June 12: We are celebrating the memory of a stolen election while our democracy is still being stolen

Today, June 12, 2026, we are marking another Democracy Day in Nigeria, and I cannot help but feel a deep sense of contradiction. We are honouring the memory of the freest and fairest election in our history, the 1993 presidential election won by MKO Abiola, but the reality of our democracy today is a far cry from that ideal. Public analyst Olalekan Ige put it perfectly when he said that June 12, 1993, was the first time a southerner won an election convincingly across every part of Nigeria, and the first time the candidate of the opposing party lost in his own state and everyone accepted it peacefully. No rigging, no harassment, no financial inducement. That is the standard we are supposed to be celebrating.

Yet here we are in 2026, and the spirit of that election has not translated into how we conduct our own elections. Ige himself noted that despite the significance of June 12, it has not really influenced the way we run elections today. Yes, we have the BVAS and the IReV portal now, and Ige acknowledged that these innovations have helped curb the inflation of election figures. He pointed out that before BVAS, some states would return two million or 2.5 million votes, but now those same states struggle to return 400,000 votes. That is progress, but it is not enough. The fact remains that in the 2023 presidential election, barely 30 percent of registered voters came out to vote, out of over 80 million registered voters. That is a staggering level of apathy and disillusionment.

As we approach the 2027 general elections, Ige's call to action is one every Nigerian should take seriously. He urged us to pay tribute to MKO Abiola not just with words, but by taking a firm decision to uphold true democratic principles. That means registering, voting, and demanding accountability from election officials and the government. But I wonder, is the government itself ready to honour the June 12 legacy? Because if we are still seeing vote buying, thuggery, and manipulation in 2027, then our Democracy Day is just a hollow public holiday. What is the point of celebrating a free election from 1993 if we cannot replicate its spirit in 2027?