June 12: MKO Abiola’s ideals yet to be realized – Ajimobi
By Daramola Adebayo on June 12, 2017
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has expressed concern that 24
years after the June 12th election adjudged to be the freest and fairest
in the history of the country, the ideals for which Chief Masood
Kasimawo Abiola (MKO) who won the election stood had yet to be realized.
Ajimobi who described the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential
election as a turning point in the annals of the country, however
declared that the supreme price paid by the acclaimed winner of the
election, late Chief Abiola, can never be forgotten.
In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Communication and
Strategy, Mr. Yomi Layinka, in Ibadan, on Monday morning, Ajimobi said
that the only way to ensure that their sacrifice is not in vain is to
promote and institutionalize good governance until poverty, injustice
and insecurity are significantly reduced in Nigeria.
While describing the late politician and business mogul as a symbol
of democracy, he praised him for his strong conviction that ordinary
Nigerians must be freed from the shackles of oppression and penury.
“It was this conviction that Nigerian masses should be freed from
their oppressors and that the destiny of the whole nation should not be
held to ransom by a cabal that propelled him to stand by his mandate and
to defend it to the last.
“The democracy that we all are enjoying now was made possible by the
likes of Chief Abiola, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Anthony Enahoro,
Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Chief Frank Kokori,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and others too numerous to mention.
“This is why we must not allow any circumstance to wipe out the
memory of June 12; the day that Nigerians, irrespective of their ethnic
or religious affiliations, decided to take their destinies in their own
hands by voting overwhelmingly for a man after their heart.’’
Ajimobi prayed for the repose of Abiola’s soul and the souls of other
Nigerians who lost their lives in the struggle to actualize the
annulled presidential election.
He said that Abiola’s ideal of good governance had always influenced
his administration’s policies in its avowed commitment to the massive,
pro-people infrastructural development of Oyo State.
“This ideal of good governance that is centred on development remains
the driving force of our administration. We fervently believe that this
is what MKO would have wished for. That is why we would continue to
follow in that path in order to keep his memory alive”.
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