The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the national honour proposed to
be conferred on the acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993, Chief MKO Abiola,
by President Muhammadu Buhari, smacks of hypocrisy and political
desperation ahead of 2019 presidential election.
PDP declares that President Buhari’s action merely sought to use the
name and person of Chief Abiola to gain a political capital and not out
of genuine reverence and recognition for him.
The party recalls that President Buhari, who was serving in the military
administration of General Sani Abacha during the travails of Chief MKO
Abiola, did not associate either by words or actions with the late
winner of June 12 election.
The party further stated that history did not record President Buhari as
sympathetic to the Abiola’s family when his wife, Kudirat, was
gruesomely murdered by the agents of a government which President Buhari
served.
It is therefore a sign of political desperation for President Buhari to
seek to use Chief Abiola’s name as a tool to sway Nigerians in less than
twelve months to an election where he, (President Buhari) is seeking a
second term.
It is also shocking that the respectable grave of Abiola can be
dishonoured by granting a posthumous award on him along with someone who
denounced the June 12 mandate and preferred the company of his
(Abiola’s) traducers.
Even those who now masquerade as change agents were opposed to the
naming of University of Lagos after Chief Abiola.
If President Buhari genuinely wants to honour Chief Abiola, he should
do so by ending all anti-democratic proclivities of his administration
and allow for the rule of law and respect for our constitution.
The PDP therefore urges President Buhari to shed his desperate actions
in his quest to win the 2019 presidential election as Nigerians can no
longer be deceived by such antics.
