As the former National Secretary of the SDP, what was your immediate reaction to the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to confer Nigeria’s highest honour on the late Chief MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential contest and the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day?
In addressing June 12, I will try and give a background and in that process, I may hurt some people, I may hurt some feelings, but then in trying to narrate history, you have to be factual. Even in government, there is what you call classified information, which you will not declassify until after a long period when the consequences of the damage caused by it may have been mitigated. Similarly, in baring my mind, I may be forced to declassify some of the things I concealed. There is no intention to hurt anybody; there is not intension to offend anybody, there is no intention to run down anybody. It is simply a narration of historical facts from my perspective. If I offend anybody in the process, I am sorry. June 12 is a story of high power politics, a story of political treachery, of political double dealing, of political betrayal, political deals and political opportunism, all rolled in one. Read more