The Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) has stated that June 12, 1993 presidential election will remain indelible in the memories of Nigerians as the basis for the expansion, popularisation and growth of democracy in the country.
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, at an event marking the June 12 Democracy Day, on Friday, also described the election as the freest and most credible in the history of Nigeria.
Coordinator, Ekiti State chapter of ARG, Elder Bunmi Awotiku, stated this in Ado-Ekiti, during the event it organised in conjunction with the Ekiti State Government to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of June 12 and 26 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria.
The anniversary lecture, titled: “June 12: Economic Imperatives of South-West Development Commission” was delivered by Professor Taiwo Owoeye of the Department of Economics, Ekiti State University, (EKSU), Ado Ekiti.
Awotiku who decried the loss of many lives during protests staged across the country against the annulment of the election won by late Moshood Abiola, branded those behind the cancellation of the poll as killers.
“Many here may have not witnessed the election, but we thank God for the ARG. Our people are fast forgetting our history, most of children don’t know who is Segun Odegbami, Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, even MKO Abiola; we only hear their names, but the elders here will know the story of June 12.
“The spontaneous reaction of Nigerians against the annulment of the election led to the killing of people on the streets of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Kano and across Nigeria.
“But let us thank God, because if not for June 12, there won’t be Biodun Oyebanji and talking about shared prosperity. It is because of June 12 that we have democracy in Nigeria and our own Bola Tinubu as President.
“This has brought freedom and development to Nigeria in all spheres. We need to remind ourselves where we’re coming from, where we are, and where we are heading to. It is this agitation that gave birth to ARG,” Awotiku said.
Speaking on some of the group’s activities Awotikun recalled that the ARG midwifed the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Yoruba Academy, the Amotekun Corps, assuring “we are still going to do more.”
“ARG stands for the welfare of our people. We want to say, away to fiscal federalism and let’s develop at our own pace because we have a lot of things we can lay our hands on to develop.
“Before the federal government established Southwest Development Commission, we have DAWN to help benchmark, and do whatever good things others are doing through their comparative advantage in order to have a good network within the six western states and extending it to Edo and Delta States, also to the Yoruba-speaking areas of Kwara and Kogi States, this is the vision”.
In his lecture, Prof. Owoeye described June 12 as a landmark in Nigeria’s political history.
Speaking further on the Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway Project of the Tinubu-led administration, Owoeye assured that, “Very soon industries will start springing up along the corridor to produce stuffs as we have it in China and Singapore. It should be supported because it will transform the region economically”.
The professor of Economics who noted that most Nigerian coastal cities were not developing to become industrial hubs because of the failure to integrate them into the global system, said wealth from coastal cities were being transfered to the interiors in developed countries.
He said, “One of that direction is that, there should be regional integration where we can develop our coastal areas so the next generation of Nigeria can work in the industrial zone and the Yoruba nation can move forward.
“We have regional government in Nigeria before but we may not be able to go back to it because we now have states, but what we can have is those that will now form what we call regional integration, which means those states should begin to work together to achieve a certain aim and different parts of those states could have their comparative advantage.
Like the states that are close to the coast could begin to have ports, those that are far away from the coast could also begin to integrate with those that are close to the coast and they can supply labour, raw materials and the regional integration can take place”.
