Ordinarily I won’t join issues with a younger fellow. Segun Sowunmi is a much younger person to me. I am 65, politically more experienced, last 25 years on this journey and before then. But this remark — _”Of course MKO Abiola was thrown in jail for doing something that stupid”_ — is too insensitive to ignore. June 12 deserves correction.
THE GENESIS — On 29th May 2001 at Villa Chapel, Democracy Day church service, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye gave wake up call sermon. I aligned completely. By then I was disappointed with styles and policies — political intolerance, self-righteousness, ineffective anti-corruption crusade, visible corruption at echelon, politically motivated assassinations. My brain flashed to 5th June 1999 — call from Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, intimate friend of President Olusegun Obasanjo, asking me to join what was called outerbox, engine room. I was excited — prospect of brand New Nigeria, equity, justice, peace, no abuse of public resources for private gain. Nigeria one-third of Africa population would have become superpower. But poor leadership bane. After Adeboye wake up call, tendencies unchanged. I stepped down to follow course for better society. Country fixed together with falsehood can never progress.
That was 2020 WAY FORWARD I wrote in Sahara Reporters. Still way forward today. Until we become better citizens, we won’t produce better leaders. Until everyone treated equally — Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Igbo — we can’t have Nigeria of our dreams. Where institutions function, corruption stranger, workers don’t expect appreciation for doing job, consequences for crime, child won’t know “Up NEPA”, fairness institutionalized. That is why at 65, I am in best position to redraft — I lived last 25 years 1999-2024 democracy plus before then June 12 struggle.
Segun Sowunmi, have you considered weight of name you invoked? MKO Abiola won June 12 1993 — freest and fairest — Babangida annulled — _”You cannot shave a man’s head in his absence”_ — MKO declared self President June 11 1994 Epetedo not because stupid but because mandate stolen. Abacha jailed July 1994 to July 1998 — Died July 7 1998 detention after tea — Suspicious — Supreme price became Constitution — Today June 12 Democracy Day — Law — Not stupid, sacrifice — I was there, you read it — Precedence today becomes Constitution tomorrow — Gani Fawehinmi SAN Titan taught — _Fawehinmi v Akilu & Togun_ for Dele Giwa letter bomb Oct 19 1986 — 40 years today — Same Gani fought for MKO — 40 detentions, library burnt, jail — Never called MKO stupid — He called temple.
WITNESS 2026/2036 5Cs — CITIZEN witness, CAPTURE facts, CATALOGUE verifiable, CLOUD upload, CONFRONT court and conscience with courage in service — You captured insult, catalogued falsehood, clouded history — Flipping side — Talking before reasoning — Defect when jump party for survival — Principal today, principle tomorrow — Mic don comot — Sahara 2006 to smartphone 2026 — Camera don comot.
When retired Justice Amina Augie said Oct 18 2026 Nigerian Law School 1986 Class 40th — _”Corruption where it exists on Bench, Bar, Registry, poisons everything by turning one place citizen should find impartiality into one more market stall”_ — _”Have we kept faith? In part YES, in part NO”_ — Late confession — Gani early action — Both needed — Barrister Chuks Nwachuku said Nigeria knows to do good but fails to do it — James 4:17 — Knowing June 12 sacred and calling stupid is failure.
An accomplished RTD military General told us — Law factual evidence within ambit, courts adjudicate, bias not truth — Prof Oloyede — Real courage in service not out, risky dangerous must speak timely take hit, leaders got positions through same favours they scream about — China lesson 1949-1976 Mao prevented travel, poor hated, when opened see where they are — Visa denial blessing — Need constructive solutions not condemnation — At 65 I saw China rise, Nigeria fall — Because insult martyrs instead repair — WITNESS solution — 90% citizen effort — SERVANT not SAVIOUR — Pool below apex — MAGIC IS NOT REAL — 2040 TEST — Teach one digital skill before secondary exit — Break hardest shell.
And irony — You are Yoruba man — Egba like MKO — Should be guardian — Not trader — And principal you try to please — President Bola Tinubu — Product of June 12 — NADECO — Exile — Risk — Named stadium MKO, moved Democracy Day June 12 — If you call MKO declaration stupid, you call Tinubu’s own struggle stupid — You desecrate altar you defend — Flipping side.
So I, 65, ask Segun Sowunmi to reflect and publicly apologize — Not to cancel — To correct — To learn 5Cs — To practice courage in service like Gani — Close monopoly supermarket — Open gate for poor — Honour martyrs — Don’t insult — May young politicians learn — Think before talking.
May MKO rest — May Dele Giwa rest — May Gani rest — May June 12 live. This is certainly not the democracy that our heroes envisioned.
AUTHOR NOTE:
_Richard Olanrewaju Odusanya, 65, is Convener Africa Covenant Rescue Initiative (ACRI)/WITNESS 2026/2036, Social Reform Crusader and Author of NIGERIA NEEDS NEW NATIONAL MODEL and THE PEOPLE’S CURSE. He is 65 years old, politically more experienced than Segun Sowunmi, with last 25 years on this journey 1999-2026 democracy and before then June 12 struggle. He served in the outerbox/engine room in 1999 after call from Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, an intimate friend of President Obasanjo, and stepped down after Pastor Adeboye wake up call May 29 2001 at Villa Chapel. Ordinarily he won’t join issues with a younger fellow, but this remark on MKO Abiola is too insensitive to ignore. odusanyagold@gmail.com_
_Ki Olorun Tun Ilu Wa Se — Allah Ya Gyara Kasar Mu — Chineke Mezie Obodo Anyi — May God Repair Our Nation — June 12 Lives_
