June 12: Nigeria Marks Democracy Day

Democracy Day in Nigeria is the commemoration of the historic June 12, 1993 Presidential election won by the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

Abiola defeated his National Republican Convention (NRC) opponent, Alhaji Othman Tofa, during the presidential poll conducted by the then National Electoral Commission (NEC) headed by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, a political scientist.

However, the results were annulled by the former military Head-of-State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, awakening nationwide protest and onslaught against the military stern consequence for the aggrieved.

In 2019, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari revered Abiola’s presidential victory at the 1993 election, and conferred on him the posthumous award of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), the nation’s highest national honor, and proclaimed ‘June 12’ as Democracy Day. It was declared a public holiday instead of May 29, which served the purpose since the complete cessation of military rule to democratic dispensation in 1999. 

The Nigerian Senate President Ahmad Lawan enjoined Nigerians to embrace a healthy democratic practice devoid of desperation and violence.

Lawan in a statement in Abuja, said having come this far, Nigerians have no reason to doubt the nation’s ability to govern itself and attain its great potential.

He further said: “Our uninterrupted practice of democracy in the last 21 years attests that democratic civil rule is taking roots and becoming firmly entrenched in Nigeria,” 

He continue: “I felicitate with fellow Nigerians on the occasion of this year’s Democracy Day, the second time it is being celebrated on June 12.

“June 12 has become a metaphor in our country for free, fair and credible elections and a memorial for the day in which Nigerians stoutly rose above ethnic and religious sentiments to deliver a pan-Nigerian mandate for the revival of hope in their country unity and attainment of its great potential.

“The heroic demonstration of patriotism by the Nigerian voters on June 12, 1993 will continue to inspire generations of their compatriots to promote national unity and defend democracy in Nigeria.”