June 12 Democracy Day : Youth Aid Venerates Buhari , Declares June 6 Day of Rights , Calls for National Unity
June 12 Democracy Day : Youth Aid Venerates Buhari , Declares June 6 Day of Rights , Calls for National Unity
Youth Aid, one of the leading pro- democracy youth groups in Nigeria has revered President Muhammad Buhari as true lover of democracy for recognising later Chief MKO Abiola GCFR as true winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election and June 12 as new Nigerian democracy day .
The organization also declared June 6, 2018 that President Muhammad Buhari took the giant stride to right the wrong of previous administrations that annulled June 12 general election and the succeeding administrations who have refused to recognise the winner of the election. This is is contained in a news release signed by the Youth Aid Executive Director, Smart Edwards and made available to the news men in Abuja yesterday .
Read the full press release;
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A PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE VENERATION OF
President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR on June 12
Gentlemen of the Press,
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride”.
This is the best expression for the people who would wish that or imagine that eternal credit will not be given to President Muhammadu Buhari. So as we give gratitude to Almighty God today and the APC who gave us the platform that produced this president. We must say, we are proud to sustain the legendary act of a single man and the current leader of the Nation.
Today is actually June 12 and we are fighting an enemy, novel coronavirus, we have always known the enemies to our democracy but this we never had, thus I would like to appreciate the great men and women standing on the front lines for our safety and let me thank the working leadership at the PTF.
Before June 6th, 2018, all policies of government and governance in this country was based on reaping the poor, taking their lands and the little they could acquire , while they saw fellow citizens as task masters. So June 12, to the masses of the country was a day of dashed hopes, a day deliberately murdered by actors and cronies, a day that young people trooped out to express hope in a candidate who encapsulated their aspirations, certainly a day our history refuses to forget.
27 years later, we still remind ourselves of the journey, we remember the candidate, the Supporters, the Sustainers and the Saboteurs, all a story for another day. This is so because there have been many sides to the story. Even the military have their version .
Chief MKO Abiola himself represented an attestation to the fact that leadership will always be a key component of our democracy, the absence of which was anarchy. Let me stop to salute your memory of the Hero and Heroine of the struggle (MKO & Kudirat) . You shouldn’t have died, we got it back and it is still yours and you are still the winner. You sacrificed your life and that of your wife to speak for a people.
MKO Abiola! So, allow me please to tell you in the Heavens, Muhammadu Buhari, one of the military boys have declared you winner. Consequently we recognize you without ambiguity. Your Excellency President-Elect MKO Abiola and our First lady Kudirat Abiola , you both fell but your mandate stands, so to the first Family June 12 1993, I pay my respects, it was your honour due and today we celebrate with the man that immortalized you.
I salute the martyrs of the struggle, Epetedo declaration, the continuous demand for the recognition, the acknowledgment and the liberation.
Our nation and the youths of this country, honour your memory. We salute the doggedness of those who laboured, sustained and kept the fire burning and particularly the people Abiola hoped for; their liberation has become the crux of this press briefing.
The forgotten masses , that Abiola hoped for should be the emblem of our democracy, the philosophy, the philanthropy and the expected programs will suffice as a message of democracy, he was victor at different regions, he was a unity message of love beyond barriers, the people he rallied out with and lead with the war of hope, should be the beginning of the practice of our democracy, because to them it meant clarion call to compassion. He called for Repatriation for Africa, he went around alleviating and elevating the poor masses across the country and that from the very affluent who connected with them, promoted youths everywhere and sports found a pillar in him. It was this mix that the masses and vulnerable pursued aggressively with him to freely and fairly obtain a mandate on their behalf. Abiola’s reflection was resplendence of a hope that pseudo compensations by political actors couldn’t suffice.
Again we thank all those that stood in the belief that democracy will be worth it, they exist on different divides today however the journey together was for the greater good of the country, hence our confidence was in one day and the story that will be told will be that Abiola was Immortalized.
We are grateful that we saw that day, June 6, 2018, a man of character and integrity mended broken hearts, healed souls in villages, caused hope in the horizon and delivered our submission to true democracy, the one that didn’t find it difficult to stand for something. The feeling will never go away so with joy in our hearts again, we say a BIG THANK YOU for That. Mr President, we thank you profoundly and profusely. May Angels attend to you always.
MKO Abiola was a message to the poor, a hope to the poorest poor, a support to the young dreamers and a reward to hard work. Little wonder a man of history, of his stock and kind, compassionate, was not only ready to look back but to acknowledge the blind eye that had be turned to the disaster and calamity done to the psyche of the average Nigerians , a wind was blown that day it was that of liberty, justice, law and order, a wind of hope, of reason , of conscience, wounds and hurt, so ‘IT WAS LOUD AND CLEAR’ , a closure that was not only for the family but all tribes and voice in Nigeria, citizens and forgotten.
You brought again brotherhood, differing tongues untied, democracy actually began that day. So the Apology was amazing but unexpected, so also was the declaration and historic pronouncements.
It is in that spirit of this gratitude, we have focussed on the basic things the administration is doing right and that is democracy too, when they are acknowledged by citizens and encouraged to do more, this is why I intend to make public, a letter I wrote to the President for June 12, titled THANK YOU for That, which I will be presenting to him.
To affirm that the hope rising episode or hope renewal on June 6, 2018, was a call to duty, a demand he placed on himself to remember the poor through laudable projects. It was a challenge he threw on his administration to uphold the hands of the weakest of society and protect them always.
No doubt the untamed attraction of the President to the hopeless, helpless , vulnerable that rekindles their nostalgia, “On The March Again“. Outstandingly , those noble thoughts have seen the biggest and bravest intervention in our history, the “SOCIAL INVESTMENTS PROGRAM”.
Today the poor and the Nation sees, rural roads, small holder farmers, small and medium scale enterprise, the feeding of their children , they can begin to see their world changing, seeing a country they can also call theirs.
They looked up to heaven as though no help while others lived in pleasure but today the look up to heaven for more from this administration.
“THIS IS DEMOCRACY”, where they partake in the farming and the benefits, access roads for their produce, textiles, have small business that government can support. Therefore the President Buhari leadership has made major bold decisions that reflect his desires to make free the bond men in their country .
We thank you Mr President, for the June 12 declaration, the 2nd Niger Bridge, the payment of Pensions of Biafra soldiers, the Audit of the NDDC, the reconsideration of the Mambilla Power Project, the Zungeru Project and landmark actions that are healing lots of wounds across the Nation.
We will not fail to acknowledge the great impacts that are being driven by some governors across political divides in the Nation and Ministers how they are pushing hard to ensure delivery of government Noble initiatives , Minsters of Works, Communications and Digital Economy, Interior, Humanitarian , Niger Delta and Power. We commend the unimaginable Agricultural initiatives from the CBN and the NIRSAL. This is how democracy works when impacts of the administration are felt by the common man.
In one single loop, President Buhari is giving 774,000 rural dwellers the opportunity to lift their lives via special public works, I want to commend Barr. Festus Keyamo exceptionally because of his Buhari -like bravery to uphold the chances for all shades of citizens, I call for his relentless monitoring to avoid any sabotage.
In the same way we want to commend the unwavering cooperation from the National Assembly who have chosen to be patriots than saboteurs of the people
It is therefore delightful to witness the same man restore our sanity that people live in interior villages who are free born citizens with rights same as us. So with this acknowledgement June 12 begins another Journey Year on Year, hence we are on the March again.
Mr President!, the real democracy started from your declaration. I hereby call the June 6, 2018, the Declaration of RIGHTS; the Rights to Hope again, Rights of the masses to be part of their country and the courage to do the Right and June 12 our Democracy Day as a day of accountability.
Our special thanks go therefore to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation Mr Boss Mustapha and the entire team of the PTF for the roles played for the strong and relentless efforts to stand on our border lines in defence of our Nation against this Pandemic.
Long Live President Muhammadu Buhari !
Long Live Our Democracy!!
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria !!! .
Signed: Smart Edwards ,
Executive Director, Youth Aid .
