BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
Legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Abdulhakim Mustafa, has described the democratic experience of the ill fated June 12, 1993, presidential election as the best experience for Nigerian politics and politicians.
The election, adjudged as the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, saw a Moslem-Moslem ticket recording a landslide victory. Nigerians neither reckoned with religion, ethnicity or geo-political zones of the candidates.
Mustafa, in an exclusive interview with The Point in Abuja, said the lessons of June 12 erased all the divisive factors currently working against the country’s politics.
“It is a good thing we have democracy today in our country. The fact that we have democracy, therefore, is a thing to reflect on. We are not talking of whether it is perfect or not because there is no place where democracy is perfect,” he said.
He argued that it would be better if politicians toed the footprints of June 12 where there was no leaning towards religion, ethnicity or tribe but the focus was Nigeria.
“Now we all have democracy where we have the attendant privileges and rights, however, if things are not working well, there is room for constitutional review to make our democracy work. That is the beauty of democracy,” Mustafa said.
The erudite lawyer pointed out that June 12 had a lot of possibilities the country needed to learn from for its unification as it made the people come together, forgetting tribal and religious inclinations.
On the 22 years of democracy in Nigeria, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria said, “It is a journey. We have taken the right step. Good a thing there has not been any interruption. June 12 prepared the solid ground for democracy to thrive in the country.
“One thing is very clear, it is possible for us to put aside our tribal differences and agree on one common goal in elections.”
Late Chief Moshood Abiola and his running mate Babagana Kingibe on the ticket of Social Democratic Party (SDP) were believed to be winners of the June 12 Presidential elections in 1993 but the General Ibrahim Babangida led military regime annulled it while the announcement of the results was ongoing.
On June 6, 2018, eight days after May 29, 2018 had been celebrated as Democracy Day, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government of Nigeria declared June 12 as the new Democracy Day.
