Jamiu Abiola, who was one of the testifiers at an event tagged “Testimonies of Change”, designed to showcase the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, on Sunday in Abuja, also slammed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for benefitting from his father’s sacrifice without giving anything in return.
In spite of riding to power in 1999 after the successful struggle for the restoration of democracy, Obasanjo, he said, refused to recognise Chief Abiola’s contribution to Nigeria’s democracy.
Chief Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election that was annulled, died fighting for his mandate, while Obasanjo was elected President in 1999 when the country returned to democracy.
He, therefore, commended President Muhammad Buhari, who after over two decades, recognised his father and declared June 12, as national Democracy Day.
The event, which was organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture, witnessed personal testimonies by beneficiaries of government programmes.
Another testifier, Mr. Mathew Udeh, the President of retired policemen, who served during the defunct Biafra, praised Buhari for bringing succour to the then police officers, who have been paid gratuity and placed on pension after more than 30 years of failed promises by previous administrations.
A representative of the 3,564 hitherto abandoned pensioners of the Aladja Steel Rolling Mills in Delta State, described the President as “God sent”.
He said that for decades of previous administrations, they had wallowed in abject poverty and suffered, but the Buhari administration wiped away their tears by paying the pensions owed them for decades.
The representative of the ex-workers of the Nigeria Airways, liquidated in 2004, said that 800 of their members died waiting for their pensions.
He said Buhari promised to pay them in 2015 and had fulfilled his promise, thereby bringing succour, life and hope to them.
The testifier disclosed that the former Nigeria Airways workers would organise solidarity rally in support of Buhari’s reelection in Lagos and Kano.