By Godwin Etakibuebu
Twenty seven years ago, precisely, on June 12, 1993, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a President for the Third Republic. It was the first election held after the military coup that toppled the civilian government of President Shehu Shagari on the night of December 31, 1983, a coup-de-tat which benefited a Major General Muhammadu Buhari, as he emerged the Military Head of State of that Junta, and who is; fortunately or unfortunately, the democratically elected President of the Nigerian Federation currently.
The two major political parties at the time, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) contested the polls. The candidates were African business mogul; Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, also known as MKO Abiola; from Ogun State, who was the SDP flag-bearer and Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa; from Kano State, flag-bearer of the NRC.
As results of the votes cast began to trickle in, Abiola was reported to have received over eight million votes across 19 of the then 30 States, while his opponent, the NRC’s Tofa received over six million votes from 10 States. MKO Abiola was said to have won almost sixty per cent of the over 14 million votes cast in the election.
Local and foreign observers were unanimous in their submissions that unlike previous elections that were marred by massive fraud, intimidation and killings, the June 12, 1993 presidential election was generally free, fair, peaceful, credible, transparent and unique, as it was the first time the Option A4 voting pattern was deployed. It was also regarded as the first election in Nigeria that was devoid of religious and tribal sentiments.
Yet, it ought not to be, considering those forces that set previous elections – from 1960 till the June 12, asunder, vocalic and thunderous. Let me quickly mention just one of those inimical forces – religious dichotomy. The religious sentiments had put unification in any Nigerian election into great jeopardy, and it still does, except the June 12, 1993. And the golden change was that, the presumed winner of the election; MKO Abiola, went into the contest on Muslim/Muslim ticket, as his running-mate; Malam Babagana Kingibe, was a Muslim just like Abiola.
A few historical words on this wonderful political candidate of the SDP that changed the Nigerian political land scale for best, or, that man who made June 12, 1993, a historical watershed in the annals of our country’s political history, need to be mentioned.
- K. O. Abiola was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to the family of Salawu and Suliat Wuraola Abiola. His father was a produce trader who primarily traded cocoa, and his mother traded in kola nuts. His name, Kashimawo, means “Let us wait and see”, because Moshood Abiola was his father’s twenty-third child, but the first of them to survive infancy, hence the name ‘Kashimawo’. It was not until he was fifteen that he was properly named Moshood by his parents. Could that be the reason Nigerian political structure waited for him before bringing out the best in political electioneering process? Your guess might just be as good as mine anyway.
The June 12, elections were the outcome of a transitional process to civilian rule spearheaded by the military ruler, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB); the only Nigerian Military officer who proudly and loudly nicknamed himself as the “evil genius”.
The unofficial result of the election – though not declared by the National Electoral Commission (NEC); as earlier said in the beginning of this work, indicated victory for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who defeated Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). The winner of the election was thus never declared as the elections were annulled by IBB, citing electoral irregularities.
The annulment led to protests and political unrest, including the resignation of IBB and a weak “Interim Civilian Government” that culminated in the continuation of military rule in the country with another Military General Sani Abacha, ascending to power as the Military Head of State, via a bloodless coup later in the year.
Again, let us take a brief chronicle of historical development from IBB’s political game of deceit in handing over to civilian administration, to the point of annulling an election considered by all across the globe to be most free, fair, peaceful, credible, transparent and unique, in the annals of Nigeria’s history. The deceit game of IBB started, we must remember, immediately after overthrowing the Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s Junta, by pronouncing himself Military President [as against Head of State, which was the norm with military institutions making horrible incursion into democratic structures].
August 30, 1990: Babangida reshuffled government, 9 ministers and 10 State governors replaced. Office of Chief of General Staff renamed Vice Presidency. Lt. General Abacha replaced Babangida as minister of Defence and retained his post as Chief of Defence Staff.
March 27-31, 1993: Businessman, Alhaji Bashir Tofa secured National Republican Convention (NRC) presidential ticket while Chief Moshood Abiola, publisher of the Concord Group of Newspapers became Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential flag bearer.
June 4, 1993: The President dissolved the Armed Forces Ruling Council and replaced it with the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC). In the same vein, the Council of Ministers was supplanted by the Transitional Council (TC).
June 10, 1993: An Abuja High Court, with Justice Bassey Ikpeme presiding, issued an order restraining NEC from conducting the presidential election on June 12, 1993. This followed a suit brought by a largely ‘shadowy organization’ [Association for Better Nigeria), headed by Chief Arthur Nzeribe.
June 12, 1993: National Electoral Commission (NEC) conducted presidential elections in defiance of the Abuja High Court Order.
June 14, 1993: NEC published results from fifteen States on its billboard outside its Headquarters in Abuja, showing that M.K.O Abiola was leading in all regions of the country including Bashir Tofa’s home State of Kano.
June 14, 1993: Government swore-in a 7-member presidential election tribunal.
June 15, 1993: Another interim Order by an Abuja Court restrains NEC from releasing the results of the presidential elections.
June 16, 1993: NEC shelved the release of the final results of the election because of “developments and actions pending in courts until further notice”.
June 22, 1993: NEC went to the Court of Appeal to challenge the interim injunction by the Abuja High Court.
June 23, 1993: The Government annulled the results of the June 12 elections in a most bizarre manner; nullified all the relevant court decisions and suspended NEC through an unsigned terse statement.
June 24-29, 1993: Abiola declared himself president-elect, while individuals and groups protested the annulment of the election.
June 30, 1993: Campaign for Democracy (CD) – umbrella organization for no fewer than 40 NGOS/Human Rights Groups, called for a one-week nationwide protest to begin on July 5.
July 1, 1993: British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, announced freezing of new aids to Nigeria.
July 31, 1993: The National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) announced that an Interim National Government comprising of representatives of the NRC, the SDP, and leading military officers will be formed.
August 1, 1993: A group of 30 Senators signed a joint motion asking the government to declare the winner of the June 12 election. August 4, 1993: Abiola left Nigeria unannounced.
30June 11, 1994: Chief M.K.O Abiola declared himself President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the eve of the first anniversary of June 12, in an attempt to claim his June 12, 1993, presidential mandate at Epetedo, Lagos Island. He went into hiding after the declaration, for fear of being arrested. And on June 23, 1994, the Federal Military Government arrested Chief M.K.O Abiola and charged him for treasons.
MKO Abiola was kept in detention until July 7, 1998, when he died [under the custody of the federal government, even in a most suspicious circumstance], at a time that his release from detention was to be in a day or two. Abiola’s imminent release had been announced Thursday, July 2, 1998, by the visiting United Nations Secretary General – Kofi Annan, and confirmed to Nigerian journalists by senior government sources. The military, they said, had agreed to release Abiola on condition that he renounced his claim to the presidency, which Annan suggested he [MKO Abiola] had done.
Unfortunately, Nigerians did not hear that “so-called agreement” from their own beloved MKO Abiola – the man they elected, as the man died suddenly after taking a cup of tea in the hands – so to say, of Americans; led by its Undersecretary of State; Thomas R. Pickering, and Nigerian officials; led by the Head of State – Abdulsalami Abubakar.
The story of MKO Abiola’s June 12, 1993, presidential election, regarded by all as the most free, fair, peaceful, credible, transparent and unique, annulment, shall remain the story of how true democracy was murdered in Nigeria, even as what we have now is not the Democracy Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola created on June 12, 1993.
JUNE 12 THEREFORE, REMAINS STILL, A TRAGEDY OF DEMOCRATIC VICTORY
Godwin Etakibuebu; a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
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