Federal Government says there would be no public holiday on June 12, this year.
Wednesday this week, President Muhammadu Buhari signed a press release, saying “Dear Nigerians, I am delighted to announce that, after due consultations, we decided to declare June 12 Democracy Day.
A Twitter account issued by the Presidency Friday said “There have been questions regarding whether or not there will be a FEDERAL public holiday on June 12, 2018.
“The answer is NO. Presidential Order says June 12 “in FUTURE YEARS will replace May 29th as a National Public Holiday in celebration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day.”
Recall that Wednesday, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Special Assistant on Diaspora, who retweeted it on the president’s twitter handle announced “For the past 18 years, Nigerians have been celebrating May 29th, as Democracy Day. That was the date when for the second time in our history, an elected civilian administration took over from a military government. The first time this happened was on October 1st, 1979.
“But in the view of Nigerians, as shared by this Administration, June 12th, 1993, was far more symbolic of Democracy in the Nigerian context than May 29th or even the October 1st. June 12th, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections since our Independence.
“The fact that the outcome of that election was not upheld by the then military Government does not distract from the democratic credentials of that process. Accordingly, after due consultations, the Federal Government has decided that henceforth, June 12th will be celebrated as Democracy Day.
However, Femi Fani-Kayode, ex-minister of Aviation Friday declared “The award of GCFR to MKO Abiola by @MBuhari and the declaration of June 12th as Democracy Day is a classic case of a cunning, self-seeking, self-serving and evil man doing the RIGHT thing for the WRONG reasons.
Fani-Kayode, who had earlier hailed the posthumous award on M.K.O.Abiola, urged “If you really want to win our hearts beg for forgiveness and resign!”
In his Twitter account, Reno Omokri described the declaration thus, “President @Mbuhari is a joke. In desperation for the Southwest vote, he has declared June 12, Democracy Day a d given MKO Abiola a posthumous GCFR. What hypocrisy!
Omokri, a one-time Senior Special Assistant to the then President Goodluck Jonathan recalled “This was a man who served Abacha while Abacha jailed Abiola. This was a man who praised Abacha, Abiola’s jailer!”
