The Lagos
State Government on Sunday joined Oyo, Ekiti, Ogun and Osun states to
declare Monday public holiday to mark the June 12 anniversary in the
state..
Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode, in a statement issued by the Secretary to the State
Government, Mr. Tunji Bello, said the state remains committed to the
ideals of the annulled 1993 presidential election.
Ambode
said the holiday was in honour of the ideals, which June 12, 1993
presidential election represented, being a day that the country
experienced an election that was adjudged as the freest and fairest in
Nigeria’s history.
He
said that 24 years after, the ideals of June 12 are still worth
celebrating, describing the day as one of the most defining moments of
the country’s political history, which had positively shaped its
democracy.
The governor urged Nigerians to go beyond the commemoration and strive to entrench a viable democracy.
He
said that this was a way to immortalize the late winner of the June 12,
1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O Abiola through the practice of
true federalism and conduct of credible and fair elections.
“June
12, 1993 is a day we must not forget in the annals of our democratic
history. Our present democratic experience may still be far from the
ideal, but we must all make concerted efforts to entrench fiscal
federalism, which is the only way to achieve true nationhood.”
Ambode
said that part of the enduring lessons of June 12 election was that it
imbued the patriotic and nationalistic zeal in all Nigerians, to speak
with one voice to make a political choice, devoid of ethnic, racial or
social sentiments.
“On
June 12, 1993, majority of Nigerians across all divides demonstrated
through the ballot box that irrespective of class or ethnic sympathies,
the Nigerian people are united and would always join hands to promote
our unifying values.
“Though
the peoples’ hope was dashed with the annulment of the elections by the
military junta, the lessons of the elections cannot be wished away
despite subterranean efforts by many to do,” Ambode said.
He described June 12 as the real Democracy Day in Nigeria.
“We
owe it a duty to genuinely immortalize the fallen heroes of the June 12
struggle nationally and deepen our democratic values to ensure that
never again will such anti-people action be allowed to take place,” he
said
He
also assured that his administration would remain committed to the
ideals of June 12 by carrying out people-oriented programmes across the
state and making life more comfortable for the people.
He
said that state government, through the office of Civic Engagement, had
perfected arrangement for the annual public symposium, which would hold
on Monday to celebrate June 12.
~NAN
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