Afenifere has told Nigerians to take with a pinch of salt, the Federal government’s declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and the posthumous award to the late Moshood Abiola.
The pan-Yoruba group said although it welcomes the recognition of Abiola and June 12 by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal government, there is a need to test the motives and true intentions of the government with the upcoming elections in Ekiti, Osun and next year’s presidential elections.
The spokesman for Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said in a statement that Afenifere had been on the struggle to get the government to recognise the historic moment of June 12 and the sacrifice of Abiola for two decades.
He feared that the government might be trying to woo voters ahead of the 2019 general elections, even though the gesture is a welcome development.
“We are not unaware that we are now in the election season and every attempt will be made to woo voters with issues that are popular,” Odumakin said.
“But be that as it may, we have canvassed for the honour of Chief Moshood Abiola since the annulment of June 12 and for June 12 to be declared Democracy Day for over two decades now. Therefore, we accept the declarations and commend them.
“If we are able to hold free and fair elections; if we allow Nigerians to elect their leaders without hindrance; if the will of voters is acknowledged; if the ballot is allowed to reign supreme in the next Nigerian elections, then this would have celebrated our true belief in the spirit of June 12 and the proper honour of Abiola, who died on principle, insisting that the rights of Nigerians and their votes must be respected.
“They say fairness consist in giving even the devil his due. Like I said, the true test of the motive and intention will come out in January, in fact right from Ekiti on July 14, we will know whether this is just a mere gimmick or a true spirit of democracy in the land. So it is not far for us to know the motive behind this,” Odumakin said.
But one of Abiola’s daughters, Rinsola Abiola applauded Buhari for honouring her father after 20 years.
Rinsola on her Twitter page described the honour as late.
She wrote: “It’s going to be 20 years since daddy passed away in July. Two whole decades. This is coming really late but better late than never.
“The fact that some people refuse to acknowledge the truth doesn’t mean others won’t do the right thing.
“For whatever reason you think it is, it took 20 years and others could have done this but they didn’t.”