June 12, Our New Democracy Day: A Nigeria’s Turned Southern Project, by Nurudeen Dauda

To begin with , in my thought, the greatest “point” missed by most Nigerians on June 12th General elections of 1993 was that given the votes spread of the unannounced results of June 12 election it was a stolen mandate of all Nigerians not only the “Yorubas” and or the “southerners” as it was made to look like by some “selfish elite” from the the south whom soon after its unilateral annulment by the then IBB’s military government who happened to be a northerner turned the victory to either an “ethnic” or a “regional” one through their careless utterances.The said utterances cum actions by some elite from the south reduced the June 12 victory to either Yorubas or southern Nigeria’s as against Nigeria’s victory.

In my observation, June 12,1993 Presidential Election was neither a “Yoruba” nor ” a Southern” Nigerian Project, but purely a Nigerian Project turned otherwise through reckless utterances by some careless elite. The presumed winner of the said election, Chief MKO Abiola was said to be overwhelmingly voted by both muslims, and christians, northerners and southerners.The election clearly showed that, ethnic, religious and regional considerations were not the uppermost then. Although the election results were not officially announced, but it was obvious that Chief MKO Abiola got support in all the geo-political zones.

The Nigerianess of the election was to the extend that, both the presumed winner Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola and his running mate Alh. Baba Gana Kingibe were both muslims. The presumed winner who was a Yoruba man although the election results were not officially announced was said to have defeated a Muslim -Christan ticket of Alh. Bashir Othman Tofa from Kano state and Dr Sylvester Ugoh , an Igbo man from Imo state. Accordingly, even in Tofa’s home state of Kano Chief MKO scored more votes.That was Nigeria’s of those golden days!

In my view, it was very unfortunate to note that, soon after the annulment of the election by the then IBB’s Military Junta who happened to be a Northerner for reasons best known to him , the supposed electoral victory of late Chief MKO Abiola who happened to be a Yoruba man from southern Nigeria was turned to either be an”ethnic or a “regional” victory by some selfish elite. Chief MKO Abiola of SDP was said to win in the 19 states plus Abuja of the then 30 states in the country although the results were not officially announced .

In my observation, the Post-June 12 elections’ politics and utterances by some selfish elite in the country succeeded in disuniting us along ethnic and regional lines. That was quite unfortunate. Well- meaning Nigerians must put the records straight that the victory wasn’t an ethnic or regional one . As far as we know , President IBB who annulled the election did not “consult” or “seek” the opinion of ordinary Nigerians and or northern electorate who overwhelmingly supported Chief MKO before his annulment of June 12 elections . It was very unfair to attribute the then IBB’s decision to all northerners as suggested by some selfish elite from the South.

Annulment of June 12 election was purely an IBB’s and his inner cycles of elite unilateral decision not that of the entire Northern Nigerian electorate whose mandate was equally stolen. This must be clearly stated!

Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the then Chairman of National Electoral Commission which conducted the June 12, Elections, wrote in his Book titled : Laying the Foundation for Nigeria’s Democracy: My Account of June 12,1993 Presidential Election and its Annulment thus:

“…NEC under my leadership succssfully conducted June 12,1993 presidential election against the wishes of anti democratic forces. The winner was already known. Hearing was fixed for June 25,1993 at the Court of Appeal Kaduna to remove the legal obstacles placed on our way for the release of the official result when annulment was announced suddenly on June 23,1993…”

As a student of Political Party Politics, I know too very well that, June, 12 election is significant to the democraticization process of Nigeria. It was and or (still is).

Going by History, In the First Republic, political parties’ support base in Nigeria have been essentially on ethno-religious and regional sentiments bases. The NPC largely enjoyed its support base among the Hausa-Fulanis North, NCNC was largely among the Igbos South -East and AG among the Yorubas South- West. There were also some minority parties who enjoyed their support base in their areas from across the country during that time .

Dr Yusufu Bala Usman & Alkasum Abba in their Book, titled:”The Mispresentation of Nigeria, the Facts and the figures said :

“…The NPN that was largely an offshoot of the NPC, won in Sokoto, Benue, Kwara, Niger and Bauchi states .The PRP won Kaduna and Kano; the NPP won Plateau and the GNPP won Borno and Gongola…In the 1979 elections, the voters in the former Western Region voted overwhelmingly for the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, an offshoot of the AG, at all levels of elections… “

“…In the case of the June 12th ,1993 Presidential elections, while Chief Abiola of the SDP defeated Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the NRC in the predominantly Yoruba areas, he also defeated him in almost all the states with predominantly Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri voters, and Alhaji Bashir Tofa is said to be a Hausa-Fulani of Kanuri extraction… “.

Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the then Chairman of National Electoral Commission which conducted the June 12, Elections, wrote in his Book titled : Laying the Foundation for Nigeria’s Democracy: My Account of June 12,1993 Presidential Election and its Annulment thus:

“…partisan support for both parties cut across previously existing lines of political cleavages e. g., North versus South…”

In 1999, President Obasanjo unlike Chief MKO Abiola in 1993 who was voted in all the zones, President OBJ was not voted by all the geo-political zones. He was even rejected by his Yoruba kinsmen of South -West for allegedly being a Northern stooge. More so, In 2003 where the two major candidates were a southerner and a northerner the results reflected our divides.

In 2011 and 2015 the elections results further showed how Nigerians were sharply divided on ethno-religious lines. However, this, in my view, is what makes June 12,1993 elections ,which clearly showed that ethno- religious and regional factors were of less consideration in the election significant as well as special in our electoral history.

Mr Dan Agnese, arguably wrote the most extensive account on IBB’S life in his Book titled, “Ibrahim Babangida:The Military, Politics and Power in Nigeria, thus:

“…Babangida expected the politicians to make a right royal mess of the presidential election and thus give him the excuse to stretch the transition programme .His guess was that the election would either be inconclusive or Tofa would squeeze through with a thin margin over Abiola. Had Tofa squeezed through with a thin margin, as the president generally expected, his election would have been annulled on the pretext that the military wanted a southern president .This, according to Babangida, would have presented no problems for the government because “we also knew from our analysis that he (Tofa) was a much simpler person to be disqualified than Abiola. If Bashir (Tofa) had won that election, honestly, we would not have given it to him. “

“That statement suggests that the Babangida administration made up its mind not to respect the decision of the Nigerian electorate, no matter who won the election. Babangida believed that the south would have supported the administration if it prevented Tofa, a northerner ,from succeeding him as president…”

May God bless Nigeria!