Third Republic Presidential Adviser, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, has faulted President Muhammadu Buhari for declaring June 12 as the new Democracy Day.
Buhari had announced the conferment of a posthumous award on the late M.K.O Abiola, and replaced the May 29 date with June 12 as Democracy Day.
However, Yakassai, a Northern elder said the declaration was a “mere gimmickry” because democracy Day was created by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to commemorate the return of Nigeria from military rule to democracy.
Yakassai noted that the original date had no relation whatsoever to Abiola and the June 12 election.
According to Yakassai, “the announcement by the Presidency declaring June 12 as a democracy day is mere gimmickry because democracy day was created by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo administration to commemorate the return of Nigeria from military rule to democracy.
“What President Buhari did was mere change of date from the old one to June 12, and in all intent and purpose, the original date has no relation whatsoever to Chief MKO Abiola, and June 12 election.
“What the presidency did on this sensitive political matter was political jobbery, and abuse of office because it clearly intended not to honour the late business mogul or actualize his mandate, but to appeal to the sentiment of his teeming supporters to vote for Buhari as a candidate when he becomes one in not too distant future.”