June 12: National Honour Vindicates SDP – Kawonise

Matilda Omonaiye/

Former commissioner for information in Ogun and Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship aspirant in the state, Mr Sina Kawonise, has praised the doggedness and sacrifices of late Chief MKO Abiola who, today, is being conferred with the highest honour in the country, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).

In a statement signed by acting Director, SK Media Office, Mr Doyin Owobamirin, Kawonise says it was in recognition of the pro-people stance of Chief Abiola and the genuine progressive contents of the party with which he won the 1993 presidential election that galvanised leaders of SDP to “re-register the party as the vehicle to get our people out of the current mis-governance at all levels in Nigeria”.

Kawonise stated, “Before the eventual recognition of the iconic MKO Abiola, current leaders of SDP had seen his greatness and the unequaled sacrifices that he made for democracy and for Nigerians. We studied the constitutions and manifestos of different political parties and singled out those of SDP that won the 1993 presidential election for Abiola and chose it as the genuine progressive platform to adopt in galvanizing our people for rapid development and all-encompassing democratic order”.

Kawonise says further, “it is therefore gratifying that the progenitor and symbol of our party, Chief Abiola, is finally being given his due by the authorities who neither belong to our platform nor share in our ideology.”

The statement also salutes members of the Abiola family who, directly, had suffered most with the loss of their patriarch. It concludes by calling on Ogun State residents, particularly members of the Abiola family to see SDP as “their natural habitat” and the party of choice to actualize the lofty dreams of Chief Abiola and the SDP “to say farewell to poverty and bad governance, and give HOPE to our people”.