11th June, 2024
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
President Bola Tinubu will address the nation in a broadcast on the occasion of Democracy Day at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale on Tuesday.
Ngelale said television, radio, and other electronic media outlets were enjoined to plug in to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) for the broadcast.
June 12 each year has been declared Democracy Day by the Nigerian government. It is a national public holiday in Nigeria to commemorate the restoration of democracy in 1999, commemorated on 12 June. Until 2018, it was celebrated annually on May 29. It is a tradition that has been held annually, beginning in year 2000. June 12 was formerly known as Abiola Day, celebrated in Lagos and some south western states of Nigeria.
May 29 was initially the official democracy day in Nigeria, marking when the newly elected Olusegun Obasanjo took office as President of Nigeria. On June 6, 2018, eight days after May 29, 2018, had been celebrated as Democracy Day, the government of president Muhammadu Buhari declared June 12 to be the new Democracy Day.
This was done to commemorate the democratic election of Moshood Abiola on June 12, 1993, which was wrongly cancelled by the government of Ibrahim Babangida. Abiola was later detained after he rightfully declared himself the president.