Former Governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, on Wednesday recalled some of the ugly memories he has about the June 12 struggle.
He said the late Moshood Abiola, by his struggle and death in the course of holding on to his mandate, paid the price of the 20-year-uninterrupted democracy Nigeria enjoys today.
Osoba spoke during the Democracy Day celebration in Abuja.
His words: “I have a lot of very bad memories about June 12, as a lot of people lost their lives for the struggle, a lot of families also suffered incurable damages, also a lot of people sold their properties to survive.
“I also suffered in the hands of Seargent Rogers, who made two attempts to kill me and I was in hiding for almost a year, along with others who paid the price.
“I also recall that when I was a governor with a former president from my state and all efforts that we should do something to immortalise Abiola did not make any impact.
“You can, therefore, see why we are grateful to President Muhammadu Buhari who recognises the significance of June 12.
“The significance is the full price paid by Abiola that is making us enjoy democracy that is 20 years old now.
“One of my own benefited from Abiola’s sacrifice to become president but here is Buhari who indirectly accepted that Abiola was once past president of this country, so those sacrifices that we also suffered are no more in vain.”
He said that the day was significant as past presidents from 1999 had refused to recognise the day or Abiola’s sacrifices for Nigeria’s democracy.
Osoba commended President Buhari for recognising June 12 as Democracy Day, adding that democracy has come to stay in the country.
