6th July, 2023
By Joe Okei Odumakin
This anniversary of the death of June 12 warrior, an enduring national conversation confronts an interesting context.
A key member of the NADECO movement sits in the office of Nigerian President. The office which represented the prize over which blood was spilled, lives destroyed and anomie firmly established.
M.K.O. Abiola stood in the gap between light and darkness. An unfamiliar angel of a different hue who was read as too deep into comfort for a fight. But they read him wrong.
Looking back 23 odd years after, a drastically changed political landscape, what is left of the vision of M.K.O., The continental activist for reparations. The global quest for respect for sovereignty. He would ask…”we are a sovereign nation, or aren’t we?” The chorus. was a deafening “we are !!!”.
How does this moment then evolve? Abiola’s embers, nay, members are holding the reigns. How much of the giddy past would the inheritors remember?
How would a NADECO activist run town in an edifying memorial to the cause of a martyr and indeed a cause he came to own. Could there be a greater quest than this? Was it Providence providing a wild tempt for the most effective Nigerian opposition to now be the one to be opposed?
Yes, there are issues of posthumous benefits which this President must treat to retain a NADECO credibility.
It would be intense moments if, when, governance brings positive impact on the regular Nigerian…Restructuring, security, economy, health, protected commonwealth, standardizing the Nigerian identity…japa etc.
All these chicks could not be gathered in one fell swoop, but how much could be done? Done well in a single dive?
If the portrait of a patriot, a warrior, murdered, could look down on this President’s table …it is not impossible to imagine that the essence of his memory would be honored. Perhaps a fair measure before the next anniversary of that murder most foul!
-Dr. Joe Okei Odumakin, President, Women Arise.