Eighteen years after the demise of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, members of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and pro-democracy activists yesterday called on the Federal Government to immortalise Abiola for paying the supreme price for the country’s democracy. Abiola, after four years’ incarceration by government for fighting for actualisation of his mandate, allegedly died on July 7, 1998, as a result of cardiac arrest.
Speaking during 18 years remembrance organised by Women Arise and Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) at Abiola’s graveside at his residence in Lagos, the Leader of NADECO, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd), urged Nigerians to be united the way they were united for Abiola during the June 12 election. “For a country who wanted to become a nation-state, unity is not geography. It starts from sense of belonging of different people there. And it was the sense of belonging that brought the unity that produced MKO Abiola because people voted for him from all corners of the country.
“Today, we are having a situation where people have less sense of belonging. Our unity is not to do MKO any favour but if we want a nation-state Nigeria, we must go back and do justice. If we don’t; there is no running away from it. All those who work against injustice in any shape or form must know that if our country does not become a nation-state, they caused it,” he said.
