This day, June 12 will always be
remembered by those who have defied the culture of silence and conspiracy
against a significant moment in Nigerian history, to remind us of how today, 23
years ago, the battle against the exit of the military from power was fought at
the ballot by a determined Nigerian people. It is indeed sad that apart from
the South West states of Oyo, Ogun, Lagos and Osun which have doggedly
continued to celebrate the hero, and later martyr of that battle, Chief Moshood
Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, there has been studied indifference to the June
12 phenomenon by the Federal Government and remarkably, the rest of Nigeria.
This is
sadder still because MKO Abiola was not an ethnic champion: he was a man of
pan-Nigerian vision and ambition, who went into politics to give the people
hope, to unite them and lead them out of poverty. His campaign manifesto was
instructively titled “Hope 93- Farewell to Poverty: How to make Nigeria a
better place for all.”
When Nigerians voted in the presidential election of June 12, 1993, they chose
the Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe under the platform
of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). MKO Abiola not only defeated the
Presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Bashir Tofa
in his home state of Kano, he also defeated him “fairly and squarely” with
“58.4% of the popular vote and a majority in 20 out of 30 states and the FCT.”
That election was adjudged to be free and fair, and peaceful. But the Ibrahim
Babangida-led military government had been playing games with the
transition-to-civilian rule, and so it chose not to announce the final results
of the election, and later on June 23, 1993, the Presidential election was
annulled.
This was
a coup against the Nigerian people, and an act of brazen injustice, but June 12
will go down in history as the birthday of the revolution that swept the
Nigerian military back to the barracks. The media began to refer to MKO Abiola
as “the man widely believed to have won the June 12, 1993 election”, or
perhaps, “the undeclared winner” but those who played key roles at the time,
including Humphrey Nwosu, the chief electoral umpire, have since confessed that
“their hands were tied”, and that indeed MKO Abiola won the election. General
Ibrahim Babangida, then Head of State, has not been able to live down that
error of judgement. It was the final error that also consumed his government,
forcing him to “step aside”, and as it turned out “step away”. He left behind
an Interim National Government (ING) led by Chief Ernest Shonekan who was
handpicked for the assignment, but the ING contrivance only survived for 83
days; in November 1993, General Sani Abacha, who was in the ING as Minister of
Defence, seized power. It was obvious that the military never wanted to
relinquish power.
June 12 brought out the worst and the best in the
people: the worst in the military and its hungry agents definitely, but the
injustice of its annulment released the people’s energy and capacity for
protest. Progressive Nigerians spoke in unison against military tyranny and the
violation of their right to choose. The Abacha government, which had initially
deceived the progressives about its intentions, unleashed a reign of terror on
the country: media houses were attacked, journalists were jailed, bombed,
beaten, civil society activists were hauled into detention. But the repression
was met with stiff resistance. The people insisted on the election of June 12,
the military’s exit and Abiola’s declaration as winner of the election. On June
11, 1994, in what is now known as the Epetedo declaration, Chief MKO Abiola
declared a Government of National Unity and asked for his mandate to be duly
recognized. He was subsequently arrested for treasonable felony, but that only
added fuel to the protests. Abiola later died in custody on July 7, 1998, a
month to the day, after General Sani Abacha himself died.
But the
real outcome was that the military had been branded evil, and the people would
accept nothing but the end of military rule. This was the scenario that led to
the return to democratic rule on May 29, 1999, and the specific choice of a
political figure from the South West to assuage the expressed fears of the
South West that the denial of MKO Abiola’s mandate was an assault on the right
of the South West. The ethnicization of the June 12 protest was unfortunate
because indeed the struggle against tyranny recruited foot soldiers from
virtually every part of the country, international support also gave the
struggle higher relevance; those were the days when serving foreign diplomats
joined pro-democracy protesters to wave placards on the streets. Many died, and
they were all from across Nigeria, businesses were affected, but the people
were determined to make the sacrifice. It was that revolution that made May 29,
1999 possible, and if any date is deserving of celebration, it is June 12.
The irony is that those who benefited most from MKO
Abiola’s martyrdom do not want to be reminded of him. And those who used to
talk about injustice have since, given the opportunity, inflicted their own
injustice on the people. Those who used to swear by Abiola’s name have since
found new political patrons. Those who proclaimed Abiola as the symbol of
democracy and the rallying point for the people’s hopes have since been dancing
on his grave. Successive federal administrations since 1999, have also failed
to redress the injustice of 1993, by doing the minimum of declaring June 12 a
national holiday. There have been suggestions along this line, including the
possibility of a post-humous national honour (the only constraint here is that
the national honour is not awarded post-humously although there is nothing that
expressly forbids this in the enabling Act), or the naming of a major national
monument after MKO, or the official admission that the June 12, 1993 election
was indeed won and lost and was not in any way inconclusive.
Truth:
Nigeria forgets too soon, too easily. For, when indeed the Jonathan
administration tried to address this injustice by naming a significant national
institution after MKO Abiola, the attempt resulted in controversy and a
storm. The last paragraph of then President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2012
Democracy Day speech had renamed the University of Lagos after MKO Abiola. Both
the students and staff trooped to the streets in protest. They rejected the
name-change and declared that their university’s name is a brand that nobody,
not even the Federal Government of Nigeria could tamper with, in honour of
anybody, living or dead. They said they were not consulted and the University
Act had not been amended. Politics and opportunism was read into the gesture,
and the government had to eat the humble pie. Would the reaction be different
if another government were to take the same step, the same way the reaction to
the increase in the pump price of petroleum products has been different this
year, under a different dispensation?
MKO Abiola was a victim of military politics and conspiracy, now his martyrdom
and legacy seem lost in the intricate web of conditioned amnesia and the ego of
those who continue to compete with his memory. In a country where history is no
longer taught, and there are no well-managed museums and monuments to make
history part of the public landscape, a generation is already emerging, like
the generation of UNILAG students in 2012, who may someday ask: who is MKO
Abiola? Those who refuse to teach history run the risk of producing children
who may lack the capacity to remember and the wisdom to appreciate history’s
many lessons.
Those who insist speculatively that MKO Abiola could not have been a good
President also miss the point about his example and legacy: his martyrdom
shaped the architecture of much that happened subsequently in Nigerian history,
and it is not the military’s duty to veto the people of Nigeria. The
military have been shipped out of power for good, they can only return as they
have been doing as retired soldiers, and whatever happens with our democracy,
the people are resolved that nobody can annul their right to choose, and it is
part of their right to choose, to sometimes make mistakes and learn. The
various state governments and civil groups that remember and celebrate MKO
Abiola every year deserve a pat on the back for defying amnesia. June 12 is
ultimately not just about one man who became a symbol; it is also about the
collective struggle against military tyranny, a reminder of people power and
the value of civil society; it is that historical moment when Nigerians voted
for change and stood by it.
On this occasion of the 23rd anniversary,
may the words of MKO Abiola at Epetedo on June 11, 1994 prick our conscience: “People
of Nigeria, exactly one year ago, you turned out in your millions to vote for
me, Chief MKO Abiola as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. But
politicians in uniform, who call themselves soldiers but are more devious than
any civilian would want to be, deprived you of your God-given right to be ruled
by the President you had yourselves elected. These soldier-politicians
introduced into our body politic, a concept hitherto unknown to our political
lexicography, something strangely called the “annulment” of an election
perceived by all to have been the fairest, cleanest and most peaceful ever held
in our nation.
“…My hope has always been to arouse whatever remnants of patriotism are left in
the hearts of these thieves of your mandate, and to persuade them that they
should not allow their personal desire to rule to usher our beloved country
into an ear of political instability and ruin…
“Instead
they have resorted to the tactics of divide and rule, bribery, and political
perfidy, misinformation and (vile) propaganda. How much longer can we tolerate
all this? There is no humiliation I have not endured, no snare that has not
been put in my path, no “setup” that has not been designed for me in my endeavor
to use the path of peace to enforce the mandate that you bestowed on me one
year ago. It has been a long night. But the dawn is here. Today people of
Nigeria, I join you all in saying, “Enough is Enough!”…Enough of military
rule...Enough of square pegs in round holes…”
I recommend a
reading of the entire declaration by all patriots in remembrance of Chief MKO
Abiola. Google it. Read it.
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