In a recent interview, publisher of
Ovation magazine and former presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu, spoke
extensively about President Jonathan, MKO Abiola and a lot of political
issues.
Excerpts:
It’s been 20 years since June 12, 1993. For someone who was a player back then, how do you begin to process that?
It has been 20 years of agony, anguish, pain, waste because 20years ago, miraculously, Nigerians came together and decided to vote for change. We had our own Obama before America in Chief MKO Abiola. That election was not an accident, the man prepared for it. Abiola took that spirit of planning and organising to a different level in Africa. It was obvious that it was only a matter of time. Waking up to realise that that beautiful election was killed just by a handful of people and since then, we have not known peace is of the greatest regret.
This year President Jonathan remarked that June 12 1993 marked a watershed moment in Nigeria’s democracy and it would seem that his administration is making some effort to recognise the date and the struggle. Is he doing enough?
We have not done anything. We haven’t even started. You see it is very easy to speak about something and another thing to act on it. What this government has been doing is to stylishly politicize it, stylishly claim to support it but they are yet to take concrete steps towards redressing it.
What are the steps they should be taking?
I don’t like to criticize without saying what I would have done differently so for example if I were the president, I would have changed that May 29 democracy day back to June 12 because May 29 was an Obasanjo concoction. Obasanjo concocted it to suit his own purposes. Everybody knows he was totally against June 12 for whatever reasons. He has not come out to tell us what Abiola did to offend him and really I don’t care any longer. If Abiola was a mad man, Nigerians voted for him and that is the meaning of democracy. In Kenya, the new president has a case on his neck bordering on human rights abuses yet the people voted for him. America dislikes the president of Iran with a passion yet he flies to New York to represent his country at the UN, that is democracy. You cannot stop a man on our behalf even if we were all stupid while voting for him. It is not even by naming streets or buildings after the man, the most important thing for us, for the generations unborn is to ask in the future; ‘’why do we have a public holiday on June 12?’’ That is what is done in America; for people like Martin Luther King, their days are marked. We should stop hiding behind one finger like Abiola himself would have put it. If truly you believe in June 12, don’t play politics with it. Be realistic. Change May 29 because nothing happened on that day except for the fact that Obasanjo was sworn in. How does that become democracy day? And it is unfortunate because he was the greatest beneficiary of June 12. He was brought back because Abiola died in prison. The man spent 8years in office and did nothing so Jonathan should do something serious. He must find the courage. I know he must be afraid because the people around him are those who killed June 12 and he is looking for a second term. Which is sad because it is only God that brought him there and it is only God that can remove him. So he should not be afraid because as long as he acts in the way of God, he will always find fulfilment. I tell people, this man did not fight to get to power, why is he fighting to retain it? This is Jonathan’s chance to be a statesman like Mandela. If I were president I would bring everybody together; the Abachas, Babangidas and I would tell them to offer public apology, acknowledge that what you did was wrong. We should learn to own up to mistakes.
This year, only a handful of South-west states announced a public holiday on June 12, do you fear that it has been sectionalised the same way only the Igbos seem to remember Biafra and the Ogonis, Ken Saro Wiwa?
June 12 isn’t about celebration but about imbibing the spirit of transparent elections, true democracy, tolerance, unity where nobody cared about ethnicity, religion or family background. Abiola had his own issues but people looked beyond all that. That is the spirit we must inculcate in the new generations. It is not about declaring holidays or leaving it to a particular tribe but the spirit. PDP that seems to be an offshoot of the oppressive military regime has a lot to learn from the June 12 spirit.
Excerpts:
It’s been 20 years since June 12, 1993. For someone who was a player back then, how do you begin to process that?
It has been 20 years of agony, anguish, pain, waste because 20years ago, miraculously, Nigerians came together and decided to vote for change. We had our own Obama before America in Chief MKO Abiola. That election was not an accident, the man prepared for it. Abiola took that spirit of planning and organising to a different level in Africa. It was obvious that it was only a matter of time. Waking up to realise that that beautiful election was killed just by a handful of people and since then, we have not known peace is of the greatest regret.
This year President Jonathan remarked that June 12 1993 marked a watershed moment in Nigeria’s democracy and it would seem that his administration is making some effort to recognise the date and the struggle. Is he doing enough?
We have not done anything. We haven’t even started. You see it is very easy to speak about something and another thing to act on it. What this government has been doing is to stylishly politicize it, stylishly claim to support it but they are yet to take concrete steps towards redressing it.
What are the steps they should be taking?
I don’t like to criticize without saying what I would have done differently so for example if I were the president, I would have changed that May 29 democracy day back to June 12 because May 29 was an Obasanjo concoction. Obasanjo concocted it to suit his own purposes. Everybody knows he was totally against June 12 for whatever reasons. He has not come out to tell us what Abiola did to offend him and really I don’t care any longer. If Abiola was a mad man, Nigerians voted for him and that is the meaning of democracy. In Kenya, the new president has a case on his neck bordering on human rights abuses yet the people voted for him. America dislikes the president of Iran with a passion yet he flies to New York to represent his country at the UN, that is democracy. You cannot stop a man on our behalf even if we were all stupid while voting for him. It is not even by naming streets or buildings after the man, the most important thing for us, for the generations unborn is to ask in the future; ‘’why do we have a public holiday on June 12?’’ That is what is done in America; for people like Martin Luther King, their days are marked. We should stop hiding behind one finger like Abiola himself would have put it. If truly you believe in June 12, don’t play politics with it. Be realistic. Change May 29 because nothing happened on that day except for the fact that Obasanjo was sworn in. How does that become democracy day? And it is unfortunate because he was the greatest beneficiary of June 12. He was brought back because Abiola died in prison. The man spent 8years in office and did nothing so Jonathan should do something serious. He must find the courage. I know he must be afraid because the people around him are those who killed June 12 and he is looking for a second term. Which is sad because it is only God that brought him there and it is only God that can remove him. So he should not be afraid because as long as he acts in the way of God, he will always find fulfilment. I tell people, this man did not fight to get to power, why is he fighting to retain it? This is Jonathan’s chance to be a statesman like Mandela. If I were president I would bring everybody together; the Abachas, Babangidas and I would tell them to offer public apology, acknowledge that what you did was wrong. We should learn to own up to mistakes.
This year, only a handful of South-west states announced a public holiday on June 12, do you fear that it has been sectionalised the same way only the Igbos seem to remember Biafra and the Ogonis, Ken Saro Wiwa?
June 12 isn’t about celebration but about imbibing the spirit of transparent elections, true democracy, tolerance, unity where nobody cared about ethnicity, religion or family background. Abiola had his own issues but people looked beyond all that. That is the spirit we must inculcate in the new generations. It is not about declaring holidays or leaving it to a particular tribe but the spirit. PDP that seems to be an offshoot of the oppressive military regime has a lot to learn from the June 12 spirit.
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