Close to 32 years after the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election in the country, the then military President, General Ibrahim Babangida for the first time on Thursday expressed deep regret for the annulment of the widely adjudged free, fair and most credible poll in the history of Nigeria.
Babangida, who expressed the regret in Abuja at the unveiling of his autobiography titled, “A Journey in Service” and the launching of his presidential library, admitted that the June 12 Presidential election was the most credible, free and fair, saying it was unfortunate that the administration that decided a near perfect electoral system could not complete the process.
He said: “Undoubtedly credible, free and fair Elections were held on June 12, 1993. However, the tragic irony of history remains that the administration that devised a near perfect electoral system and conducted those near perfect elections could not complete the process.
“That accident of history is most regrettable, the nation is entitled to expect my impression of regret.
“As the leader of the military administration, I accept full responsibility for all decisions taken under my watch. And June 12 happened under my watch.
“Mistakes and oversights happened in quick succession. And I say in my book, in all matters, we acted in the supreme national interest so that Nigeria could survive.
“Our nation’s march to democracy was interrupted, a fact that I deeply regret, but Nigeria survived and democracy is still alive, a testament to resilience and commitment to progress.
“This book is part of my personal story of what was national history. I did not travel alone. I undertake the challenging walk of leadership in the company of many patriots.”
He said his eight-year administration confronted monumental challenges, adding that the reforms introduced by his administration also caused discomfort to Nigerians.
According to him: “I have had to contend with these questions all the time. When will you tell your side of the story? Understandably, our period of service is somehow evoked and rightly so, many questions and stories among our public.
“This book, which chronicles my experiences, decisions and challenges during our national service, tries to answer some of these questions from my modest perspective.
“My colleagues in arms and I presided over significant change and turbulent reforms. We confronted monumental challenges in the economy, the polity, foreign affairs and defence and security of our national life.
“We surmounted obstacles so as to change from the old ways. We encountered unusual obstacles and devised innovative solutions.
“We all thought to leave Nigeria a better place, and we found it after a great personal sacrifice, and in the face of significant challenges.
“I’m deeply aware of the inconveniences and sacrifices the public endure during this period. And I acknowledge and appreciate their resilience and commitment to progress.
“Although the reforms caused inconveniences to our people, we built lasting national institutions, some of which are still in place today.”
In his revealing memoir, Babangida said forces led by his Chief of Defence Staff, General Sani Abacha annulled the June 12 election without his authority.
In his autobiography, Babangida disclosed that he was in Katsina when the annulment of the election, won by Chief MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was announced by the Press secretary to his second-in-command, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, without his knowledge or permission.
On June 23, Babangida said he left Abuja for Katsina to commiserate with the Yar’Adua family over the death of their patriarch, Musa Yar’Adua, former minister of Lagos affairs and father of Umaru, the late Nigerian president who died in office in 2007.
In the words of Babangida: “The funeral had taken place, and as I got ready to leave, a report filtered to me that the June 12 elections had been annulled. Even more bizarre was the extent of the annulment because it terminated all court proceedings regarding the June 12 elections, repealed all the decrees governing the Transition and even suspended NEC! Equally weird was the shabby way the statement was couched and made. Admiral (Augustus) Aikhomu’s press secretary, Nduka Irabor, had read out a terse, poorly worded statement from a scrap of paper, which bore neither the presidential seal nor the official letterhead of the government, annulling the June 12 presidential elections. I was alarmed and horrified.
“Yes, during the stalemate that followed the termination of the results announcement, the possibility of annulment that could lead to fresh elections was loosely broached in passing. But annulment was only a component of a series of other options. But to suddenly have an announcement made without my authority was, to put it mildly, alarming. I remember saying: ‘These nefarious ‘inside’ forces opposed to the elections have outflanked me!’ I would later find out that the ‘forces’ led by General Sani Abacha annulled the elections. There and then, I knew I was caught between ‘a devil and the deep blue sea’!! From then on, the June 12 elections took on a painful twist for which, as I will show later, I regrettably take responsibility”.
In the wake of the crisis, Babangida had stepped down as president in August 1993 and installed an interim government, led by Ernest Shonekan, which Abacha would remove from power in November, 1993. Abacha later clamped Abiola into detention for declaring himself president.
Babangida, who did a national broadcast on June 24, 1993 to officially announce the annulment of the election, in his memoir said Abacha had become a major force in a “factionalised” military and it was difficult to remove him when he stepped down from power.
The journey to the June 12 annulment began two days to D-Day when a judge granted an injunction stopping the electoral commission from going ahead with the election. A group known as the Association to Better Nigeria (ABN), led by Senator Arthur Nzeribe, had filed the lawsuit.
Babangida admitted in the memoir, published by Bookcraft Ltd., that Nzeribe was close to him, but denied supporting the activities of ABN.
He stated in the memoir: “From out of nowhere, on June 10, two days before the presidential election, the same shadowy group, ABN, which had been campaigning for an extension of military rule, approached the Abuja High Court of Justice Bassey Ikpeme for an injunction to stop NEC (National Electoral Commission) from conducting the elections.
“Unknown to me at the time, Justice Ikpeme, who was relatively young at the Bench, had worked in the chambers of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Clement Akpamgbo. Strangely, Justice Ikpeme, in the dead of night, in clear violation of Decree 13, which barred any court from interfering with INEC’s conduct or scheduling of the elections, granted the ABN an injunction stopping NEC from conducting the June 12 elections. There was confusion everywhere.”
Babangida said he quickly convened an emergency meeting of the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), the country’s highest governing body, to discuss the way forward.
His words: “On Friday, June 11, as the NDSC meeting was going on, I learned that a Lagos High Court had ruled that NEC should go ahead with the elections. The NDSC meeting on Friday, June 11, only hours before the scheduled elections, was one of the stormiest meetings I ever conducted as President. Strangely, the Attorney General and Justice Minister, Akpamgbo, who was the nation’s chief law officer and who ought to know that the Justice Ikpeme court order violated an extant law (and was tacitly supported, it turned out by some of my topmost military officers), advised that the elections be postponed in compliance with the Abuja court order. Professor (Humphrey) Nwosu (NEC chairman) insisted, to the dismay of my top military colleagues, that he had enough powers under the law to proceed with the elections.
“The arguments went on for hours in a tense atmosphere, peopled by some who wanted the elections postponed, among them the Chief of Defence Staff, General Sani Abacha, Lt-General Joshua Dogonyaro and a few Service Chiefs. But I had my views bottled inside me! Even before Professor Nwosu presented his compelling argument, I decided that the elections should proceed, backed firmly by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Salihu Ibrahim.”
Babangida said he looked across the room where the meeting was taking place and said to Nwosu: “Go ahead with the elections. Go to your office, hold a world press conference and tell everyone the elections will be held tomorrow as planned.”
The former military president said on June 16, Nwosu suddenly stopped the announcement of the election results even though the voting was peaceful and orderly.
“And then, on June 16, without my knowledge or prior approval, NEC Chairman, Professor Nwosu, announced the suspension of the June 12 election results ‘until further notice’.
I knew instantly that certain fifth columnists were at work and that there was a need for extra care! And even after that suspension of the announcements of results, ABN obtained another ‘strange’ court order from Justice Saleh’s court in Abuja, stopping the release of the results of the elections,” Babangida wrote.
He wrote in the book: “Although I am on record to have stated after the elections that Abiola may not have won the elections, upon deeper reflection and a closer examination of all the available facts, particularly the detailed election results, which are published as an appendix to this volume, there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 elections.
“Upon closer examination of the original collated figures from the 110,000 polling booths nationwide, it was clear that he satisfied the two main constitutional requirements for winning the Presidential elections, mainly majority votes and geographical spread, having obtained 8,128,720 votes against Tofa’s 5,848,247 votes and securing the mandatory one-third of the votes cast in 28 states of the federation, including Abuja.
“Unfortunately, the forces gathered against him after the June 12 elections were so formidable that I was convinced that if he became President, he would be quickly eliminated by the same very forces who pretended to be his friends.
“While I accept that the unfortunate denial of his mandate amounted to a subversion of the will of the Nigerian people, I was petrified that if Abiola got killed, it could lead to a civil war.
“Having participated in one civil war, with all its horrors, pains and devastation, I wasn’t prepared to see another.
“I am gratified that the Buhari administration finally recognised MKO Abiola as a former head of state.”
He described the annulment as a shocking and regrettable moment in Nigeria’s history.
He revealed that the annulment of the election also nearly cost him his life.
Narrating the theories that emerged over the annulment, Babangida wrote: “Tensions in the country were compounded by baseless conspiracy theories meant to justify the annulment. One such theory was that Abiola had pencilled down a list of top military officers to be dismissed upon assuming office as president.
“Another conspiracy theory was that the government had let the June 12 elections go ahead in the knowledge, based on security reports, that Tofa would win. However, once Abiola won, the government sought a way to frustrate his mandate.
“These were spurious theories circulated by those opposed to an Abiola presidency. Some persons indeed expressed their reservations about an Abiola presidency before the elections.
“There were times when, deep down inside me, even I feared that Abiola might not be an effective president. However, having allowed the process to go ahead in which Abiola appeared to have emerged victorious in an election deemed the freest and fairest in our country’s history, I was committed to ensuring that the results should stand. To do otherwise would amount to a subversion of the will of the Nigerian people.
“But I also knew we were dealing with a delicate situation that could lead to national disintegration. The military was factionalised into rival groups between those opposed to the transition to civil rule, particularly an Abiola presidency, and those who thought the military should keep its word and hand over to a democratically elected government. “The military was awash with rumours of plots by those who wanted to depose me to have Abiola installed and those who wanted to take me out violently to ensure that the annulment stayed.
“There were rumours of a third group, made up of sworn and implacable enemies of Abiola, a hard-line faction, who threatened that Abiola could only be President over their dead bodies! And if it meant taking me out violently to effect their threat, they were willing to do so.
“It was painful for me to discover later that apart from Abacha, some of my closest colleagues, particularly a Lt-General, were knee-deep in the plot to eliminate me.
“The only reason those disparate forces did not strike against me was that it was feared, and rightly so, that since I still enjoyed the support of a sizable proportion of the armed forces, any attack on the government or my person would lead to a bloodbath.
“The polarisation within the military was so fraught with danger that the best I could do in the circumstance was to project a united front as government in the face of the stiff opposition I faced as President.
“Although the annulment took all by surprise, as Commander-in-Chief, I took responsibility for it. In my speech on June 26, tepid and disingenuous as it may seem, I attempted to justify the annulment in the face of supposed nationwide widespread electoral malpractices’ during the elections! What mattered at the time to me as President and Commander-in-Chief was the unity of the army and my conviction that if the army was united, it could safeguard the country from disintegration.
“After several brainstorming sessions with various groups, I contacted M.K.O Abiola to find a way forward. At one of my several meetings with Abiola, arranged this time by some traditional leaders, I offered Abiola an interim position pending when we could resolve the situation.
“Not surprisingly, Abiola turned down my offer. How could anyone blame him? Since he was convinced that he had won the elections that the annulment had denied him, it seemed overtly inappropriate to accept an interim arrangement.
“For him, it was a matter of once bitten, twice shy! At another meeting, this time a more private meeting of both families, I articulated that our lives were in danger of being snuffed out by lurking forces that wished both of us ill.
“Unfortunately, Abiola turned his back on any form of rapprochement with me and embraced the gimmicks of deceitful ‘friends’ who hid their real intentions from him.
“I read somewhere, I believe, in one of Abiolas newspapers that Abiola thought that the moment these ‘friends’ overthrew me, the elections would be de-annulled and that he would be installed as President by his coup plotting friends. As it turned out, Abiola was advised by these same ‘friends’ to leave the country to avoid death threats from fictitious military elements. Abiola’s departure paved the way for his ‘friends’ to consolidate their conspiratorial positions, eventually leading to another military takeover.
“Without question, one of my biggest headaches at this time was Sani Abacha. I knew that Abacha was ambivalent about a return to civil rule. But I thought, in retrospect now, naively, that he would support our transition to civil rule programme. As I said earlier, Abacha and I had come a long way.
“We were good friends, and he had indeed been nice to me. As I have said elsewhere, he saved my life once and also risked his life to ensure that I took over in 1985. I could never forget those details.
“But it’s also correct that he was a complex character. He was capable of bottling up a lot inside without giving a hint of where he was. And then, suddenly, the bottle bursts, and we begin to see a different person. I obviously didn’t know everything about him!
“For instance, I was alarmed to discover that he and a handful of others mobilised negative opinions against me within the military, portraying me as the problem. That campaign was geared towards a violent military coup to remove me as President forcefully.”
Also speaking, Chairman of the occasion, and former President Olusegun Obasanjo told Babangida to expect good, bad, and ugly reactions to the book he has written.
Obasanjo stressed that Babangida has not only contributed to history making, he has contributed to documenting history.
His words: “You have not only contributed to history, you have contributed documenting to history. It is an important part of our nation building to keep accurate records. Please don’t be unduly worried about critics and put him down syndrome.
“The book will be reviewed, read, quoted, prayed and lambasted, and some will agree with you in part, and some will disagree with you in part, some may even wholly disagree with you.
“Why should you write the book? It is self glorification, they will say. Controversy may even develop. It’s all good for you and good for the book and for our nation building process.
“The more praised and condemned the book is, the better, because it means that it is being read, and that is what you write a book for, to be read. That is what justifies the discipline and effort that go into writing a book, which I strongly believe this book is.
“There will be written records for history and for future reference. We should be able to glean what lessons and wisdom you acquired with the benefit of hindsight. There will be one other thing, reaction galore, again, it will be good, bad and ugly, but your duty must be done, and you have done it.
“Please don’t be unduly worried about critics and put him down syndrome. It may even be an indication of success, but take note of objective criticism.
“A chronic critic of mine, the late Tunji Braithwhite, may his soul rest in perfect peace, condemned a book of mine, and when asked if he had read it, he answered in the negative, he said he had not read it, and said that once the writer is Obasanjo it must be condemned.”
On his part, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon recalled how Babangida restored his rank after he was accused of taking part in the coup that overthrew General Murtala Muhammed in 1976.
He also recalled when he visited Babangida’s secondary school to enlist him and 14 others into the army.
Gowon noted: “And I learned that you are the one who made sure that Dimka either escaped rather than be arrested. And of course, yes, the accusation of me being either being the one who encouraged Dimka…
“Me, who had been trying all the time to make sure that other coups do not take place in Nigeria, and make sure that our army remained very loyal to government of the day. And that was when I started trying to deal with the coup and to ensure that the government of the day see through it. Unfortunately, that did not happen until the civilian government at the time decided to let the military take over until they can restore loyalty and discipline.
“But let me say this, yes, I had a very rough time. I was even charged for treason. Can you believe that, but however, such a force that I certainly didn’t believe that such a thing could happen.
“But however, later on, the president rescinded that order, restored my rank, restored my honor.”
Also speaking, former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar said when they were in primary school that a soothsayer predicted Babangida would rule the country.
He said both of them later rose to the rank of general and also ruled the country.
On his part, former President Goodluck Jonathan described Babangida as one of the most charismatic leaders in the country.
He said Nigerians knew Babangida contributed significantly in terms of the infrastructure development of the country.
According to him, “we cannot write the history of Nigeria without dedicating a reasonable part to your service as the president of Nigeria”.
The book reviewer, and former Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo said Babangida dealt with an array of issues in his book.
He stressed that the issues included the Major Gideon Orka-led coup, a coup that took the life of his ADC and nearly took his own life and that of his wife, and how they escaped the coup.
The book also dealt with the controversy as to whether the government had surreptitiously taken Nigeria into membership of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1989.
Osinbajo noted that the author also dealt with the government Structural Adjustment Programme riot, the C130 air crash on September 26, 1992 in the swamps of Lagos barely three minutes after taking off from Ikeja airport killing a total of 159 officers, including the crew and nine foreigners.
He stressed that Babangida devoted a full chapter to the transition to military rule and the June 12 saga.
Osinbajo said: “The author deals with all these issues, and for the first time, answers these questions fully. For example, he tells us, for the first time, who annulled the June 12 election. He gives his own reasons for the actions that he took, and he admits where he believes he was wrong.”
Osinbajo quoted Babangida as saying late Moshood Abiola, who contested the 1993 presidential election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, won the election.
Also speaking, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, praised Babangida for implementing policies that liberated the private sector during his regime.
He commended Babangida for his transformative policies that encouraged Nigerian investors to play prominent roles in the economy and particularly highlighted the abolition of import licences, which helped stimulate domestic industries.
These reforms, among others, ensured that Nigeria now has more private-sector involvement than any other country in Africa.
This shift, he said, led to a contribution of 85% of the country’s GDP from the private sector, while the government contributes just 15%.
“Your Excellency, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for all you have done for Nigeria. Many may not realise that you were the architect of the private sector in Nigeria. Anyone in the private sector who has achieved prominence today owes it to you, as you provided us with the necessary licences. In the past, we used to struggle to obtain licences through intermediaries, including Indians,” he said.
Dangote recalled how Babangida’s policies facilitated the growth of Nigerian businesses, enabling them to thrive.
“Your Excellency, in 1986, you abolished the requirements for import licences, and it was because of that decision that we were able to reach the highest levels of growth. I recall a day when you granted almost 30 of us banking licences. You also instructed five Nigerians to pay N1 million each for oil blocs.
“Your Excellency, I could continue to list all the reforms you introduced that liberated the private sector, which is why Nigeria has more private sector involvement than any other country in Africa. It is only in Nigeria where government contribution to GDP is a mere 15%, with the remainder being driven by the private sector,” he added while expressing hope that future Nigerian leaders will adopt similar policies for the betterment of the country.
“I want to thank you once again, and I am confident that future leaders will continue to follow your example, working closely with the private sector.”
Over N16 billion was realised at the launch of Babangida’s autobiography and presidential library with the Chief Launcher and Founder of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, donating N5 billion, while the co-Chief Launcher and Founder of the TY Danjuma Foundation, Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, donated N3 billion.
Africa’s richest man, Dangote donated N8 billion to the IBB Presidential Library, to be paid at N2 billion annually over the four years allocated for the project’s completion.
He further pledged that if the project extends beyond this timeframe, he would continue to donate N2 billion annually until it is finished.
On his contribution to the IBB Presidential Library project, Dangote said, “Your Excellency, based on what I have observed, I believe this project will require at least four years to complete. I would like to contribute N2 billion each year for the next four years, amounting to N8 billion in total. Should the project extend beyond four years, I will continue to contribute N2 billion annually.”
