June 12 and the Burden of a Nation: Defending Democracy, Reclaiming Nigeria

 Political  Panorama Issue No 18

JUNE 12: MEMORY, SACRIFICE, AND THE UNFINISHED STRUGGLE

                       

Chief M.K O Abiola casting his June 12 vote 

June 12, 1993, remains the most symbolic democratic moment in Nigerian history. The presidential election, won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, was Nigeria’s freest and fairest. It transcended religion, ethnicity, and region, uniting a people long divided by colonial borders and post-independence elite manipulation. Yet, it was annulled by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, shattering national optimism.

MKO Abiola’s subsequent arrest and death in detention underscored the cost of democracy. His campaign slogan, Hope '93, became a prophecy deferred — a tragic symbol of the people’s will betrayed. June 12 has since become more than a date; it is a national metaphor — a shorthand for democratic aspiration, elite betrayal, and civic resistance.

In 2018, the Buhari administration rightly recognized June 12 as Democracy Day, replacing May 29. Yet this symbolic restitution has not translated into the democratic deepening the day demands.

THE PRESIDENT’S JUNE 12 ADDRESS: BETWEEN SYMBOLISM AND STATESMANSHIP

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s June 12, 2025 address at the National Assembly was replete with rhetorical references to sacrifice, democratic struggle, and national unity. As a former exile and one of the architects of the NADECO movement that resisted military rule, Tinubu invoked history from a position of lived experience.

But it is here the paradox lies.

Tinubu stood in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly — the same institution that was neutered by the same military tradition that annulled June 12. Today, Nigerians ask: Has the dream of 1993 been fulfilled? Is the current democratic order an improvement or a betrayal of that vision?

The President’s address emphasized constitutional order, economic reforms, and security. Yet, there was no acknowledgment of the erosion of democratic norms under his own administration — the rising clampdown on dissent, the weaponization of poverty, the perversion of justice, and the culture of electoral manipulation.

For a country that endured dictatorship to embrace democracy, democracy itself has begun to mimic its former jailers. The spirit of June 12 demands not commemoration, but courage — not platitudes, but principled action.

WHY NIGERIANS MUST RISE TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY

Democracy, contrary to illusion, does not defend itself. It is not self-executing. It requires active citizenship, eternal vigilance, and collective solidarity. In today’s Nigeria, democracy is under siege — from judicial capture, executive overreach, legislative complicity, and a politically manipulated security architecture.

But most dangerously, democracy is being undermined by popular apathy, manufactured poverty, and the disenfranchisement of the youth.

Why must Nigerians rise? 

1. Because the electoral process has become commercialized and increasingly detached from the will of the people. 
2. Because the state has become personalized, with loyalty to individuals superseding fidelity to institutions. 
3. Because without citizen action, authoritarianism will wear agbada and dance to the drums of ethnic populism.

We must defend democracy, not just as an abstract ideal, but as a concrete survival imperative. A compromised democracy means fewer jobs, poorer healthcare, weaker education, and a bleaker future for our children.

THE COALITION: EMBRYO OF A SECOND REPUBLICAN AWAKENING

Amid the gloom, a glimmer: the Coalition for the Defence of Nigerian Democracy (CDND) and allied efforts are emerging as the most potent civic response to creeping authoritarianism and elite stagnation.

This coalition should not merely be about removing a president or winning the next election. It should be about building a new political culture rooted in transparency, youth inclusion, ideological clarity, and inter-ethnic solidarity.

Using the Coalition as a starting block, Nigeria can:

1. Create a shadow civic government that monitors, critiques, and proposes alternatives.
2. Mobilize local communities to take ownership of democratic governance through citizen parliaments.
3. Build a civic education movement that reawakens the spirit of June 12 in the digital generation.
4. Demand constitutional reform to restructure the Nigerian federation for true accountability and regional empowerment.

This current coalition is not perfect. No movement is. But it offers a rare convergence of civil society, reformist political actors, disillusioned technocrats, and grassroots voices in a moment of existential urgency.

CONCLUSION: FROM MEMORY TO MOVEMENT

June 12 is not just a public holiday. It is a national mandate — a call to action. It reminds us that while governments can annul elections, they cannot annul history. It tells us that Nigeria’s democratic journey, though interrupted, is not concluded.

President Tinubu must be reminded that the legitimacy earned in the trenches can be lost in the corridors of power. His government must open democratic space, protect free speech, reform the electoral process, and restore institutional integrity.

But beyond government, it is the Nigerian people who must decide: Will we be passive spectators in our own tragicomedy, or active participants in the rewriting of our national story?

June 12 gave us a hero in MKO Abiola. Let June 12, 2025, give us a generation of citizens determined to finish what he started.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTIONABLE CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

1. Join or support democratic coalitions and advocacy networks.
2. Educate peers and communities on the meaning of June 12 and constitutional rights.
3. Engage with political parties, not just during elections but between cycles.
4. Push for electoral reform, campaign finance transparency, and independent judiciary.
5. Leverage social media to hold leaders accountable and amplify local issues.

“Let it be said that on June 12, 2025, the Nigerian people stood up  but not for a man, not for a party, but for a dream too long deferred.”

 Until next week, this is Political Panorama with Ola Olateju

- watching the horizon, one controversy at a time

www.politicalpanorama.com.ng