It is impossible to remember all the June 12 heroes once; but those left out today should be honoured later
That it took the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency to honour the men and women who fought for the democracy that we are all enjoying today should not come as a surprise. Indeed, what should have surprised us is for President Tinubu to, like three of his predecessors, forget the source from where his presidency came.
Tinubu was himself in the vanguard of the June 12 struggle. As they say, “he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches”. As a leading light in the pro-democracy days, he knows what it means to fight such a battle, especially with soldiers that the allure of political offices had made to forget their natural calling, and so wanted to stay perpetually in power, whether as military president, or transmute into civilian president, without going through the rigours of a free and fair election.
For the benefit of many of our youths who may not know what June 12 is all about, a brief recap.
Nigeria held a presidential election on June 12, 1993, which was won by the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. But the Ibrahim Babangida regime annulled the election, regarded as the freest and fairest in the country’s history, for no tenable reason. Following the annulment, several prominent Nigerians spoke and worked vociferously against the annulment. Some of them were killed, some incarcerated under frivolous charges, while others went on exile for fear of being hounded. The activities were largely coordinated by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
To cut a long story short, the country only managed to get out of the quagmire after a prolonged political crisis, and on May 29, 1999, six years after the election was annulled, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as president.
It was in recognition of the invaluable contributions of the men and women who fought the military to a standstill after the annulment, until they handed over in 1999, that President Tinubu gave national honours to many of them on June 12, 2025.
Much as it is better late than never, it is nonetheless sad that the nation had to wait for 26 years, and until one of their own is in office before the honours came. There had been at least four presidents before Tinubu; namely Chief Obasanjo, who took over on May 29, 1999, and served till May 29, 2007; President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of the ‘Umoru, they say you are dead’ fame (May 2007 to May 2010); President Goodluck Jonathan (May 2010 to May 2015), President Muhammadu Buhari (May 2015 to May 2023), and now, President Tinubu.
We can understand General Obasanjo pretending throughout his eight years as if June 12 did not exist. Apart from the fact that he may not want to publicly identify with the reality that his kith and kin in khaki were returned to their barracks so ingloriously, even though that was self-inflicted, because they would have saved the country the upheavals that followed their desire to remain perpetually in government if they had remained honest to the exit date they set for themselves to gloriously quit the stage.
We may also excuse the late former President Yar’Adua. Although he was in power for three years, he was bogged down by a debilitating illness that made it impossible for him to govern with the required presence of mind, until he died.
But if we can excuse Yar’Adua for not honouring the June 12 heroes, what of former President Jonathan on whose laps the country’s presidency was literally placed, on a platter? He too in his entire five years in office did nothing about the heroes.
It was not until June 12, 2018, that President Buhari conferred the winner of that election, Bashorun Abiola, with the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR). He also honoured Babagana Kingibe, his running mate,
as well as declared June 12 as new Democracy Day, in place of the previous May 29.
We should give kudos to Buhari for this. Abiola, no doubt, was the symbol of June 12. But a tree can never make a forest. As Abiola himself often acknowledged in his lifetime, “you cannot clap with one hand”. If many of these other people did not complement Abiola’s efforts, June 12 would never have been a reality. Mercifully, Tinubu has made up for whatever Buhari did not do in this regard.
We should also berate the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) for not deeming it worthwhile all these years to lift a finger for these real patriots whose struggles paved the way for many of them to become governors. Yes, we might say they do not have any direct power to do much on the matter, but they wield enough clout to influence decision on it, if only they believe it is something worth clamouring for. They always have a way of getting things done if they want to.
Not to talk of the National Assembly. The people making laws for good governance in the country. But this should not be surprising considering that some of them in the hallowed chambers even sat or spat on June 12, by supporting the sit-tight military dictators.
All those who were in a position to remember these great heroes but forgot or simply ignored to do it didn’t do well at all, especially if they have been part of the political class since then. These heroes were not soldiers in the Nigerian Armed Forces. They did not sign that they would die for the country, yet many of them put their lives on the line for us to have the democracy that we are enjoying today, no matter how imperfect.
Forgetting the heroes is like a river that forgot its source. It is akin to wanting to build something on nothing, which we all know is impossible.
I commend the president for remembering those he has honoured. I also appreciate the concern shown in several quarters that the list is incomplete. The truth of the matter is that, given the scope of the June 12 crisis, it is almost impossible for all the actors to be remembered in
one fell swoop. I guess those left out would be honoured sooner or later. The president himself alluded to that in his speech at the joint session of the National Assembly where he announced the names of the honorees on June 12.
Bashorun Abiola’s wife, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, and the late Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, were posthumously honoured.
Others in no particular order: ‘The Nation’s Editorial Adviser Prof Olatunji Dare; Chairman of The Nation Journalism Foundation and columnist Prof. Adebayo Williams, board member Mr Olawale Osun and ex-columnist Prof. Segun Gbadegesin.
Other living recipients are Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka (GCON), publisher of Vanguard, Sam Amuka-Pemu (CON), Kunle Ajibade (OON), Nosa Igiebor (OON), Seye Kehinde (OON), Kayode Komolafe (OON), Dapo Olorunyomi (OON) and Bayo Onanuga (CON).
Also honoured are: Ayo Obe (OON), Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (CON), Senator Shehu Sani (CON), Governor Uba Sani (CON), Femi Falana, SAN (CON), Abdul Oroh (OON) and Odia Ofeimun (CON).
The rest are Felix Morka (CON), Ledum Mitee (CON), Dr. Amos Akingba (CON), Prof. Julius Ihonvbere (CON), Dr. Edwin Madunagu (CON), Pa Reuben Fasoranti (CFR), Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi (CFR), Sen. Abu Ibrahim (CFR), and Sen. Ameh Ebute (CFR).
Prominent among those missing on the list is Late Chief Frank Kokori, the former Secretary-General of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), a man that the military dictators would never forget because of his role of ensuring fuel scarcity at crucial times of the struggle.
Others left out include the Late Mr Walter Carrington, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 1993 to 1997. Meaning he was around in the thick of the June 12 crisis and his voice as to where he stood on the matter was loud and clear enough. Some have argued that his support for the struggle was influenced by his marriage to a Nigerian (Dr. Arese Carrington), and his having lived in three Nigerian cities since the late 1960s. I don’t know. What we know for sure is that he fitted the bill.
I remember a speech he gave at (I think) a cocktail party during the crisis and after he had spoken, myself and some of my colleagues at the event were afraid for his life, even though he should enjoy immunity as a diplomat; America’s envoy for that matter. But that was an era where anything could have happened without the country’s then head of state (Gen. Sani Abacha) understanding the implications. That apart, any of his goons could have done what occurred to him as the needful (like they did to some pro-democracy activists) before they would realise the implications.
I remember too that I was looking left, right and centre at the end of the programme until I got to wherever I chose to sleep for the night (because I went to the event in my branded official car as editor of ‘The Punch’ at some point during that struggle, a thing I later felt I should not have done, given the safety and security implications at the time.
‘The Punch’ was one of the influential daily newspapers in the forefront of the June 12 struggle and it paid hugely for that. What with serial proscriptions, including one for about 15 months, alongside two other national dailies. The story of June 12 cannot be complete without giving due credit to the newspaper.
That takes me to the symbol of the newspaper at the time, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, chairman of its board of directors. As editor of the daily title, I am competent to say that whatever courage we exhibited then on June 12 would not have been possible without the support of ‘The Punch’s’ board of directors, and Ogunshola in particular.
Incidentally, it was only a few hours that I discussed Ogunshola’s omission from the list with one of his friends, an erudite professor, that I read in the column of my predecessor, Bola Bolawole, that “Those of us at ‘The Punch’ Newspaper were completely blotted out; yet, we stood and fought for June 12 more than anyone else, even more than the Concord Newspapers owned by MKO Abiola, the symbol of the June 12 struggle. I stand to be corrected because facts and figures back up this claim.”
That this was Bolawole’s introduction to the piece underscored his disappointment that ‘The Punch’ was conspicuously missing on the honour’s list.
Many of the other names I could have added have been mentioned elsewhere except that of Mr Soji Omotunde.
All said, it is good that many of the omitted names are now in the public domain. This should be of tremendous help to the government when compiling the names of the next set of people to honour for their roles in the June 12 struggle.
There are also many anonymous others who were mauled down by soldiers on the streets during the many protests that defined that struggle in several parts of the country. It would not be a bad idea for the government to construct a befitting monument in their collective memory.
