An industrialist and president of the Osisioma Foundation, Dr Chike Obidigbo, has given reasons why June 12 of every year should be set aside for lamentations instead of celebrating it as Democracy Day.

It could be recalled that during a meeting with friends and members of the Osisioma Foundation tagged ‘Conversation With Dr. Chike Obidigbo,’ in Awka on June 11, the industrialist dismissed the setting out as June 12 as Democracy Day, arguing that it amounted to celebrating the birthday of an aborted baby.

But in a chat with some journalists in Abuja, Obidigbo said Nigerians should rather use June 12 as a day to lament the failure of democracy to deliver real dividends to the people.

He stated: “Going by what happened recently in the presidential elections in Senegal and South Africa, Nigeria’s celebration of democracy comes as another example of deception. June 12, as Democracy Day, is a reminder of the abortion of hope and the desecration of the people’s will.

“Some observers have drawn a parallel between what happened on June 12, 1993, and the recent events of February 25, 2023. The annulment of the 1993 election was not different from rigged or violent elections. The question that still begs for answers is: when will Nigerians truly say that they elect their leaders?

“In the South East, despite the 25 years of unbroken civil rule, elections have always provided opportunities for those who are interested in the internal subjugation of Igbo land to impose leaders on the people. This undemocratic programme, which started in Anambra State and manifested in Imo State, has always defined elections in the zone.

“I say this as a fact because I contested governorship elections in Anambra State and knew the level of interest shown by powerful individuals from outside the zone on who becomes governor of any Igbo state.”

On the issue of the continued marginalisation of Igbo in the Southeast, Obidigbo, who contested the 2013 Anambra State governorship poll, said he has continued to receive calls from well-meaning individuals over his inferences and conclusions during the conversation session.

His words: “I was worried that instead of dialogue, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, should be subjected to all manner of coercive treatments, culminating in a forced international rendition from Kenya and a long trial.

“As the National Assembly plans to review the 1999 Constitution, I was surprised to hear some stakeholders advocating that a draft constitution should be subjected to a referendum. So, during the conversation with my friends, I expressed my pain and ideas about the current situation in our country, especially as it concerns our Igbo community.

“I was particularly pained that renewed attention had been focused on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who, in 2014, started calling for the highest level of democracy, which is a referendum. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was demonised for demanding a referendum as the basis for the national resolution of our unity.”

While regretting that successive administrations of the Federal Government did not make any attempt to evaluate the level of implementation or otherwise of General Yakubu Gowon’s promise of the Three Rs—reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reintegration—Obidigbo said the Eastern Region continued to experience a similar economic blockade that defined the civil war.

“Although some of us do not subscribe to secession, it was apparent that young people and IPOB were not happy with the policy of marginalisation against the Igbo of the Southeast. Needless to say, the IPOB agitation gave room for attention to the Southeast from both allies, friends, and enemies of Igboland.

“So, either out of distaste for the methods adopted by IPOB or as a continuation of the economic blockade against Igbo, attention shifted away from the self-help efforts of NdIgbo to renewed plots for subjugation of the people. The orgy of violence and bloodshed in Igbo land began on a massive scale, putting a seeming lie to the famed Igbo respect for the sanctity of life.

“There have been allegations of false-flag operations and fifth columnists using the cover of the agitation by the mainstream IPOB for a referendum to cause mayhem, violence, and criminality in the Southeast,” he stated.

Obidigbo lamented that the Nigerian state has continued to behave as if isolating the Igbo is the best policy option to guarantee the country’s unity, stressing that as an elder statesman, all that agitated his mind to make his feelings and opinion known to Nigerians and the world at large.