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Vice President of the IndustrialALL Global Union, Comrade Issa Aremu at the weekend advocated partnership for national development among relevant stakeholders for sustainable democracy in Nigeria.
He urged states and the private sector to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s call for a national sense of purpose to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years during his June 12 anniversary speech.
“The call should serve as a template for genuine cooperation between the federal and state governments in revival of industries and creation of decent jobs for Nigerians,” he said.
Aremu commended President Buhari for declaring June 12 Democracy Day, saying the 2014 National Conference under former President Goodluck Jonathan had built a national consensus on June 12 as Democracy Day instead of May 29, adopted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He pointed out that the posthumous recognition for winner of the 1993 presidential election, M.K.O. Abiola and naming of Abuja Stadium after him was more than partial atonement.
He added that in essence, the Buhari administration has shown that “time is truly longer than the rope of military dictatorship.”
Aremu noted that the June 12 Movement, which terminated military rule in the 1990s and the O To Ge Movement (Enough is Enough), which ended the Saraki political dynasty in Kwara State, were ‘two sides of the same democratic coin.’
He described Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as a governor of destiny, who together with the people made the state to join the league of progressive states in the country.
Comrade Aremu, who was also Labour Party (LP) gubernatorial candidate in Kwara State applauded 20 years of uninterrupted democracy in the country, adding however, that the real challenge of Nigeria’s democracy “is that of sustainability and consolidation.”
“Nigeria must resist the temptation of sliding back to the discredited military dictatorship, which also destroyed professionalism of the armed forces,” he added.
He recommended former Inspector General of Police (IGP), the late M. D. Yusuf’s admonition that “all Nigerians must register, totally reject military rule and resolve to resist military incursion into politics. Our governments should only be removed according to the rules enshrined in the constitution.”
