By; Bayo Akamo, Ibadan.
Former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and a governorship aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Ondo State, Barrister Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), on Friday asked all political holders in the country as beneficiaries of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential poll to officially recognise June 12 as the Democracy day in Nigeria.
Barrister Akeredolu stated this in Ibadan, while delivering the re-scheduled June 12 lecture of the Oyo State council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), held at the union’s Press centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan.
The legal luminary noted that it was “ironic however that many of those who derive immense benefits from the mass driven struggle have failed to acknowledge it as a milestone”.
According to Barrister Akeredolu, June 12 has assumed a life of its own separate from the events which took place before and after it, saying, “the Nigeria state must recognize the date officially, the smooth transition from one civilian regime to another is a testimony to the abiding lessons of June 12 imbibed by Nigerians”.
He then advised Nigerian politicians to always remember those that paid the price for the democracy we are currently enjoying, saying “Let us all rededicate ourselves to the service of our fatherland. That is the only display of gratitude that can appropriate the great sacrifice of the departed.”
Akeredolu however tasked Nigerians to rededicate themselves to the service of the nation, saying, the election of 23 years ago has no doubt become a watershed in the annals of elections in the country and a veritable template upon which the acceptability of all other subsequent elections is measured.
