June 12: MKO Abiola Paid The Supreme Price – Atiku

A former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has said that the winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola paid the supreme price for the democracy that is being enjoyed today.

Atiku, who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, however warned against what he called a consistent pattern of departure from constitutional due process to tendencies of authoritarianism.

In a statement to mark the 25th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 election, Atiku said that democracy was not merely a mechanism of appointing a government.

According to him, it was the beauty inherent in safeguarding the citizenry to live and prosper as free people under the law.

The former Vice-President said, “Perhaps at this point, we need to remind ourselves that the democracy which we enjoy today did not come at a cheap price. It came at the cost of the supreme price paid by persons that included Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Maj. Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua, Chief Alfred Rewane and Bagauda Kaltho, among thousands of other patriots.

He called on all political actors “to let June 12 and all that it embodies, inspire us to promote democratic principles, especially as Nigeria is about to go to the polls again.”