As Nigeria Marks May 29, The Federal Government Should Hearken To Kola Abiola’s Voice Of Reason -By Isaac Asabor

As Nigeria commemorates May 29, the day that symbolically marks our return to civilian rule, there is no more appropriate time for sober reflection and national soul-searching. It is a day drenched in symbolism, a day when Nigerians ought to celebrate democracy, yet we do so under the shadows of unfinished business. Kola Abiola’s bold and timely opinion piece, “IBB’s A Journey in Service: A Substantive Response”, published on May 28, 2025 in some selected news platforms, could not have come at a more appropriate moment.

The Federal Government should do more than merely mark this day with rehearsed speeches and empty slogans. Instead, it must embrace Kola Abiola’s clarion call to action, a call grounded in history, soaked in sacrifice, and propelled by the moral imperative to correct the wrongs that have marred Nigeria’s democratic journey since the June 12, 1993 election.

What Kola Abiola laid bare is not just a personal grievance, nor is it a mere historical recounting. It is a damning indictment of Nigeria’s failure to reconcile with its past. It has been over three decades since that election, yet the scars remain open, not because time has failed to heal, but because the Nigerian state has consistently refused to apply the balm of truth, justice, and official accountability.

June 12, 1993, was not an ordinary day. It was the day when Nigerians, across ethnic, religious, and regional divides, united to elect Chief M.K.O. Abiola as President in what is widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest election in our history. Yet, in one fell swoop, that victory was erased by military fiat. It was not just MKO who was robbed, the entire Nigerian populace was betrayed.

To President Muhammadu Buhari’s credit, he finally gave institutional recognition to the stolen mandate. His 2018 declaration that honored MKO Abiola posthumously with the GCFR title and named June 12 as Democracy Day was a long-overdue but commendable gesture. But as Kola rightly notes, this was just the beginning.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who himself was a major NADECO figure and political exile during the military era, bears a unique historical burden. As the current custodian of Nigeria’s democratic project, and someone who intimately understands the cost of that struggle, Tinubu should take the baton from Buhari and finish the race. That finish line includes recognizing all the foot soldiers of the June 12 movement: Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Chief Alfred Rewane, and countless journalists, civil society actors, and nameless Nigerians who paid with their lives and freedom.

Kola Abiola’s frustration is justified when he questions whether Nigerians have truly learned any lessons from the June 12 tragedy. The truth is, we have not. If anything, we are dangerously close to rewriting or forgetting history altogether. A nation that forgets is doomed to repeat its errors. Already, the political space is again riddled with impunity, electoral manipulation, and the subversion of public will. The lessons of June 12 are being disregarded by a new generation of political elites who neither know nor respect the path that brought us here.

That is why the inclusion of June 12 in the national curriculum is not just a symbolic suggestion, it is a strategic necessity. With over 65% of Nigeria’s population being under the age of 45, most of them have no lived memory of that day. If we do not educate them truthfully, we are allowing our collective conscience to erode. That is a luxury Nigeria can no longer afford.

It is disheartening, though not surprising, that after 32 years, General Ibrahim Babangida (IBB) still dances around full accountability. His recent book and speech offer selective disclosures. While he finally admits that June 12 was sabotaged by internal forces, his refusal to name names,  especially those still alive, reinforces the impression that his priority is self-preservation, not national healing.

Let us be blunt: IBB’s fear of naming the living conspirators, while boldly naming the dead like General Sani Abacha, reeks of cowardice and manipulation. How can we claim to confront our history while sanitizing it for public consumption? If General IBB truly seeks redemption, he must go beyond vague confessions and provide concrete facts. Nigeria deserves the full story, not another round of half-truths wrapped in military euphemisms.

Kola Abiola also raised a lesser-discussed but equally devastating aspect of the June 12 fallout: the economic destruction targeted at MKO Abiola’s businesses. Concord Press, Summit Oil, Abiola Farms, these were not just businesses, they were institutions that employed over 15,000 Nigerians. Their systematic dismantling not only destroyed livelihoods but crippled economic structures that had national relevance. In a country still grappling with massive unemployment, the intentional economic sabotage of Abiola’s empire deserves formal redress.

This also raises a larger question: should victims of political injustice in Nigeria continue to suffer in silence while perpetrators enjoy state pensions and perks? Justice is not just about apologies; it is about restitution.

To mark May 29 meaningfully, the Federal Government must act on Kola Abiola’s proposals. We need a National Monument dedicated to the June 12 struggle, a space that immortalizes not just MKO Abiola, but every other martyr and survivor of that dark chapter. Furthermore, we must open a national register to formally recognize victims, both named and unnamed. Nigeria must show, in words and in concrete action that it respects those who fought for her democracy.

President Tinubu must resist the temptation to reduce May 29 to a ceremonial ritual. His administration, which owes its very political genesis to the fallout of June 12 and the NADECO struggle, must take bold steps to complete the arc of justice. This is not just about MKO Abiola. It is about institutionalizing historical justice and teaching future generations that democracy is not handed down, it is fought for, and those who fight for it must be honoured.

As Kola Abiola so poignantly noted, governance is a continuum. And where one administration starts a process of national healing, another must continue and complete it.

This May 29 should not be another hollow Democracy Day. It must be the day we finally say: never again. Never again will the will of Nigerians be discarded. Never again will we bury our heroes without honour. Never again will we allow a stolen mandate to be swept under the carpet of convenience.

The Federal Government must hear Kola Abiola, not out of sympathy, but out of duty. Nigeria’s democracy demands it. Her history demands it. And her people deserve it. God bless Nigeria.