June 12 Coalition of Democratic Formations (J12CODEF) Commends and Congratulates Nigerians on the 33rd Anniversary of the June 12 1993 Peoples Mandate
….. Salutes the Perseverance and Sacrifice of Nigerians for Democracy
….. Admonishes Nigerian Youths to Remain Vigilant and Not Succumb to Incitement and Misinformation to Cause a Breach of Public Safety and Order
…… Commends President Tinubu reforms and charges security agencies to remain focused on addressing Nigeria’s security challenges
The June 12 Coalition of Democratic Formations (J12CODEF) which is a conglomeration of over 150 civil society, non-governmental, self-determination and public interest organizations birthed to agitate for the deannulment of the treasonable annulled widely acclaimed freest and fairest presidential election in Nigeria’s political history by the military junta of former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida on June 23 1993, has on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the June 12 1993 presidential election won by late business mogul and philanthropist Bashorun MKO Abiola, congratulated Nigerians for their patience, perseverance and sacrifice in keeping faith with democracy in the midst of socio economic challenges.
In a statement signed by the General Secretary and Chairman of the coalition, Nelson Ekujumi and Linus Okoroji, the group “Congratulated and commended Nigerians for their steadfastness 33 years after the epoch of June 12 1993, when over 14 million Nigerians went to the polls in a peaceful and orderly manner, jettisoning ethic, religious and other primordial sentiments to deliver a pan Nigerian mandate to late Chief MKO Abiola a Muslim of the Yoruba ethnic nationality and his vice presidential candidate Ambassador Babagana Kingibe a Muslim of the Kanuri ethnic nationality in Bornu State, both under the banner of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) against late Alhaji Bashir Tofa a Muslim Hausa from Tofa village in Kano State and his vice presidential candidate Dr. Sylvester Ugoh a Christian from the South Eastern part of Nigeria under the banner of the National Republican Convention (NRC)”.
Sadly and painfully, the victory of the people via the national mandate entrusted in the candidature of late Chief MKO Abiola, was cut short by the treasonable annulment by the General Ibrahim Babangida military junta and there followed series of agitations, protests, demonstrations and other forms of civilized resistance to military dictatorship of which Nigerians sacrificed sweat, limbs, blood, freedom and lives to birth this democracy in 1999.
The struggle to reclaim the peoples mandate was very fierce and bloody as it resulted in torture, shooting, burning, bombing, killing, attempted assassination, assassinations, prolonged detention, disappearances, forced exile and phantom coup against pro-democracy activists, journalists, serving and retired military officers, etc., and ultimately culminated in the death in detention of the winner of the election late Chief MKO Abiola and the assassination of his wife Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, late Chief Alfred Rewane, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji, and many other martyrs, not forgetting the disappearance till this day of many others including a journalist by name Bagauda Kaltho in whose memory the Lagos State government press center in Alausa Ikeja is immortalized.
ECONOMY
The Coalition congratulated the President Bola Tinubu administration for its bold, audacious, painful but necessary reforms like the fuel and forex subsidy abrogation which averted the total collapse of the Nigerian economy that was bleeding profusely and gasping on life support when the administration came into power in 2023. According to the statement, “We acknowledge the economic dislocation, inconvenience and pains that accompanied the reforms initially, but are relived that the succor and relief that comes after the pains of a surgery is healing, had already started manifesting before the recent war in the Middle East threw a spanner in the works, however, we remain optimistic”.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The June 12 Coalition noted and applauded the giant infrastructural strides of the present administration which is following in the footsteps of its predecessor and has been accelerated by the availability of freed up public funds following the abrogation of the fraudulent fuel and forex subsidy regime to impact positively on the people, just as we urge the states and local governments to also rise up to the occasion in complementing through peoples oriented projects with the triple federal allocations that has been coming into their coffers since the advent of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
SECURITY
The Coalition notes the troubling security situation of the country which is giving the government and the citizen’s sleepless nights. “We are concerned with the insecurity challenges which have been with us for close to two decades now, but we remain confident that it can be overcome, if we all work collectively in supporting and cooperating with the security agencies, because security is everybody’s business”. “We urge the security agencies to remain focused and professional and not be demoralized and deterred by the politicization of our security challenges from expected quarters, Nigerians are fully behind them because we are confident that we shall overcome”.
The June 12 Coalition on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the June 12 1993 peoples mandate, “Commended and congratulated Nigerians for keeping faith with democracy by enduring and sustaining 27 unbroken years of civil rule, as we admonish them to be vigilant and refuse to be incited and misled to ignite a state of anarchy by anti-democratic elements seeking political relevance but masquerading and posturing for the interest of the masses of which they are not”.
Once again, the June 12 Coalition of Democratic Formations (J12CODEF), congratulates and commends Nigerians as it wished them a happy commemoration of the great epoch of perseverance, patience, resilience, doggedness, commitment and sacrifice of which the lessons are enduring.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
