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Birthday of the Fourth Nigerian Republic
Democracy Day
is a
national public holiday
in
Nigeria
to commemorate the restoration of democracy in 1999, commemorated on 12 June.
[1]
Until 2018,
[2]
[3]
it was celebrated annually on May 29.
[4]
It is a tradition that has been held annually, beginning in year 2000. June 12 was formerly known as
Abiola Day
, celebrated in
Lagos
and some south western states of Nigeria.
[5]
[6]
History
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Background
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Nigeria gained independence from
Great Britain
on 1 October 1960.
[7]
[8]
For most of its independent history, Nigeria was ruled by a series of
military juntas
, interspersed by brief moments of democratic rule (for example from 1979 to 1983 with Alhaji
Shehu Shagari
). The last major military ruler was Gen.
Sani Abacha
, who died suddenly on Monday in 1998.
[9]
His successor, Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar
promised a transition to democracy, and accordingly a new
constitution
was adopted on May 5, 1999. Elections were held and retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who had previously governed Nigeria as a military ruler, was elected the new president.
Democracy Day
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May 29 was initially the official democracy day in Nigeria, marking when the newly elected
Olusegun Obasanjo
took office as
President of Nigeria
. On June 6, 2018, eight days after May 29, 2018, had been celebrated as Democracy Day, the government of president
Muhammadu Buhari
declared June 12 to be the new Democracy Day.
[10]
This was done to commemorate the
democratic election
of
Moshood Abiola
on June 12, 1993, which was wrongly cancelled by the government of
Ibrahim Babangida
. Abiola was later detained after he rightfully declared himself the president.
Others
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The Nigerian Democracy Day theme song was written by
Attih Soul
on the directives of the Buhari led administration in 2017 as part of the celebration to mark the day.
[11]
See also
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References
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