June 12: How MKO Abiola won Nigeria’s most credible election ever. And why it cost him his life
Although the June 12, 1993 election didn’t produce a President, many foreign and local witnesses of the election have described it as the most credible election in the history of Nigeria.
After years of military rule, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the then head of state, promised to hand over power to a civilian president on August 27, 1993. He set up the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and appointed Prof Humphrey Nwosu as the Chairman to conduct an election that would produce a new president.
In a move that suggested he was willing to hand over power as promised, in December 1989, Babangida formed two political parties – the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). Governorship and state House of Assembly elections were conducted in 1991, while the nation anticipated the bigger election billed for 1993.
Citing electoral fraud, Babangida cancelled the presidential primaries held by the NRC and SDP in September 1992 and barred the candidates who emerged winners from recontesting. This left the contest open to Moshood Abiola who emerged SDP’s candidate in April 1993, while Bashir Tofa emerged NRC candidate. There were high hopes that with the two candidates’ friendship with the military government, Babangida would hand over in August 1993.
Before 1993, Abiola, a University of Glasgow trained accountant, had won the heart of Nigerians with his philanthropism. With ‘Hope 93’ as his campaign theme, the Abeokuta-born business mogul, who had built a business empire in media, shipping, banking, airline, oil and gas, among many others, assured Nigerians he was going to end poverty when elected and he enjoyed nationwide support.
″We will provide more electricity, more water, we will provide roads, housing,″ Abiola declared at the grand finale of his six weeks campaign at the Minna stadium, Niger State, on June 8, 1993. ″Under my government no student from primary school to university will pay any fees.″
Abiola and his running mate Babagana Kingibe were both Muslims, yet Nigerians supported their Muslim-Muslim ticket against the Muslim-Christian ticket of their opponent Bashir Tofa and Dr Sylvester Ugoh. Abiola’s candidacy broke all the barriers of the north/south, Christian/Muslim divide that has bedeviled Nigeria from the colonial era.
Two days before the election, a suit to stop the election was filed by the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), headed by Chief Arthur Nzeribe. The New York Times described ABN as “a lobbying group of wealthy businessmen, politicians and military officers who had led a highly visible campaign urging General Babangida to remain in office at least four more years”.
On June 10, 1993, Justice Bassey Ikpeme of an Abuja High Court ordered NEC not to hold the election on June 12, but NEC defied the order and held the election. While results were trickling, with Abiola holding a sturdy lead over his opponent, Tofa, the ABN, on June 15, approached an Abuja court again, asking it to stop NEC from further announcing the results. This time the Chief Judge of Abuja, Dahiru Saleh gave the order. According to Richard Akinnola, “though the suit filed was Motion on Notice, where the other party, that is, NEC would be heard, Saleh decided to hear the matter ex parte in Chambers, stopping further announcements of the results”.
NEC complied with the order, halted the release of the results and could not announce a winner. It headed for the Court of Appeal to challenge the order. “In that appeal, we attached all the results of the election…showing that Abiola overwhelmingly won the election,” Prof Humphrey Nwosu, NEC Chairman wrote in his book “Laying the Foundation for Nigeria’s Democracy: My Account of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election and Its Annulment”.
A day after NEC filed the appeal, Babangida announced a Decree nullifying the election on June 23, 1993 and also suspended NEC. According to him, “these steps were taken to save our judiciary from being ridiculed and politicized locally and internationally.”
His action sparked local and international outrage, the U.S State Department called Babangida’s decree an “outrageous decision” and said it was suspending direct aid to the Nigerian government. The British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd also said Britain might break ties with Nigeria.
Prof Wole Soyinka and late human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi also warned that Babangida’s action could lead to chaos.
Soyinka said in a statement: “Any further delay in making the people’s verdict official is a deliberate cultivation of chaos.” While Gani Fawehinmi’s statement said: “The nation is in danger. It is abundantly clear that the military government is leading Nigeria into a political crisis of immeasurable, chaotic proportions.”
Chaos, as predicted, followed the annulment. The nation was in disarray with a series of protests across the country. Babangida ‘stepped aside’ in August 1993 and handed over to Ernest Shonekan to lead an interim government, he was overthrown by Gen Sani Abacha in November.
On June 11, 1994, Abiola declared himself winner of the election at Epetedo, Lagos, in an attempt to claim his mandate. After the declaration, he went into hiding and was arrested on June 23, 1994 on treason charges. He never made it out of prison. His arrest marked another ugly era in the history of Nigeria, several pro-democracy campaigners including his wife, Kudirat, were killed while many others were jailed.
The billionaire who promised to end poverty in Nigeria died of ‘cardiac arrest’ on July 7, 1998 (a month after Abacha’s death).
Since the nation returned to democracy in 1999, successive governments ignored calls to recognise Abiola as winner of the election. Move by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan to rename the University of Lagos (UNILAG) after Abiola in 2012 was rejected. In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari awarded Abiola, a posthumous Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and also declared June 12 as Democracy Day.
