By Adesina Soyooye
President Muhammadu Buhari will broadcast to the nation on Friday, June 12, 2020.
The broadcast is to commemorate Democracy Day.
Until Buhari changed the date to honour of the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, Presidential election, Nigeria usually marked Democracy Day on May, the 29th. That was the day, in 1999, when the Military Government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar left the scene, and handed over to the civilian government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Democracy has endured since then, rickety as it has been.
Abiola died in military detention under the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
A statement signed by Femi Adesina, Buhari’s Adviser on Media and Publicity, requests all
Television and Radio stations, as well as other electronic media outlets, to hook up to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority and Radio Nigeria for the broadcast.
It will be Buhari’s first broadcast on June 12, and the first nationwide public holiday on June 12. Before now, it was restricted to Abiola’s home state, Ogun, and Lagos where he lived, and from where he was hauled into detention, and, finally, on death, buried at his Ikeja residence, when he suddenly died in Abuja, under Military detention.
Broadcast time is 7.00am.
