June 12: Lagos, Oyo Declare Thursday Work-Free Day

mko_abiolaGovernor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State has approved Thursday, June 12, 2014 as a work free day in the state in commemoration of June 12, 1993 election, which is believed to have been won by the late M.K.O. Abiola.

This was contained in a circular issued today by the Head of Service, Mrs. Oluseyi Williams.

The Circular reads in part: “In commemoration of June 12, 1993 as significant in the actualisation of Democracy in Nigeria, it is hereby notified for general information that His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, the Governor of Lagos State has approved Thursday, June 12, 2014 as a work free day”.

Similarly, his Oyo State counterpart, Abiola Ajimobi, declared June 12, 2014, which is the state’s Democracy Day, as public holiday.

In a statement issued in Ibadan, the state capital on Wednesday by his Special Adviser on Media, Festus Adedayo, Gov. Ajimobi described the June 12, 1993 presidential election as a watershed in the annals of the country, saying that the election laid the foundation for the current democratic experiment in Nigeria.

He said, “We regret that 21 years after the election adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria, the ideals which the winner of the election, the late Chief M. K. O Abiola, stood for had yet to be realised.

“Abiola represented a symbol of democracy. He believed in the notion that ordinary Nigerian must be freed from the shackles of oppression, poverty, penury and want.

“It was his conviction that the Nigerian masses should be freed from their oppressors and that the destiny of the whole nation should not be held to ransom by a cabal. The belief propelled him to stand by his mandate and to defend it to the last.

“The democracy that we are enjoying today was made possible by the likes of Abiola, Abraham Adesanya, Anthony Enahoro, Kudirat Abiola, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Bola Tinubu, Gen. Alani Akinrinade and others too numerous to mention”.