Several Nigerians has since Wednesday June 12 Democracy Day been making x-ray of President Muhammadu Buhari’s role in the struggle for the actualization of June 12, 1993, presidential election presumed won by Chief M.K.O. Abiola but declared inconclusive, and therefore, later annulled, by the military junta. Nigerians have been expressing disquiets that President Buhari does not have the credentials to be a frontline celebrant of June 12 Democracy Day despite his repentant benevolence in acknowledging the day as a public holidays in recent time.
From the statement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, President Buhari was no way associated with all the indices of agony and losses Nigerians suffered in the June 12 struggle as listed by Tinubu. Rather, the incumbent president held a notable position in the General Sani Abacha government that was tormenting irritant Nigerians over the June 12 annulment.
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The repentance of the president to honour and celebrate late Abiola and the family has been dismissed by Nigerians as Greek Gift that cannot overturn President Buhari as a hero of June 12 or hero of democracy. The president renamed the Abuja National Stadium built by former President Olusegun Obasanjo after M.K.O. Abiola. Nigerians while commending the decision however reacted differently to the fame seeking game.
Senator Shehu Sani simply told President Buhari: “Obasanjo built Abuja stadium, next time immortalise heroes with project done by your government.”
However, a stakeholder in the Nigerian project, Hamma Hayatu, on his twitter handle @HAHayatu wrote: “Obasanjo built the Abuja National Stadium from scratch between 1999 and 2003; today, Buhari names it after Abiola. It is pertinent to note that from 2015 to 2019 that Buhari serves as president, he has not built even “money post” football field or any major national monument.”
He maintained that the incumbent president cannot steal the show of a nationalist from established authorities in the country.