The Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Tuesday, said declaring of the late winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, as President post-humously was long overdue.
Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Justice Faloye, stated this in an interview with The PUNCH, backing an earlier call on Tuesday by Senator Orji Kalu from Abia State.
“We support the proposal. We actually discussed and came to the same resolution in our monthly meeting held on Tuesday.
“(Former President Muhammadu) Buhari had already given Abiola a GCFR (Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic) award, which is meant only for Presidents. If Tinubu could go further, it would be a welcome rectification of a historic political injustice,” the Afenifere chieftain said.
Earlier on Tuesday in Abuja, Kalu, representing Abia North Senatorial District, called on President Bola Tinubu to declare Abiola Nigeria’s President posthumously, as a mark of honour to the winner of the June 12, 1933, presidential election.
Kalu’s call comes days after ex-military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, admitted that Abiola won the 1999 presidential election, which has been adjudged the freest in Nigeria’s history.
Babangida made the admission last week during the launch of his autobiography titled, ‘A Journey in Service,’ 32 years after the election was annulled.
On June 12, 2018, immediate-past Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari conferred the highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, on the late Abiola, a move that was applauded by pro-democracy advocates across the world.
While addressing journalists at the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday, Kalu, a former governor of Abia State, said Abiola’s feat should not be consigned to the dustbin of history and called on President Tinubu to act where his predecessors failed.
