In accordance with the June 12 (Declaration As M.K.O. Abiola Day) Law of Ogun State, the Ogun State Government has declared Today June 12, 2015 Friday a work-free day.
In a press release by the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa, the government enjoined residents of the state to spend the day to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the annulled election peacefully.
He asked for prayers for the continued repose of Chief Abiola whom he referred to as “the martyr of democracy”, and for general political and socio-economic growth of the country.
Like his Ogun counterpart, Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has also declared today as a work-free day in commemoration of the same the June 12 1993 elections won by Chief M.K.O Abiola but annulled by the the then military regime led by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
According to a statement release by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Habib Aruna, on Thursday, the Governor said that the date marked a watershed in the annals of transparent, free and fair elections in the country.
He said June 12, 1993 was the day Nigerians voted in one voice without ethnic, racial and religious bias, saying it represented the real democracy day when Nigerians said no to voting along ethnic lines.
The Governor said regrettably, 22 years after the annulment, the Nigerian nation is still grappling with some of the vices which the June 12, 1993 elections sought to confine to the dustbin of history through undue clinging to ethnic cleavages by some political gladiators.
He urged Lagos residents to spend the day in sober reflection and in remembrance of the martyrs of the June 12 elections struggle for laying the foundation of the democracy which the nation is now enjoying.
