FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Gallant Hero
Iroyin: On the anniversary of his 60th birthday, the Egbe Omo Yoruba wishes to congratulate Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, a great son of the Yorubas, a committed nationalist and an exemplary pan-Africanist.
As the umbrella body of all Yoruba organizations in the Americas, we feel a sense of great pride in Bashorun Abiola’s rare example of selfless commitment to democracy even under one of the crudest and most sustained persecution that has ever been visited on a political leader in modern African history.
These are Nigeria’s years of want, the years of flounder and years of painful search for freedom, peace, and meaning under the most brutish and certainly the most atavistic regime in the 37years of our history as a country. Such times as these try a nation’s soul which is why it is instructive that a man of the immense means of Abiola has arisen to symbolized the cause of his 120 million fellow country men in their quest for a true nation under a democratic dispensation.
On the anniversary of his birthday, we urge all Nigerians to re-dedicate themselves to this important struggle for democracy. Our hope is that the incarceration of Abiola and many other pro-democrats, as well as the blood of our many fallen heroes and heroines would be a worthy sacrifice, a sacrifice that will ultimately bear the rewards of democracy.
Embedded in the value of Abiola’s sacrifice are the promise of hope and the glimmer of light that after this dark, bleak, season of the locust is a bountiful harvest of fulfillment, vision, and assurance. Our wishes are full that at his next birthday, Abiola would celebrate his anniversary as a free man.
A happy anniversary to this great beacon of freedom and democracy.
For More Information Contact:
Egbe Isokan Yoruba
P.O. Box 90832, Washington, DC 20090
Tel: (202) 270-6382
FAX: (301) 499-5386
Internet: isokan@yoruba.org