To free Nigerians from “bondage”, Nigeria must be restructured into federating units.
This is according to the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, in a statement sent to Africa Today News on Thursday in commemoration of the June 12, 1993, anniversary.
He expressed joy that part of the dreams of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), has been realized with the official naming of June 12 as the Democracy Day.
Adams, however, regretted that despite the sacrifices of the activists and pro-democracy groups, democracy is yet to take its root in Nigeria.
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He stated that Nigeria can only get it right with true federalism, pointing out that the only way out of the political logjam is to let the federating states develop at their own pace.Adams noted that when federating units are allowed to develop at their own pace, there will be mutual benefits and progress.
He said the issue of security and state police would be taken care of without fear or favour.
“The kind of democracy we fought for during the June 12 struggle. It is far different from what we are seeing now. The struggle for the actualisation of the mandate given freely to the late M.K.O. Abiola in a free and fair election then was a long, hard battle to survive the military onslaughts”
“Those of us alive today still remember those moments with a lot of regrets, and surprises. We think of how we were able to survive those trying periods. The journey for this democracy has been tortuous. Today, our democracy is at best, one step forward and five steps backward. But in all, we thank God that we are alive to tell the story.“We got it wrong right from the outset. We got it wrong with leadership. Nigeria has been crippled by bad leadership. This has always been our problem. All our leaders have lost touch with the people at the grassroots, that is why we must continue to press for justice until we get the best for Nigeria and Nigerians.”
Adams added that the lesson of the June 12 election is for a lifetime for everybody, stressing that no matter how long the long arm of lies persists, the truth will one day prevail.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK