Nigerians Must Defend this Democracy, Say Babalola, Senators

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

A legal icon, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) and the Southern Senators Forum, have appealed to Nigerians not to allow the current democracy to be truncated by their inactions.
They said the country was still grappling and searching for true democracy that begun in 1993, where the late MKO Abiola won the freest and fairest presidential election that was annulled by the military.

Babalola, in a statement yesterday marking the June 12 election, said the operation of the country’s democracy and its success would determine whether Abiola died in vain or not.
Babalola, who was the Counsel to the late Abiola while struggling to reclaim his mandate, said: “June 12 is of utmost significance in Nigerian history. It was the day when MKO Abiola, a wealthy, popular philanthropist and politician was overwhelmingly elected by Nigerians.

“After the annulment, I made a prophetic statement that ‘this is the beginning of a journey the end of which nobody knows.’
“Today, many years after that prophetic statement, Nigeria is still on the search for true democracy which began on June 12, 1993.

“To prevent Nigeria from total collapse, it is my humble view that it has now become necessary to immediately address the critically important issue of National Conference to draft a peoples’ Federal Constitution similar to 1963 Constitution based on Parliamentary System of Government.
“Finally, one may ask whether the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day by the federal government has so far yielded any result and whether Abiola died in vain or not? Time will tell.”

The Southern Senators’ Forum in a statement by its Chairman, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, congratulated Nigerians on this year’s Democracy Day, appealing to them not to despair or exhibit despondence about the country’s parlous and debilitating political and economic situations.

The statement said: “The forum congratulates all Nigerians on this heartwarming feat. Since Nigerian Independence in 1960, Nigeria has not practiced democracy, ranked as the best form of government, this long.

“The cacophony of confusion caused by widespread insecurity and mutual distrust can only be healed when we are united. Secession agenda, nepotism, ethnic and religious upheavals would only stoke the fire and push us to the verge of destruction, if we fail to moderate our tempers and act wisely at these trying times”.

Meanwhile, the Coalition of Northern Groups says it would not participate in the planned nationwide protests, alleging that members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra were set to turn the protests violent.

The Northern group made this known at a press conference in Kaduna yesterday.
CNG Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, who addressed journalists on behalf of the group, said it was not in their tradition to jump onto a flight without knowing its actual destination.
Suleiman said, “We can’t drag the North into an agenda that is not properly stated and for which we are not even contacted. This is in addition to keeping the North away from the trap set by IPOB to sponsor infiltration in some northern states to turn the protests violent. In the event of any ugly incidence, the anti-North schemers would then hold the region up as the volatile section of the country.

“Another reason for our non-participation of CNG and all our affiliates and organs is the fact that we do not recognise the legitimacy of June 12 as Democracy Day in the first place.”