A prominent member of the Retired Army Navy Airforce Officers Association, Yusuf Abdulmalik, has expressed his disapproval of celebrating Nigeria’s Democracy Day on June 12th.
The 83-year-old publicity secretary of the ex-military officers association believes that the change from May 29th to June 12th was a politically motivated move by the Buhari administration to gain support from the South-West region.
Abdulmalik argues that May 29th was widely accepted as Democracy Day and that the switch to June 12th was unnecessary.
He also stated that the late Chief MKO Abiola’s legacy and the circumstances surrounding his death, while significant, do not represent the highest point of democratic experience in Nigeria.
“While I agree that an act of injustice was done against him, that he died in the struggle for the actualization of his mandate, I also remember that he was close to the military of that era and was one the early patrons of money politics in Nigeria, which we are still grappling with,” he said.
According to the Sun, The octogenarian, who said he was expressing a personal view, lamented that Nigerians have really nothing to celebrate on June 12th or even after the date, given the extreme and unprecedented hardship across the country.
“Where are the dividends of democracy that we were promised during the elections? There are killings and banditry almost every day; there is severe hunger in almost every home and there is corruption in low and high places? Are these what we should take a holiday to rejoice about,” he queried.
He advised the present government to listen more and to widen its consultation net to accommodate experienced and retired security officers in an advisory capacity to assist in addressing the problems affecting the land.
He also enjoined the administration to strive to reduce the cost of living in the land while urging Nigerians to return to farm in order to boost agricultural production.
