To Make This Democracy Day Meaningful, We Must Revisit The Processes That Gave Birth To June 12 — J.S. Okutepa, SAN

* Says June 12 Election, The Freest And Cleanest Ever In Nigeria
*Urges Government To Collaborate With The 9th National Assembly To Give Serious Attention To Option A4
*Says Mushrooms Political Parties Must Give Way To SDP/NRC Model

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, J.S.Okutepa has said that to make this democracy say meaningful, we must revisit the processes that gave birth to June 12.

The learned silk made this statement in a press release issued to mark the new democracy day in Nigeria.

According to him, the June 12 Presidential election was no doubt the freest in Nigeria, but was annulled by IBB military junta. He thus said that the government must go back to the system that produced that election, adding that it is not just enough to declare June 12 as democracy day.

”Today has been declared a public holiday by the Federal government of Nigeria to mark what it called democracy day. This is good. But not good enough.

”To make this democracy day meaningful, we must revisit the processes that gave birth to June 12. It is no longer news that the freest and cleanest elections in the annals of Nigerian history was June 12 1993 presidential election in which Chief MKO Abiola ran with Alhaji Babagana Kingibe as the running mate. Chief Abiola won that election. But the election was annulled by IBB military junta.

”Nigerians of all walks of life voted without considering the ethnic backgrounds of Abiola and Kingibe. That they both were Muslim did not matter to Nigerians. Prof Nwosu was the pilot of the Electoral Body at that time. Option A4 was used. It was an election that was done without political thuggery. Votes counted. Voters knew their votes would count because they were part of the processes. The election was so transparent that some of us felt Nigeria has invented another democratic jurisprudence worthy of emulation by all. Yet, the military junta of Babangida truncated it for reasons best known to them.

”This govt must go back to the system that produced that election results. It is not enough to declare June 12 as democracy day. We must go back to the seeds that produced that product. The seeds that produced that product accord with the understanding of Nigerian people,” he said.

Speaking further, he said that this government must in collaboration with the 9th National Assembly give serious attention to option A4 and go for electoral reforms that will produce that result, stressing that the mushroom parties we have now must give way to SDP/NRC model.

”This government must in collaboration with the 9th National Assembly give serious attention to option A4 and go for electoral reforms that will produce that result

”The mushrooms political parties we have now must give way to SDP/NRC model. The wastage of our resources on do or die Electoral processes must not continue. As we celebrate this maiden democracy day, we look forward to inventing democratic model after the understanding of Nigerian people. We must not be a slave to western form of democracy that complicates the understanding of our people,” he said.