Job Osazuwa
Virtually everyone knows about June 12, the new Democracy Day in Nigeria. But not everyone seems to know much about the person that has come to symbolise the date. He is Chief MKO Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He died in detention on June 8, 1998.
Besides being an eminent businessman, Abiola was also a politician and wordsmith. He created so many proverbs and popular sayings that have continued to reverberate many years after his death.
Some of those quotes are reproduced below.
“Accept what God has given you and make the best use of it.”
“If you go a-borrowing, you will go a-sorrowing.”
“It should not take the extreme measure of killing a new-born child just because the midwife is a bad woman.”
“No one can give you power. It is yours. Take it!”
“From this day, show to the world that anyone who takes the people of Nigeria for fools is deceiving himself and will have the people to answer to.”
“People of Nigeria, our time is now. You are the repository of power in the land.”
“There is no humiliation I have not endured, no snare that has not been put in my path, no “setup” that has not been designed for me in my endeavour to use the path of peace to enforce the mandate that you bestowed on me.”
“A scarcity of books and equipment has rendered our schools into desolate deserts of ignorance.”
“We are sickened to see people who have shown little or no personal achievement, either in building up private businesses, or making a success of any tangible thing, being placed in charge of the management of our nation’s economy, by rulers who are not accountable to anyone.”
“Our youths, in particular, can see no hope on the horizon, and many can only dream of escaping from our shores to join the brain drain.”
“We are plagued also by periodic balance of payments crises, which have led to a perennial shortage of essential drugs that has turned our hospitals and clinics into mortuaries.”
“Anyone afraid of death cannot claim his father’s title and once you have claimed your father’s title, you have become the object of envy of all the members of the family, many of who will pray for your early demise to provide a vacancy for them.”
“He who allows the coconut to be broken on his head, will not live to eat part of it.”- MKO to Shonekan
“You cannot clap with one hand.”
“The bigger the head, the bigger the headache.”
“You cannot shave a head in the absence of its owner and any such attempt is an exercise in futility.”
“You do not have two sun rises in one day.”
“Even if you change the name of honey, it will still be sweet.”
“Power is like a tiger, if you ride a tiger, you must be very careful when you get down, otherwise you find yourself inside the tiger’s belly.”
“It has been a long night. But the dawn is here.
“Only real democracy can move our nation forward towards progress, and earn her the respect she deserves from the international community.”
“Military rule has led to our nation fighting a civil war with itself.”
“Our youths, in particular, can see no hope on the horizon, and many can only dream of escaping from our shores to join the brain drain.”
“My hope has always been to arouse whatever remnants of patriotism are left in the hearts of these thieves of your mandate, and to persuade them that they should not allow their personal desire to rule to usher our beloved country into an era of political instability and economic ruin.”
“Those with whom I have sought to dialogue have remained like stones, neither stirred to show loyalty to the collective decision of the people of their own country, nor to observe Allah’s injunction that they should exhibit justice and fair play in all their dealings with their fellowmen.”
“I am the custodian of a sacred mandate, freely given, which I cannot surrender unless the people so demand, and it is by virtue of this mandate that I say that the decision of the Federal Military Government to cancel the election of June 12, 1993 is invidious, unpatriotic and capable of causing undue and unnecessary confusion in the country.