Without mincing words, June 12 definitely
has many colours. I have a school daughter who was born on the 12th
of June many years ago. I’m smiling right now because I can only imagine what
she would say when she reads this article. She’s very stubborn and at the same
time very intelligent. Today she is not only a wife, mother but also a hard
working woman and a lawyer in the making after many years of graduation from
the University of Ife. Enough of my
school daughter for now.
Also on this day the 12th
of June in the year 1993 to be précise.
There was an election and MKO Abiola was presumed winner (though a lot
of people say he declared himself winner). However, MKO Abiola had to spend
some time in prison following the annulment of the June Twelve polls by the
then military Junta and head of state Major
General Ibrahim Babangida and eventually died in the struggle for the actualization
of the mandate accorded him by Nigerians in 1998.
While the Abiola family will be
remembering this day in history, the Mandela family will also have something to
remember as it was also on this day in 1964 that the great ‘MADIBA’ Nelson
Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment by the then apartheid regime of his
homeland in South Africa.
On this day in 1931, Al Capone
(Alphonse Capone) was indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition and perjury. One would not need to ponder so hard to guess
what comes to the minds of many especially movie lovers, definitely it will be
the great performance by Al Pacino in the movie 'Scarface' where he starred as
the die-hard ‘Capone’ as Tony Montana. *That movie was a blockbuster*
Nevertheless, today’s take is not about
the movie ‘Capone’ Tony Montana but the
real life Al Capone an American gangster who moved to Chicago from New York in
the early 90s to eventually take over a thriving illegal trade which included prostitution,
gang-killings and smuggling until he later got convicted for tax evasion and
eventually died at the age of 48 from Neurosyhilis.
While Al Capone was making his way to Chicago in the early 90s, far away
in Brazil on this same day in 1926, Brazil left the League of Nations. The
League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization that was founded in
1920 as an outcome of the Paris Peace conference which ended World War 1.
No doubts many of us remember Ben
Johnson the Canadian Sprinter and Olympian who was later disqualified. On this day in 1989 he broke the hearts of
many of his fans when he admitted to the use of steroids to make those world
breaking record performances on the tracks.
This write-up could go on and on
to reel out history on this day and its many colours, hues, shades and tones
but before things get out of hand, let me use this opportunity to wish my
lovely school daughter (and all those born on this day) a beautiful happy birthday and
also to also wish that Nigeria will remain democratic forever with constant
delivery of the dividends of DEMOCRACY to the door steps of my fellow NIGERIANS
who this time around have embraced “CHANGE”.
Now I’m off to get a copy of that
great and then block-bursting movie ‘Scarface’ to watch while I await this
highly expected wind of ‘CHANGE’ as we all enjoy the colours of the day. *Smiles*
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