As part of the activities celebrating the 32nd anniversary of June 12 1993 , President Bola Ahmed Tinubu addressed a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday June 12 2025
During his speech, the President reeled out names of some Nigerians who played significant roles in the June 12 struggle
Some of those honored and deservedly too were Kudirat Abiola, Pa Alfred Rewane , Gani Fawehinmi, Frank Kokori , Abraham Adesanya , Humphrey Nwosu , Ndubisi Kanu etc
Without doubt these people paid pivotal roles during the struggle
Some of them paid the ultimate price . That they were honored was not a surprise to me since President Tinubu was an active participant in the struggle and knew them one on one .
It is quite unfortunate that it took 32 years for their efforts to be recognized and I commend the President for doing the needful, it is better to be late than never
Most of the beneficiaries of that struggle are today’s politicians who were no where near the war front
As the President rightly said too , there are so many names involved and they all cannot be honored now , I totally agree with him on that too
But Mr President , there are some names of some Nigerians who ought not to have been omitted
Their names should be in the forefront, far far more important than some of those you honored ( I don’t want to mention their names )
Either by an action or deliberately, you ignored them
Irrespective of their current political leanings , they deserve their flowers
Without their efforts combined with yours, you wouldn’t have been the President of Nigeria today
With all due respect sir , you are the highest beneficiary of that struggle and therefore should show some level of magnanimity in recognising them
First on my list is late Pa Ayo Adebanjo , a man who practically held the junta by the jugular , I don’t know why his name was omitted or has he been honored in the past
Your former Deputy when you were Lagos State Governor Mrs Kofo Bucknor Akerele is another person
She was one of the most visible voices from Lagos at that period
Veteran Journalist Chief Dele Momodu name should have been top on the list
What about Omoyele Sowore , Ofcourse everyone knew the role played by this young man all through the struggle
Late Prince Adeniyi Adele, the former chairman of Lagos Island was a man of courage.. While some of you went on exile during the June 12 crisis, he remained in Nigeria to face the military
Let’s talk about my constituency , I commend you for extending the list to the media
Thank you sir but you missed out a very important media organization, Daar Communications owners of Ray power FM and African Independent Television ( AIT )
While the likes of Bayo Onanuga and the TheNews , Tempo as well Nosa Igiebor of Tell Magazine were holding forth in the print, Late Chief Raymond Alegho Dokpesi staked his life and his organization to fight the military
AIT and Raypower were the only Independent private stations in existence then and they gave the military a run for their money
Some of their presenters like Late Ladi Lawal , Ambrose Olutayo Somide , Gbenga Aruleba , Augustine Okhiria Agbonsuremi through their political programmes like Factfile were a must listen
The Punch Newspapers as an organization deserves to be honored..Go back and read their editorials during the period
Mr Richard Akinnola II and some others in the Civil Society Groups also played their parts
Of particular interest to me is Major Abubakar Umar rtd , the only military officer who publicly stood against the annulment
I am sure if they were asked to give an account of what they went through during this period , they’ll have a lot to say
Also, many ordinary Nigerians who also lost their lives during the period deserve a monument in their honor
The list is just too long
I hope that in subsequent editions of the Democracy Day Celebrations some of these people will be accorded the honours they deserve
Once again congratulations to all the honorees
I wish you the best Mr President
Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Executive Editor CKNNews
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