The media is awash with June 12 stories not only because it is another anniversary of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Chief MKO Abiola but also because the presidential address by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu provided enough meat for people with diverse interests and motives to feed fat on. For the President’s political opponents, there was nothing the president could have said that they would not have torn into pieces.
THE PROBLEMS REMAIN THE SAME
Has fuel price returned to the N187 it was before Tinubu made his “subsidy is gone” announcement? Has the Naira exchange rate returned to the pre-Tinubu merger of the official and black market exchange rates? Has insecurity abated all over the country? What of the cankerworm of corruption: Has it been fought to a standstill? Have cries of “we are hungry” ceased completely all over the land? The answer to all these questions is capital NO!
The President himself admitted that much, even if indirectly, in his address to the joint session of the National Assembly. He reeled out all the policies and actions of his government. He told us that reasonable progress has been made. He encouraged us to keep faith with his government; that he could see light at the end of the tunnel. Not many Nigerians can see what he sees, though. But that does not mean he did not see what he claims to have seen. His position is vantaged; besides, how many times did Elijah send his servant to look towards the sea to see whether there was any sign of the abundant rain he had declared to murderous King Ahab? Seven times! This was even after he had declared that he heard the sound of the abundance of rain. No one else heard the sound: Not the king and not the servant. And Elijah had to pray really hard before what he prophesied became reality. (1 Kings 18: 41 – 46). Taking a cue from that, Tinubu still has a lot of work to do to bring to reality the better life he keeps promising Nigerians is around the corner. At best, therefore, Nigeria is still “work in progress”
FIGHT-TO-FINISH
Will the President’s opponents understand and appreciate this? I do not think so! Remember, the President once told us we should not pity him; that he asked for this job; he begged to have it, and he crossed many streams and climbed many hills before his invocation of “Emilokan” became reality. So, don’t expect the opposition to pity him. Here, politics is winner-takes-all. The President himself is not showing the opposition any mercy. He told them in his address that their grief is his joy; their pain, his delight. That was after he had said he had no intention or plot to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, but if the opposition, unable to put its house in order, gifts the President a one-party state, so be it!
What the President forgot to do was cap that section of his speech with the former governor of Rivers state and FCT minister, Nyesom Wike’s signature song: “As e dey pain dem/E dey sweet us/As e dey sweet us/E dey pain dem!” President Tinubu left no one in doubt that the gale of defections that has hit the PDP sweets his stomach. More of it!
THE POLITICS OF HEROES’ AWARDS
President Tinubu is a politician par excellence! Give that to him! He gave everyone something to cheer as well as to deride in his long list of June 12 heroes. Some unpardonable errors of repetition of names gives the impression that the list must have been hastily compiled. More diligence is needed in the future. Granted that everyone could not have made the list, there were some omissions that were unexplainable. I doff my hat for the President for the many names of my professional colleagues that made the list. But some must have been deliberately omitted because they are not in the administration’s good books. Every top editor on the “The News” stable got onto the list except Babafemi Ojudu! I saw only Dare Babarinsa from TELL magazine. When Niran Malaolu called me on Friday evening to invite me to his radio station for a program on Monday, I asked him why his name was missing on the list. George Mbah, Chris Anyanwu and so many others. Those of us at The PUNCH newspapers were completely blotted out; yet, we stood and fought for June 12 more than anyone else; even more than the Concord newspapers owned by MKO Abiola, the symbol of the June 12 struggle. I stand to be corrected because facts and figures back up this claim. But like I said earlier, maybe everyone cannot be on the list at one and the same time. Maybe next time…
But the truth is that not everyone who was a June 12 hero can be honoured or will ever be honoured. Many were mowed down in their hundreds all over Lagos and some other places by Abacha. Who knows those ones? Who can ever identify them? What of those who just disappeared? Only those who had a name were known. And only those who have someone in the corridors of power to mention their name will be remembered. And, even at that, only those who are in the good books of the government will be pencilled down for such awards. But I have a suggestion: Let us have a cenotaph for “Unknown June 12 hero”, just like we have for ” Unknown soldier”. And just like we lay wreaths on the unknown soldier cenotaph every January 15th, let us do similarly for the unknown June 12 hero every June 12th, if not all over the country but at least in the FCT Abuja and Lagos, where many of the victims were callously mowed down by Abacha. That way, the known heroes may get their rewards and the unknown may get theirs as well. Having said that, Tinubu’s initiative to revisit June 12 is good. He was one of us in that struggle. He is, thus, like a river that has not forgotten its source. The shame and regret now will be for those before him who had the opportunity to do but neglected to do.
IS THIS A DEMOCRACY?
As I close, let me say that I think the name “Democracy Day” is an abnormality. This country is yet to experience democracy properly so-called. The grundnorm of every democracy is the Constitution. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) is a fraud. It claims that “We the people” of Nigeria gave ourselves the constitution when we did not. That constitution is a military imposition, rammed down our throats by the retreating Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar military junta. In fact, it is said that the entire constitution was drafted by one Prof. Yadudu – single-handedly. The 1960 Constitution was the only constitution negotiated by the leaders of the various Nigerian peoples. I have a grouse with the 1963 so-called Republican constitution because of the way the conspiracy of Balewa and Zik created the Mid-west out of the Western Region to whittle its power and influence while the behemoth Northern Region and the colluding Eastern Region were left intact despite the serious agitations by the minorities there for the creation of Middle Belt and South-South (Ogoja) regions.
Democracy is defined as “government of the people, by the people and for the people”. Since 1999 when this Fourth Republic took off, we have not had a government ” by the people”. All elections have been rigged. We have not had a government “of the people”; the ruling class in power is disconnected from the people it purports to lead, serve or represent. Since 1999, we have not had a government “for the people”. They have all, in the main, existed for their own personal and selfish interests. Which is why the people’s condition and existentialism get worse government after government. It does not just rain for the mass of our people, it pours! Perhaps our rulers – not leaders in the real sense of the word – will get born-again and turn a new leaf tomorrow or the day after!
TO RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA IS A TASK THAT MUST BE FONEY
In the aftermath of the Nigerian civil war, “To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done” became a slogan. Even the name of the then military Head of State, Gowon, was imaginatively spelt out to mean “Go On With One NIGERIA (GOWON)!” This time around, “To restructure Nigeria has become a task that must be done.” People with uncommon imagination should help us coin something out of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s NAME in that regard. Just as Yakubu Gowon became known with keeping Nigeria one, Tinubu must endeavour to go down in history as the man that took up the inescapable, even if arduous, task of restructuring it.
HOW MANY YEARS OF CIVILIAN RULE SO FAR?
Now, when people say we have had 26 unbroken years of democracy, I disagree. What we have had, at best, is civil or civilian rule. Governments are hardly civil here: so, let’s not bedeck them in borrowed robes. But we have had civilians in power – even at that, I cannot count 26 years. Obasanjo was, soul and spirit, a military man merely donning “agbada” or civilian dress for the eight years he was in office as president; ditto Buhari. So, 26 minus 16 = 10 years. By my own calculation, we have had only 10 years of civilian rule. For the 16 years that they were in office, Obasanjo and Buhari ruled like military despots.
POSERS FOR MR. SPEAKER
Let me note the speaker of the House of Representatives’ plea to Tinubu to do something about the country’s epileptic power supply. I like that subtle reminder by Mr. Speaker to Mr. President that having solved his own power problem with a multi-billion Naira solar contract, he should not abandon hapless Nigerians to their fate. As I write this, no light!
Mr. Speaker also thanked the President for putting more money in the pockets of legislators for constituency projects – but where are the projects? We can’t see them. Someone said they are in the stomachs, pockets and offshore bank accounts of legislooters! Enhanced financing of the three tiers and arms of government has not translated into enhanced performance or the trickle down of the “dividends of democracy” to the grassroots level. Who bells the cat?
The incomplete list of June 12 heroes – Ajasin family
Much as I hate to get personal, I would be lying if I didn’t say that I and other members of my family were rather surprised that the name of our father was not among those honoured by President Tinubu as he doled out National honours to June 12 heroes. Besides, I have been inundated with calls from friends and well-wishers wondering why my late father’s name, Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, was omitted from the list. As is characteristic of the Ajasin family, our deeds are mostly altruistic, since there is usually no craving for any reward, notwithstanding our privations. Consequently, our deeds and performances very often go unnoticed/unrecognized. However, it is unconscionable that the leader of the group (NADECO) best known for fighting the military and bringing about the much-touted democracy never got a single mention in the scheme of June 12 celebration/anniversary! I do not know whether this conspicuous omission was deliberate or not, but be it known that Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin CFR in his lifetime doubled as the Leader of Afenifere and NADECO, the two organizations that were the arrowheads and in the forefront of the fight against military dictatorship. It was Afenifere that provided the leadership for all the other activists and civil society organizations which included the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Movement for National Reformation (MNR), National Conscience Party (NCP) Concerned Professionals (CP), etc… At the risk of being immodest, my father, our family and, indeed, the Owo community were subjected to all sorts of risks from the marauding goons of the Abacha regime. Even where no awards or rewards are dispensed to these heroes of democracy, they certainly deserve to be recognised and mentioned in a country that has a dearth of heroes. – Chief Tokunbo Ajasin (For the Family).
*Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.