Alake, Dickson, Ogun APC commend Buhari for honouring Abiola

The Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring the late Chief Moshood Abiola as winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and also honoured him by declaring June 12 as Democracy Day.

As an Egba man, Abiola was one of high chiefs.

Speaking to journalists at his Ake, Abeokuta, palace, yesterday, Gbadebo commended Buhari for “living up to the long-awaited expectation of the larger majority of Nigerians.”

He explained that it would not be fair for anyone to assume that Buhari took the decision for political reasons, pointing out that the President was known for his proverbial propriety and sense of justice.

He stressed: “I am not blaming any earlier administrations that could have done justice to Abiola, but Buhari had finally made both the Egba nation and the Nigerians in general that Nigeria could still celebrate the freest and the most credible presidential election ever in Nigeria.”
   
The monarch urged all Egba sons and daughters at home and abroad to appreciate Buhari for making it possible for Egba alone to have officially produced three Presidents with the national honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), which he argued, “they earned and justifiably deserved.”

Similarly, the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressive Party (APC), in a press release issued by its Publicity Secretary, Wole Elegbede, said the President’s action demonstrates that the APC government listens to the people and respects their yearning. 

The party described the conferment of a posthumous honour of GCFR normally reserved for heads of state on Abiola as a “show of candour and magnanimity.”
 
The party commended Buhari for also conferring the honour of Grand Commanders of the Order of the Niger (GCON) on Abiola’s running mate, Baba Gana Kingibe, and late human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.

“This is a new dawn for democracy in Nigeria, indicating the growth and progress of democracy under that current APC federal government.

“Every genuine democrat, indeed all Nigerians, irrespective of political and religious persuasion, should welcome the pronouncement.”  

In the same vein, Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson, speaking in Yenagoa during his monthly state broadcast, applauded the decision, saying it would go a long to right some wrongs of the past.