The Federal Government has declared Thursday, June 12, 2025 as public holiday in commemoration of this year’s Democracy Day celebration.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced this in a statement by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalene Ajani, on Sunday in Abuja.
June 12 of every year is set aside for the celebration of Democracy in commemoration of the outstanding June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, which was won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, MKO.
The election, Nigeria’s freest and fairest ever, was annulled by the military government headed by Gen Ibrahim Babangida, an action which spontaneously sparked off prolonged bloody nationwide pro-democracy protests, in which many activists including Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, were assassinated, believably by state agents.
Besides, properties belonging to the activists were bombed, while many others were wounded. Several others including President Bola Tinubu, Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Gen Alani Akinrinade, Dan Suleiman, and many other activists, fled into exile through the ‘NADECO route’.
Abiola, the symbol of June 12, was arrested and detained by the regime of the departed Gen Sani Abacha, who succeeded Babangida, for declaring himself President at the famous Epetedo, Lagos Declaration.
He later died in controversial circumstances, during a meeting with some foreign country’s representatives, while still in military custody, after years of detention, often in solitary confinement.
That fatal meeting was arranged by the regime of Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded Abacha, and who eventually handed over power to a democratically elected civilian government headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.
Tunji-Ojo congratulated Nigerians on the occasion of 26 years of uninterrupted civil rule.
His words,; “June 12 represents our historic journey to building a nation where truth and justice reign and peace is sustained and our future assured.
“The last 26 years tells the story of our resilience, strength and courage and a hope Renewed than ever.”
He said that democracy is sustained with open doors for further improvement, reiteratimg the commitment of the Renewed Hope government of President Bola Tinubu to the universal value of democracy, based on freely-expressed will of the people in determining Nigeria’s political, economic, social and cultural systems.
