The declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and the renaming of the National Stadium after Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola is good news to his
family and Nigerians at large.
Corespondent Joke Adisa reports that it was a day of honour for a man robbed of his election victory years ago. June 12 every year will henceforth be celebrated as Nigeria’s day of democracy.
The recognition is coming exactly 26 years after Nigerians filed out to the polls and freely gave Mr. Abiola the mandate to be their President. Sadly, that election was annulled by the military headed by Ibrahim Babangida.
The struggle for the revalidation of that mandate literally set the country on fire.
Tinu Alade-Abiola, one of Abiola’s many wives, fought back tears as she recalled the arrest, incarceration and the eventual death of her husband and the father of her child.
The Abiola family has not been the same. His businesses which cut across telecommunications, banking, shipping, agriculture, media, sports and oil and gas are all in ruins..
The In-fighting among the beneficiaries of his Will, particularly the children, has not helped either. But today, they are elated that their patriarch did not die in vain after all
As Nigerians continue to savour the noble recognition given to Mr. Abiola, these Yoruba elders have some advice for the Abiola family.
