost the rare opportunity of installing Chief Abiola, a transformational leader as the President. Indeed Chief Abiola possessed all the qualities best suited to unify Nigeria as a nation from a country of hundreds of nations.
