Joseph Bakare
The opposition party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s conferment of posthumous honour on late Chief MKO Abiola as a desecration of the late politician’s grave.
President Buhari, on Wednesday, said his administration “decided to award posthumously the highest Honour in the land, GCFR, to the late Chief MKO Abiola” after due consultations.
While Buhari’s decision may be seen as gratifying for the Yoruba people, the president’s action has already begun to draw quite a number of backlash.
The president had equally announced that Abiola’s running mate in his presumed victory of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, will be conferred with the honour of GCON
Buhari also said “henceforth, June 12 will be celebrated as Democracy Day” in Nigeria.
Reacting to the development, however, the opposition PDP said it is “shocking that the respectable grave of Abiola can be dishonoured by granting a posthumous award on him along with someone who denounced the June 12 mandate and preferred the company of his (Abiola’s) traducers,” referring to Kingibe.
The party said, “The national honour proposed to be conferred on the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993, Chief MKO Abiola, by the failed President Muhammadu Buhari, smacks of hypocrisy and political desperation ahead of 2019 presidential election.
“The failed President Buhari s action merely sought to use the name and person of Chief Abiola to gain a political capital and not out of genuine reverence and recognition for him.
“Recall that President Buhari, who was serving in the military administration of General Sani Abacha during the travails of Chief MKO Abiola, did not associate either by words or actions with the late winner of June 12 election.
“History did not record President Buhari as sympathetic to the Abiola’s family when his wife, Kudirat, was gruesomely murdered by the agents of a government which President Buhari served.”
The PDP added that, “It is therefore a sign of political desperation for the failed President Buhari to seek to use Chief Abiola’s name as a tool to sway Nigerians in less than twelve months to an election where he, (President Buhari) is seeking a second term.”
Also, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s posthumous GCFR award to late Chief Moshood Abiola as an act of desperation for South-West’s vote in 2019.
The president equally declared June 12 as Democracy Day in Nigeria in honor of the late politician and businessman’s annulled victory at the 1993 presidential election.
“Dear Nigerians, I am delighted to announce that, after due consultations, the Federal Government has decided that henceforth, June 12 will be celebrated as Democracy Day.
“We have also decided to award posthumously the highest Honour in the land, GCFR, to the late Chief MKO Abiola,” said President Buhari in a statement by the Presidency.
But reacting to the move, Omokri, who is a former presidential media aide, said:
“President Buhari is a joke. In desperation for the Southwest vote, he has declared June 12, Democracy Day and given MKO Abiola a post humous GCFR.
“What hypocrisy! This was a man who served Abacha while Abacha jailed Abiola. This was a man who praised Abacha, Abiola’s jailer!,” he tweeted.