JUNE 12, is no longer an ordinary day in our troubled nation’s crowded calendar. Against all odds, it has manifestly become an ‘abikuian’ metaphor for the popular street salvoes that heralded the return to democracy and the eventual retirement of soldiers from power back to the barracks in our dear nation.
Today, nearly a generation has elapsed since June 12, 1993, the historic time and space when the then ruling IBB’s military junta rather hideously unleashed some powerful destabilising storms on our then politically vibrant and economically viable nation through the undisguised self-serving annulment of what was then generally perceived and even now widely believed to be the most thoroughly conducted, credible, peaceful and orderly democratic elections ever held in the history of this transition weary nation.
As a battle cry for democracy, justice and prosperity, June 12, clearly, has its strong roots deeply buried in the bowels of the magnetic national appeal of the late MKO Abiola and his simple electoral campaign promises to the Nigerian masses, which caught their imagination with his very resonant message of “farewell to poverty.”
These brilliant and masterly political mobilisation and propaganda tools were fully employed by the MKO’s intimidating presidential campaign, and thus; were professionally designed and packaged to craftily and consciously attract the poor people’s groundswell of social discontent and the palpable maelstrom of nationwide popular anger against the equally growing undemocratic consequences of military dictatorship and rampant poverty.
When Abiola’s presidential campaign machine became seemingly unstoppable, the ruling military junta that was earlier strongly suspected by a large section of the nation’s political elite to have resorted to recruiting two of its most trusted friends and business allies, in the persons of Alhaji Bashir Tofa, as the presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Chief MKO Abiola, as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in order to desperately and purposely truncate the then ongoing transition and enable them to continue to deceptively and vicariously cling to power; suddenly and inexorably, they found themselves in an exasperating state of psychological and political panic.
Unfortunately and regrettably, we have to also admit that the resplendent political promises and the democratic potentials harbingered by the epic battles of workers and a large section of the popular forces in defense of June 12, were fastidiously dissipated and hopelessly allowed to be dispersed and in some instances even discredited, right under the bleeding nose of the somnolent LEFT.
The culmination of this desperate political debauchery is the resounding democratic victory that eventually saw the detested military frantically being dislodged from its dictatorial mantle of power in our beloved country.
But, ever since that time, the spectre of June 12 rather spectacularly continues unabated to haunt both the right and the left of the Nigerian political power divide.
Always consumed by the mortal fear of the inherent democratic potency that the June 12 symbolises, the conservative and reactionary ruling classes in Nigeria have been relentless in their efforts to empty the democratic halo of June 12 of its notable emancipatory contents.
This no doubt also explains the ongoing opportunistic reinvention and rebranding of June 12, by especially the clueless and conservative Buhari’s backward looking government, whose obvious nefarious aim is to sensationally sedate and sequester the emancipatory potency of June 12 to a permanent state of political stupor. Needless to say that in this wise, Buhari’s vision on June 12, coincides with the total aspirations of the entire ruling class in the country.
Unfortunately and regrettably, we have to also admit that the resplendent political promises and the democratic potentials harbingered by the epic battles of workers and a large section of the popular forces in defense of June 12, were fastidiously dissipated and hopelessly allowed to be dispersed and in some instances even discredited, right under the bleeding nose of the somnolent LEFT.
It is even more perplexing that with about 30 years behind us since the outbreak of this stormy political event, the Nigerian LEFT is still unable to come up with a viable and coherent political strategy to showcase itself to the Nigerian people as the true and authentic champion of the June 12 cause and the proud heirs to its lingering legacies.
The oppressed people in Nigeria, Africa and indeed the rest of the world, will continue to eagerly look up to the entire Nigerian LEFT, for us to militantly rise to put an abrupt stop to this ongoing painful pulverisation of the legendary potency of June 12 by a bunch of some discredited politicians and we must in this wise, pick up the gauntlet to earnestly proceed to rescue the aura of June 12 from being asphyxiated by the conservative ruling class, whose deep desire is clearly to delay or even place on permanent halt, the inevitable TRIUMPH of our liberation.
Comrade Muhammad, veteran trade union activist, and former Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), sent this from Kano. Comrade Muhammad can be reached via email @: salisu_50@yahoo.com
