By Williams Adesoji
A prominent Nigerian social critic and human rights advocate, Comrade Igbotako Nowinta, has challenged patriotic Nigerians to use the occasion of the June 12 anniversary, to ignite a programme of action to demand stridently for drastic electoral reforms in Nigeria.
Comrade Nowinta, an international conflict resolution expert cum Executive Director, Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre (NGGRC), made the above submission via a press release titled:” Tinubu Is Using June 12 To Whitewash The Outrages Of His Misgovernance: We Must Use It To Demand For Electoral Reforms”, which he gave to journalists in Abuja on June 12, 2025.
Nowinta posited that :”President Bola Tinubu is trying frantically to use the occasion of June 12 anniversary to bamboozle the collective intelligence of Nigerian people, to whitewash the outrages his regime has already created. What do we call a sitting government trying to collapse our democratic space into a one party system, where common rogues are posing like pillars of good governance; where known bandits close to the corridors of power are daily cranking out false narratives about democratic ethos, where governance has become a ruthless machine grinding our people to certain instalmental deaths?”
Here is the details of the press release:
“The June 12th 1993 Presidential Elections remains a watershed in our chaotic history. But sadly today, the government of President Bola Tinubu has turned it into a grandiose betrayal; its sanctity is being reduced to ordinary dust. Why has this President allowed the International Conference Centre in Abuja, recently innovated with questionable – mindbogling tax payers’ money to be rebranded in his own name?”
“Why has this sitting President not initiated a clear cut process via the modus operandi of a bill to sanitize the vexatious Electoral Act in Nigeria, if he truly believes in the sanctity of June 12 1993 Presidential Election? Instead, we see a destructive obsession with political power walking naked; we see a presidency driven by fake democratic doctrines and being consumed by delusion of grandeur; we see venomous and evil distorted version of democracy in our land”.
“President Bola Tinubu is trying frantically to use the occasion of June 12 anniversary to bamboozle the collective intelligence of Nigerian people, to whitewash the outrages his regime has already created. What do we call a sitting government trying to collapse our democratic space into a one party system, where common rogues are posing like pillars of good governance; where known bandits close to the corridors of power are daily cranking out false narratives about democratic ethos, where governance has become a ruthless machine grinding our people to certain instalmental deaths?”
“Indeed, Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre (NGGRC) sees extremely worrying signs of an unyielding dictator; we see a dystopian regime already evolved, churning out ruinous, counter productive and inhuman policies, completing the hat tricks of democratic betrayals, feeding fat from alleged billions of dollars virtually confiscated from the common wealth of Nigeria”.
“What is to be done quickly? Patriotic Nigerians must be prepared to tear down the veil of this most exploitative democracy; smash to pieces the chains of electoral facade in Nigeria. We must search our conscience to institute a war against human misery in our clime, by using the occasion of the June 12 anniversary, to ignite a programme of action to demand stridently for drastic electoral reforms in Nigeria.”
“Let us rededicate ourselves to this current struggle, and put on rebellious spirit to use the window available to us at the National Assembly, to democratically cause the necessary amendments in the nation’s Electoral Act now. As responsible citizens we are genuinely saddled with this urgent national task”.
