WHILE it is fitting to praise the effort of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in celebrating the courage of those he remembered on June 12, 2025 as ‘Heroes of Nigerian Democracy’, it is also important to bring to his notice that there are some other ‘heroes of democracy’ the chroniclers in the presidency forgot. And so as one of those who have institutional memories of the perilous times in our history I would like to plead that those forgotten heroes should be remembered in the next celebration of democracy.
It is gratifying to note that the president’s preface to the honorees’ list hinted at the expediency of recognising as many heroes as possible, in this regard. His words: “The struggle was never the province of any one group or section of the country, it was pan-Nigerian in its conception and will be even more pan- Nigerian as we strive to perfect it”.
In his speech last year (on June 12, 2024), the president listed 32 names as “heroes of democracy”, starting with the late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of Nigeria’s arguably freest election in 1993, to Chief Ayo Opadokun, the Secretary-General of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), an association of several pro-democracy and activist groups that championed the call for the military to exit the stage and hand over to Abiola.
Referencing the sacrifices made by the coalition, the president said, “The precious gift brought about by their selfless devotion can neither be repaid nor forgotten.”
However, many Nigerians including yours sincerely had observed then that though the president noted that the list was not exhaustive, as several names who also played critical roles, some with their lives, were not mentioned.
Some of the names said to have been worth mentioning then (2024) included Walter Carrington, Frederick Fasehun, Col Dangiwa Umar, Bagauda Kaltho, Joe Igbokwe, Mohammed Adamu, Dr Junaidu Mohammed, Alhaji Bukar Zarma, Nosa Igiebor, Bayo Onanuga, Sunday Dare, Gambo Sawaba, Mike Ozekhome, Clement Nwankwo and Alao Aka-Bashorun, Dr Amos Akingba. The president had then included the names of their contemporaries like Olisa Agbakoba, Femi Falana, Abdul Oroh, Senator Shehu Sani and Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State.
Roll call of some individuals forgotten: Dr Tunji Abayomi, Polycap Nwite, Femi Aborishade, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Bamidele Aturu, Tony Enahoro, Bucknor Akerele, Prof Itse Sagay, Chief Olu Falae, General Ishola Williams, Balarabe Musa, M.D. Yusuf, and Tunji Braithwaite.
In a piece here then, I noted, “Immortalising people and doing all this thing on June 12, is a very good cause, but since the president decided to name some people as heroes of democracy, I believe they omitted some significant names and only remembered the prominent figures.”
In the critique of the 2024 list, I also said, “Even for the media, the president just mentioned some media establishments but didn’t mention some of the people who suffered specifically. For instance, Bayo Onanuga, the current president’s media adviser, who resigned from his job as the Editor of “African Concord” as a result of the struggle. He resigned when it came to apologising to the military about a story. He refused and left.”
Besides, I highlighted the roles of Ray Ekpu, Yakubu Mohammed and Dan Agbese, all of the organic “Newswatch”, who were arrested on the same day for publishing an interview with Brig-General David Mark on the intrigues that led to the cancellation of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
As Editor of the premier newspaper the “Abuja Newsday” that was shut down during the period, I said that being an editor during the period of Nigeria’s democratic struggle in 1993, I knew a lot of people who played significant roles in the struggle but were not on the list read by the president and thus those missing deserved to be recognised as heroes of “our” democracy.
I had then noted too that significant people like the late former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, with his organisation of political groups G-34, which began with G-18 led by Chief Solomon Lar, the late Justice Dolapo Akinsanya, who declared the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan illegal, were left out.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu had before then described the late Justice Akinsanya as “one of the heroines of the present democracy in Nigeria for the courageous judgment she delivered against the legality of the Interim National Government in November, 1993.” I added then that the names of people like Joe Igbokwe, with his daily letters to editors of Nigerian newspapers and newsmagazines for the actualisation of June 12 results to deepen democracy; and Dr Kayode Fayemi, a former Ekiti State governor, who was generally described as one of the brains behind, Radio Kudirat – the indispensable voice of the June 12, struggle that was broadcasting not only to Nigeria, denouncing the military dictators, but also sensitising the international community on the struggle to end military dictatorship in the country, were also not on the list.
I also wrote then that while it was impossible to have an exhaustive list, proper planning of an event of that nature would have ensured that some significant names that readily came to mind were not subsumed under “among others” as the president did in his 2024 speech. Some of the forgotten heroes in 2024 also included the following:
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‘Walter Carrington’
For instance, the late Carrington, a former US Ambassador to Nigeria, was so interested in Nigeria’s struggle for a return to democracy that his position was erroneously interpreted by the then military regime as the intention of the United States (US) to kick out the General Sani Abacha regime.
That was why in his condolence message, former President Muhammadu Buhari described Carrington as a “long-time friend of Nigeria and an astute and courageous diplomat,” adding that the story of “Nigeria’s democracy under the Fourth Republic will not be complete without a mention of the heroic roles of the likes of Ambassador Carrington.”
Carrington remains arguably the most popular US ambassador to Nigeria even after his death in 2020. The road where the US Consulate and several other countries’ consulates are situated was named after him in Lagos.
‘Alao Aka-Bashorun’
Similarly, Aka-Bashorun, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), was another name believed to be too important to the democratic struggle to have been excluded.
One of his children, Dipo H Aka-Bashorun, in an opinion article to respond to the absence of his father’s name during the president’s June 12, dinner speech, said June 12, like with so many notable Nigerians, was inextricably connected to his name.
He wrote, “Where to start? His conviction of G.O.K. Ajayi (SAN) to join him and mount the legal defence of Chief MKO Abiola, the widely acclaimed winner of June 12, at his trial for treason. How about his years in exile; having had to leave Nigeria with a passport issued by the United Nations after the People’s Chambers (his law office) had been raided, sealed off, and his Nigerian passport seized? His role as a leading member of the human rights movement to take the case of Nigeria’s human rights abuses to the United Kingdom and the United States.
‘Frederick Fasehun’
The leadership of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) also described President Tinubu’s failure to acknowledge its founder, Dr Frederick Fasehun, in the list of the June 12, heroes as a mark of ingratitude.
‘Bukar Zarma’
Zarma, former Editor of the organic “New Nigerian” was the publisher of the premier newspaper in Abuja, “Abuja Newsday”(1988-1993). The Editor of the newspaper was detained several times during this time and the city newspaper was proscribed alongside others, but unlike others, it never recovered. While the struggle was on, yours sincerely as Editor fled to Lagos when security operatives occupied our office. The publisher was arrested eventually in his farm in Kaduna in the heat of the struggle.
So as we applaud the President for honouring most of the “Heroes of June 12”, his office should note that there are still some names to be included even in a “Hall of Fame” or a “Honours List”. It may not be impossible for every one of them to be conferred with National Honours. In any case, such honourable names should include, significant ones such as the late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, who was a significant part of the struggle, Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (Rtd), Mr.Joe Igbokwe, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the late Dr Tunji Braithwaite, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, the late Dr. Junaid Mohammed, Ogaga Ifowodo, Ph.D, Nnimmo Bassey, and the young radicals who hijacked an aircraft that they caused to land in Niger Republic as part of pressure on the military government to actualise the June 12 result at the time.
The list of the media honorees so far isn’t exhaustive. There are more significant ones to be honoured and recognised. “The Guardian” senior Editors and Managers who invented the language of coverage of June 12 debacle (M.K.O, the presumed winner of June 12, a man generally believed to have won the June 12 Election) for the Nigerian Media then included Mr Lade Bonuola who was the Managing Director then. He was invited several times by then Col. Frank Omenka, one of Abacha’s hitmen. The list should include Mr. Femi Kusa who was Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Debo Adesina, African Guardian Editor, then, Kingsley Osadolor, Editor, “The Guardian”(Sunday) who wrote a story that Abacha’s regime exploited to close down the newspaper on August 14, 1994; the “Newswatch” three musketeers, (executives) Ray Ekpu, Yakubu Mohammed, and Dan Agbese who were arrested on the same day at the time for publishing a June 12, interview with Brig-Gen. David Mark; Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who was with “The News”executives then; Sunday Dare who wrote a book on “Guerilla Journalism” then, Mr. Alex Kabba who was chased out of Nigeria at the time, Dele Momodu, Onome, Osifo Whiskey, Dele Omotunde, etc.
What of Mohammed Adamu who allegedly wrote a cover story titled ‘Al Mustapah: The Ruthless Man behind Abacha’? Though the story had no byline, Adamu was arrested and detained for almost a year. Among others from Abuja-Kaduna axis, Alhaji Bukar Zarma, whose newspaper, Abuja Newsday was closed down in July 1993, for publishing many exclusive stories including June 12 Winner’s Transition Programme, ‘Hot romance between Abiola’s son and IBB’s daughter’, a ‘Secret night meeting between Abiola and IBB in Abuja amidst June 12 crisis, etc and Alhaji Yakubu Abdulazeez, then Editor of “New Nigerian” who was arrested and sacked for being too pro-June 12, deserve national honours too. Should even the late Pini Jason be forgotten?
University of Lagos then became a focal point of student activism for actualisation of June 12. There was a student leader called Comrade Olusegun Mayegun that security forces detained several times. Doesn’t he deserve an honour too?
To be continued…
- Oloja is former editor of The Guardian newspaper and his column, Inside Stuff, runs on the back page of the newspaper on Sundays. The column appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.