‘June 12 NOT A Public Holiday’ — Presidency Clarifies Democracy Day Declaration

The federal government has announced that there will be no public holiday on June 12, 2018, days after President Muhammadu Buhari declared June 12 as the new day of celebration of Nigeria’s Democracy Day.

In a press statement released on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, President Buhari announced that June 12 will replace May 29 as the nation’s official Democracy Day because it’s a more symbolic date. It’s the date of the 1993 presidential election that was annulled by then-military Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, setting Nigeria’s democracy back by a few more years.

Since the president’s announcement on Wednesday, there had been questions about whether there will be a public holiday this year to mark the day.

The federal government clarified this in a statement on its official Twitter account (@AsoRock) on Friday, saying it doesn’t take effect until ‘future years’.

The post read, “NOTICE: There have been questions regarding whether or not there will be a FEDERAL public holiday on June 12, 2018. The answer is NO. Presidential Order says June 12 ‘in FUTURE YEARS will replace May 29th as a National Public Holiday in celebration of Nigeria Democracy Day.'”

https://twitter.com/AsoRock/status/1005077367071694851 Abiola gets post-humous President Buhari also conferred a post-humous award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on the late Chief MKO Abiola. Abiola was the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election that was annulled by Babangida. He was imprisoned in 1994 where he died in custody under suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1998, four years after his arrest. He also awarded Abiola’s running mate Baba Gana Kingibe with a Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), an award he also bestowed on the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) for his human rights agitation for the actualisation of the June 12th election.]]>