June 12: Nigeria’s annual ritual of glorifying a sham ‘democracy’, by Olu Fasan

The decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to name June 12 as Nigeria’s “Democracy Day” was motivated by self-serving politics, not principled conviction. Before he became president in 2015, Buhari never once publicly condemned the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election. However, in 2018, as he prepared to seek re-election the following year and faced deepening unpopularity in the South-West, Buhari changed the annual “Democracy Day” from May 29 to June 12 to curry favour with the South-West, which had turned the annulment into an ethnic issue. Professor Wole Soyinka said at the time that Buhari took the decision “with an eye on electoral fortunes, undoubtedly.” He was righ...