The lingering shadow of June 12, 1993, continues to shape Nigeria’s political landscape, and for leadership coach and former presidential candidate Fela Durotoye, its impact remains a national wound that has yet to heal.
In an interview on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television, Durotoye reflected on how the annulment of the historic election by then-Head of State Ibrahim Babangida devastated Nigeria’s democratic journey.
“That single act had a devastating impact on our trajectory as a nation,” Durotoye said, his voice heavy with emotion. “It was one of the freest and fairest elections in our history, yet its annulment sent a dangerous message to the people — that their votes don’t count. And from that moment, you started hearing that very phrase everywhere.”
The June 12 election, won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, was widely hailed as a breakthrough for democracy. But its cancellation planted a seed of cynicism that Durotoye believes has grown into a culture of electoral apathy.
“The danger of this mindset — ‘my votes don’t count’ — is that the majority has become the minority,” Durotoye explained. “When you look at the number of registered voters and compare it with the number of actual votes, the gap is staggering. The people who stay away from the polls are the true majority.”
He broke down Nigeria’s voting pattern into four categories: mobilized votes, monetized votes, manufactured votes, and manipulated votes. Even when combined, these categories barely accounted for half of registered voters in the 2023 general election.
“Out of 93 million registered voters, only about 23 million votes were counted — and that’s including manufactured and manipulated votes,” Durotoye stated. “That leaves 70 million people who didn’t vote. Seventy million! That’s the real majority. And they stayed silent because they believe their votes don’t matter.”
Durotoye’s reflection came just days after Babangida, 32 years after the controversial annulment, finally admitted that MKO Abiola had indeed won the June 12 election. In his newly released memoir, A Journey in Service: An Autobiography of Ibrahim Babangida, the former military leader acknowledged the undeniable results of the poll.
“Upon further reflection and a closer examination of all available facts, particularly the detailed election results published in this book, there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 elections,” Babangida wrote in the 420-page memoir launched in Abuja on February 20, 2025.
Babangida laid out the figures: Abiola secured 8,128,720 votes against Bashir Tofa’s 5,848,247, achieving the required geographical spread by winning one-third of the votes in 28 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Yet even with this admission, Babangida defended the annulment, calling it a decision made in the “extreme national interest.”
The revelation has sparked a firestorm of debate across Nigeria. Some have welcomed Babangida’s acknowledgment as long-overdue honesty, while others see it as too little, too late — an attempt to rewrite history with the benefit of hindsight.
For Durotoye, the focus remains on the future and the need to undo the damage caused by that fateful decision in 1993.
“The past shapes the present, but it doesn’t have to dictate the future,” he said. “We must reclaim our faith in the democratic process and understand that every vote matters. Only then can we truly change the course of our nation.”
