Today is June 12 and I vividly remember queuing to vote in the Presidential elections of 1993 on Faseun Street, Okota, Lagos. It was a very sunny day and everybody was in high spirits. I casted my vote in favor of Chief M. K. O. Abiola, candidate of of the Social Democratic party. Unfortunately, the then military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the elections a few days later though Prof. Humphrey Nwosu's Option A4, adopted by the electoral Commission, proved to be the most transparent elections ever conducted in Nigeria till date. Abiola was to later claim his mandate by unilaterally declaring himself the President of Nigeria. He was subsequently arrested and detained. He died in detention on July 7, 1998. He was born on August 24, 1937.
Nigeria has known no political peace ever since. It's as if it is the greatest political injustice ever meted to us. 20 years on and Lagos and Ogun States are commemorating June 12 1993 by a observing a work-free day. Sadly, no one has deemed it fit to address the injustice.
My wish is that the 7th NASS addresses that injustice by amending our Constitution such that the office of the President is rotated evenly among he federating units in the country. Also, my vision of the federating units is not the current 36 States but sic regional governments along the administrative geo-political zones. This amendment should be crowned by a devolution of powers from the 'too-powerful' Federal Government to the new Regional Governments. In my opinion, the recently recommended constitutional amendments do not go far enough and mainly self-serving, giving the NASS even more powers.
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