Soyinka Blast FG Over Declaration Of May 29th As Democracy Day

Nobel Laureate,  Prof.   Wole Soyinka, has said May 29, which the Federal Government branded Democracy Day, lacks the credibility of the June 12 presidential election, won by Abiola.

Soyinka stated this in a statement on the 20th anniversary of the June 12 election on Tuesday.

He said, “We need to remind ourselves what June 12, 1993 represents. It is neither mere date, nor sentiment. It is simply – Human Spirit. What a futile undertaking it is then, when some individuals attempt to deny or crush it. Yet it was the power of this very spirit that brought such out of relegation or obscurity, even from the jaws of death, and bestowed upon them relevance and prominence.

“What June 12 possesses is exactly what May 29, or any other day, lacks. The former was a spirit of unified purpose, the latter simply an egotistical appropriation of the gift of the former.  June 12 embodies unity of purpose, equity and justice, the manifestation of the sovereign will of a people. It remains forever a watershed of Nigerian history, no matter what the future holds.

“I urge you to try a simple experiment: narrate the story of May 29 to a child and watch his or her reaction. On that day – that child would concede – an individual was installed as a compromise president following a compromise election. So, what is new?”

Soyinka added, “Now move on to unfold the tapestry of June 12. Run your finger along its traceries of citizen resolve, upheavals, of individual and group heroisms, of sacrifices and martyrdoms, the timeless narrative of human resilience. Watch the difference in that child’s responses.  Yet, even the beneficiaries of that day persist in their futile effort to kill the date and supplant it with another. Why should we be surprised?

It is that unprincipled game of substitution that they have carried even to subsequent elections, substituting names of the rightful winners of elections with others who were never even in contention. “It is this same mental compulsion that moves them to attempt to rob even a calendar date of its significance, its history, its potential for character formation and sense of national formation – and transformation.”