June 2026: FGN to Declare Public Holiday for All Institutions, Date Emerges
• Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior, under the leadership of Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, would announce a public holiday for Democracy Day 2026
• The official declaration, expected in the second week of June 2026, would potentially suspend work across government and private establishments
• Democracy Day in Nigeria is a national public holiday observed annually on June 12 to commemorate the return to civilian democratic rule.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior is set to declare a nationwide public holiday across all sectors to mark Democracy Day 2026, potentially granting a one-day break for both private and public sector employees.
Egalitarian Voice reports that Nigerians recently observed a two-day Eid Al Adha public holiday, as announced by the authorities.
The federal government’s announcement regarding Democracy Day will be the only national public holiday observed in Nigeria in June 2026.
Democracy Day commemorates the 1993 presidential election and the nation’s struggle for democratic freedom. June 12, 2026, falls on a Friday. Democracy Day: Key June 12 facts On June 6, 2018, the late former president Muhammadu Buhari, in a public statement, changed the Democracy Day from May 29 to June 12, in honour of the June 12, 1993, presidential election and its winner, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, who died in prison.
Abiola was born on August 14, 1937 and passed away under suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1998. A popular Ogun businessman, publisher, and politician of the Egba clan, he is often referred to as MKO Abiola. He ran for the presidency in 1993 and was widely regarded as the presumed winner of the election, which was annulled by former military head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Some southwest states had been celebrating June 12 as a public holiday and are holding ceremonies in Abiola’s honour until Buhari officially declared the day as Nigeria’s real democracy day. The former president, on Monday, June 10, 2018, signed the Public Holiday Amendment Bill into law. The law, according to the former president’s ex-senior special assistant on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, allows a public holiday to be declared on June 12 every year, while May 29 is to be a handing-over date.
Egalitarian Voice presents major facts about the historic June 12 and the unforgettable events surrounding it.
1. Several of those involved in the 1993
election are dead MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the election, died in detention in 1998. Also, Justice Bassey Ikpeme, who gave the controversial order stopping the election, died in 1997. Clement Akpamgbo, the attorney general and minister of justice who was involved in the legal tussles, died in 2006. Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, the then second-in-command to General Babangida, who famously said Abiola could not be sworn in as president because the government owed him a lot of money, died in 2011.
2. The celebration lasted only two hours
Following the election victory, many Nigerians took to the streets in celebration. However, on that fateful day decades ago, the celebrations were short-lived, as just two hours later, the military annulled the election results.
3. No Hausa or Fulani politicians featured on the tickets
Strangely, the 1993 elections had no person of Hausa or Fulani extraction picked as a presidential or vice-presidential candidate. Bashir Tofa, who contested against Abiola, is a Kanuri from Kano. Babagana Kingibe, a Kanuri from Borno state, was Abiola’s running mate. However, after the annulment, the Hausa/Fulani bore the brunt, per some historical narratives.
4. Abiola won the election
This is not surprising, but it is quite important to know that he won the election, fair and square. Abiola scored 58.36% of the 14 million votes cast.
His rival, Tofa, polled 5,952,087 votes, representing 41.64%. Only three states each returned more than one million votes, all southern: Lagos, Rivers (now Rivers and Bayelsa) and Ondo.
‘I Did My Dobale’ – Tinubu Reveals Why He Fell At Democracy Day Parade [Video]
5. Abiola received the highest votes in Lagos Abiola received his highest votes from Lagos state.
The businessman-turned-politician secured a comfortable victory with 883,965 votes. Ondo state (now Ondo and Ekiti) delivered a total of 883,024 votes, closely challenging Lagos with a strong performance.
6. The southwest was solidly behind him
Abiola scored more than 80% in each of the five southwestern states: Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Osun and Ogun. Osun’s 87% was his highest percentage nationwide. His 78% in Kwara was his highest outside of the southwest.
7. Bashir Tofa behind Abiola
Tofa did not score up to 80% in any state. He came close to that in Sokoto, where he got 79%. Incidentally, Abiola scored his worst percentage in Sokoto (20%). Tofa, however, did not score up to 70% in any other state after Rivers.
8. June 12 now a national holiday
Many Nigerians believed that June 12 should be a national holiday. The date is celebrated in honour of an annulled presidential election on June 12, 1993. However, only some Nigerian states were celebrating it until Wednesday, June 6, 2018, when Buhari declared June 12 the new Democracy Day to replace May 29.
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