"You cannot shave a man’s head in his absence"
—MKO Abiola, winner of 1993
Presidential Election
 |
| *Late MKO Abiola |
I am reproducing this piece I did when we were all falling over
ourselves as officialdom announced it was, at last and belatedly, embracing
June 12 as a national event and not a regional or ethnic phenomenon. Nothing
has changed to alter my stand: federal recognition or not, June 12 derives
traction from its own sanctity. It does not require robes of bureaucratic
crutches to stand! Here goes:
It is unlikely that a resurrected Bashorun MKO
Abiola would hail President Muhammadu Buhari for attempting to honour him and
the mandate he received on June 12, 1993 the way most citizens have done. The
applause the Abiola family and a section of the human rights community are
giving the recognition is also not sufficient to conclude that they have spoken
for MKO. True, the struggle for the fulfillment of June 12 was beyond Abiola,
his family and the activists. It was (still is) Pan-Nigerian and would appear
to require all hands, including government, to give it restitution of some sort.
These, however, are inadequate levers to
achieve a sense of closure on our unpleasant experience. We need to address the
matter of redeeming that day and the victory it gave the people from a catholic
consideration, not merely from the narrow angle of proclamation of a few people
as heroes and a day as democracy day. These may form part of the larger picture
we desire. But they pale beside the substance of fundamental recognition that
accommodates what Abiola sought: good governance that would in turn deliver the
good things of life to the ordinary citizens.
Simplistically settling for a national award
for MKO to retrieve June 12 from seeming obloquy amounts to the case of a
student who produces the answer to an algebraic puzzle without the arduous,
exciting and brain taxing process of working out the
formulae and key to arrive at the solution. The student would incur the wrath
of the teacher and be charged with malpractices that carry heavy penalties. How
did he get the correct answer without evincing labour for it? Did he steal it
by playing giraffe? Is he making a mockery of the dignity of scholarship? Is he
giving the impression his teacher was so incompetent he wouldn't guide him
through the exciting process of sweating for the QED?
As long as these posers crop up with no
convincing responses, the society can't accept what emerges from the exam hall.
If we allowed it to stand we would have compromised and be classed in the same
league as the student who sought success without sacrifice.
Now these are some of the concerns of those
who seem not to be at home with the decision of a president who has given us
what we’ve all clamoured for, but with an anti-liberal and undemocratic
temperament. Most citizens mistrust his motives.
What most observers insist is that a
dignifying rehabilitation of Abiola and his sacrosanct mandate together with
the date is only possible if the activists of that history and their successors
are at the center of the restoration move. Some members of his family, selected
June 12 activists, notable politicians across the divide and a good number of
persons drawn from the public could be brought together in a committee to
discuss these noble objectives. All Nigerians would be encouraged to
participate in the debate via the media and town hall meetings.
The late politician’s manifesto and speeches
when he campaigned on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) would
be recalled for scrutiny. These were weighty documents that looked beyond June
12. I recall his My covenant… with my
people speech on June 8 1993, shortly before the historic poll. There
were these nuggets out of many he dropped: I shall renew hope in
the Nigerian dream through the articulation of a new vision of a great Nigeria.
I am determined to replace doubt with optimism. We must reconstruct our society
in all its ramifications to make life easier for our citizens. All Nigeria
needs is one transformer to end its endless power interruptions.
According lasting honour to June 12 and Abiola
also entails going the whole hog. We must hear from the horse’s mouth(Ibrahim
Babangida) why the election was cancelled. We must go back to the era of Sani
Abacha who arrested Abiola and tortured him till he himself died. Abubakar
Abdulsalami who succeeded Abacha needs to talk to Nigerians. Abiola
died in his custody.
Next the current central government must
itself show strict commitment to the principles of June 12 and the man who
symbolized it. Abiola stood for true federalism aka restructuring. He wanted a
better life which a succession of Nigeria’s central administrations didn’t (and
still are not presenting) offer the people. He also thirsted for one united
nation untrammeled by sectarianism as shown by the Muslim-Muslim ticket he ran
with and won.
Not allowing these considerations in seeking
to honour Abiola and June 12 can be likened to staging Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest without
bringing in Kongi himself!
Or better let’s go to the man of the moment:
One of his famous sayings is this: You cannot shave a man’s head in his
absence. Tragically, what we’re doing now is that of a barber at work on the
head of a man not on seat!
*Mr. Ojewale writes
from Ogun State
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