National Assembly approves June 12 as Democracy Day

June 12 , the date in the nation’s history when the acclaimed freest
and fairest election was conducted in 1993 , is now the National
Democracy Day .
With an expressed endorsement yesterday by the Senate of a bill
earlier passed by the House of Representatives to that effect , June 12
has become fully immortalised , after about 26 years of agitation for
the date to be accorded this recognition.

Consequently, the National Holiday Act has been amended to move
Nigeria’ s Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12 . However , May 29
remains sacrosanct as the date when one administration will hand
over to a succeeding one in compliance with the provisions of the
1999 Constitution regarding the tenure of administrations in the
country .
The amendment is in concurrence with the House of
Representatives ’ approval earlier in December 2018 . The adoption
was sequel to a report by the Majority Leader , Senator Ahmad
Lawan , for the Senate to concur with the House.
The three clauses of the amendment bill were passed by the
Committee of the Whole when the Deputy President of the Senate,
Ike Ekweremadu , who presided over the session, put them to voice
vote.
The legislation is now billed for transmission to President
Muhammadu Buhari for assent .
Buhari had in June 2018 declared that the Democracy Day would
henceforth hold on June 12 of every year. He made the declaration
as the Federal Government honoured the acclaimed winner of the
1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Abiola , with a
posthumous conferment on him of the highest national award,
Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCON).
Buhari had also conferred on Abiola ’ s running mate in the election,
Alhaji Babagana Kingibe , and foremost human rights lawyer, the
late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN ), the Grand Commander of the
Order of the Niger award , which is the second highest national
honour.
Originally , the bill , which was jointly sponsored to the House of
Representatives by Edward Pwajok and Kayode Oladele , sought to
bring the National Holiday Act in tandem with the current realities
and exigencies of the modern times .
When he introduced the bill on the floor of the House of
Representatives last year , Pwajok had explained that before 1979 ,
there were separate acts regulating public holidays in the country .
He recalled that in 1975 , a law was made to repeal all state laws on
public holidays and to streamline the process of declaring holidays
for the federation.
According to him, by law , the president may declare any day as a
public holiday by public notice or act through the Minister of
Internal Affairs .
He noted that in 2000 , the National Assembly amended the schedule
to add May 29 as Democracy Day . He however said that May 29
would be celebrated every fourth year when there is an
inauguration of a new president while June 12 would be celebrated
as Democracy Day every year .
The Secretary - General of the Lower Niger Congress (LNC ) and one of
the prominent agitators for the actualisation of the June 12
presidential poll, Mr. Tony Nnadi , expressed mixed reactions over
the development .
He told Newsmen on the telephone yesterday that what the
lawmakers did by recognising June 12 as Democracy Day was still
within acceptance. According to him, the implication of the decision
is that a mild ceremony would be held on May 29 for the swearing
in of the president while the real ceremony of Democracy Day will
come up on June 12 .
He, however, was not sure of the need to amend the constitution to
change Democracy Day to June 12 . “ Democracy Day is just a title ,”
he noted .
The Chairman , Presidential Advisory Committee on the National
Conference, Senator Femi Okunrounmu, said he did not know
whether May 29 was stipulated in the 1999 Constitution as
Democracy Day or that former President Olusegun Obasanjo
deliberately picked it as the day he would be sworn into office in
1999.
“ Be that as it may , it appears the Buhari government is just playing
politics with the recognition of June 12 just to appease some gullible
politicians in South West .
“ If the president is serious in the first instance, he would have sent
a bill to make June 12 the Democracy Day to the National Assembly
immediately after the Abuja fanfare where he invited many activists
to recongnise June 12 .”
The Spokesman of Yoruba socio - cultural group, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka
Odumakin, said it was a welcome development , but he expressed
worry that “ everything in Nigeria ’s democratic system today does
not replicate the true spirit of June 12 . ”
According to him, “ If this government truly believes in June 12 , the
last presidential election wouldn ’t have been allowed to stand
because it did not reflect the true wishes of Nigerians as June 12
truly did . ”