The Nation Newspaper

Tag: June 12

  • That June 12 recognition may not be a hollow ritual

    Beyond the wildest imagination of Nigerians, sans the microscopic few that might have been privy to it, President Muhammadu Buhari, a general of the Nigerian army who, though retired,  still falls within that narcissistic military that  guillotined the historic June 12,  1993 election, as well as a redoubtable, and leading member of the June 12 – loathing Fulani race,  on 6 June, 2018, rose far higher than his 6 foot plus frame, and proclaimed an executive order, recognising both the  election, and  the winner, Chief  MKO Abiola, who was conferred with the highest honour in the land, GCFR, in a bold attempt to put a closure to a very pernicious phase of our country’s history.

    Much has been written about June 12, but hardly would the relevance, and coverage of any national event, before or after that of 6 June, 2018, ever reach that crescendo.

    But lest we get lost in the euphoria of the moment, it is time to let the president understand, and appreciate that, truth be told, rather than June 12 being the closure, it is, indeed, the very beginning of telling truth to ourselves; the starting point of very sincerely, and vigorously, confronting the demons that have been tearing into our whole being. The first of these should be the realisation that the Nigeria of today is nowhere near a federation, and that when we so petulantly describe it, we are repeating a similar lie like the one the extant Nigerian constitution tells against itself when it arrogates its birth to a chimeric: ‘we the people”.

    The question then arises, what is a federation? To answer this million naira question, I will, very respectfully, press my two- time teacher, Professor (Senator) Banji Akintoye, into service.

    Writing, mutatis mutandis, on the topic: What is restructuring, in his column in The Nation of 6 January, 2018, the world reputed historian, and statesman, who we shall quote at great length, opined:

    “The basic idea of a federation is that the various distinct parts of a country (especially a country comprising different ethnic nations) should be made a federating unit (or state). Each state should have the constitutional power to manage its unique problems and concerns, to develop its own resources for its people, to manage its own security, and to make its own kind of contributions to the well-being of the whole country. The central entity (or federal government) should manage common matters like the defence of the country, the relationship of the country with the rest of the world (or international relations), the country’s currency, the relations between the states of the country, and general principles like defence of human rights. That, in his words, was essentially, the federal arrangement which Nigeria’s founding fathers agreed upon in the 1950s.”

    Continuing, he wrote:

    “But, since independence, our leading politicians, and our military leaders have gradually destroyed this structure and replaced it with a structure in which the federal government is the controller of virtually all power and all resources as well as the power to develop all resources, and in which the states have no control over their resources and must depend on federal allocations of funds to exist at all”.” The federal government is (therefore) over-burdened, controls too much money, has become egregiously inefficient and corrupt and, essentially, is destroying Nigeria because the states have become impotent, cannot develop their resources, cannot fight poverty in their domains, and cannot make their contributions to the progress and prosperity of Nigeria. The cumulative effect of all these, he concluded,  is that Nigeria and Nigerians have become horribly poor, most public facilities (roads, electricity, water installations, public administration, etc.) have degraded, and are not working with the result  that most of our  youths are unemployed and hopeless. Inter – ethnic relations has degenerated into enmity and hostility. Crimes have made life very unsafe all over Nigeria. So bad have things become that some sections are asking to secede”.

    Obviously, the patriot who saw the inescapable necessity of revisiting, and righting, the historic wrong of the annulment  of June 12, that is, President Buhari,  just like the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, said of the obvious contradiction in the same person honouring Abiola and praising Abacha, can certainly not be found endorsing, or encouraging,  the continuation of a status quo that eventuated all the negative consequences of Nigeria not being a proper, well defined federation of equal parts.

    Fortunately, President Buhari is not being called upon here to do the impossible, or re-invent the wheel.  His party, the APC, has effectively done that for him by its setting up of the El Rufai Committee on Power Devolution, a subject to which the party devoted a considerable part of its manifesto. As captured by The Guardian of 26 January, 2018, the committee:”The committee recommended that states should have considerable control on solid and oil resources in their domains, subject to the approval of the National Assembly. It called for policing to be moved to the concurrent list, enabling the creation of state police alongside a federal force with specified areas of jurisdiction. It also proposed more revenue for states and reduction of federal share of revenue.

    More importantly, it recommends that: “All minerals, including oil and gas that are onshore, will be vested in the states of the federation. “Minerals, oil, anything in the land, belongs to those that own the land, which is the state governments, adding this clincher: “We think the time has come to make this bold step and move away from over-centralisation of mineral resources.

    “There would be certain constitutional amendments. The Petroleum Act needs to be amended, so that states can issue oil-mining licences. The Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act needs to be amended, to give states the power to do this. The Land Use Act will also need to be amended, to recognise the provisions in the Minerals and Mining Act. The Petroleum Profit Act 2007 will need to be amended. And we have drafted all the bills to give effect to these.”

    Ensuring that power devolution is achieved before the presidential elections scheduled for February, 2019, is therefore, the irreducible, the absolute minimum, President Buhari , and the APC,  must see through for the historic accomplishments of 6 June, 2018 not only  to earn their place in history,  but to launch Nigeria on the path of peace, and rapid social and economic development.

    It is the silver bullet for 4 MORE YEARS of Mr INTEGRITY in office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria till 2023.

    May the good Lord guide President Buhari aright.

     

     

  • June 12: Flashbacks and current realities

    FOR 25 agonising years, the June 12 imbroglio was a never-ending soap opera until President Muhammadu Buhari decided to bring it to a deserving conclusion on Tuesday, June 12, 2018. At least, we all got the chance to exhale, regardless of how we may feel about the politics of the well-deserved presidential recognition bestowed on the real symbol of the undying narrative of an abducted hope on June 12, 1993—the late Bashorun Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola. Even in these times, not many people would stand up to be counted like he did when it mattered most. Of course, in matters like this, it is difficult to rule out the usual devious sellouts who, after dancing on the grave of Abiola, also became beneficiaries of that supreme sacrifice. Pitiably, that is part of the story. But, when the chips are down, we do know those who truly stood up to be counted either dead or alive. And let’s not get it wrong like the warped illogic spewed by a serving senator on the floor of the Senate some days back. These exceptional men and women were Nigerians—the true heroes of the democracy that many now enjoy with spasms of arrogance tailored to their padded shoulders.

    For those who witnessed the tragic impulses that unfolded before them in those days, there could have been no better way of celebrating Abiola’s triumph than the significant olive branch President Muhammadu Buhari waved to all parties on the 25th anniversary of Nigeria’s freest and fairest election which was annulled by the military junta under the leadership of now-retired General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. The Babangida years would be remembered for three things—his Structural Adjustment Programme which impoverished the middle class; the gruesome letter bomb murder of that iconic journalist, Dele Giwa; and, the shameful role he played in the abortion of the June 12 mandate freely given to his bosom friend and arguably Africa’s richest man at that time, Abiola. No one is keen to remember MAMSER, DFRRI, Option A4 and numerous great initiatives of the IBB era that the anti-people annulment eclipsed so firmly. Those who lived through that period couldn’t have forgotten the deadly games and murderous proclivities of the military boys from the moment Babangida announced his decision to annul the election to the short-lived Interim National Government of Ernest Shonekan/General Sani Abacha to when the dark-goggled one completely seized the rein of power, tossing off Shonekan and his band of pretenders so casually with less effort than someone swatting a fly.

    You ask Babangida today what pushed him into that betrayal of trust and he would mumble some mumbo-jumbo incoherent statement that makes no sense other than blaming it on the military hierarchy which, he said that he, as Commander in Chief, was powerless to control – the same tendentious excuse that he has tendered over the years to dribble everybody. Well, he ended up dribbling himself to infamy with that rude joke. And so, it was not surprising that he didn’t turn up on Tuesday when Abiola, Gani Fawehinmi and others had their day in the sun. How could he? Aside the ghosts of all the martyrs of the June 12, 1993 mandate haunting him, we cannot easily forget the many lives that were lost in the protests, including those who met their untimely deaths whilst running from the crisis-ridden South-West when the Abacha goons used protesters to perfect their shooting capacity. At the height of the June 12 struggle, notable voices were killed in their homes including Pa Rewane and Mrs, Kudirat Abiola who was mauled down on the streets of Lagos for daring to insist on the release of her husband. Till today, Abiola’s death in the hand of the state is still shrouded in official secrecy. He was silenced, betrayed by those he thought he knew too well to distrust.

    If not for Buhari, “Hope 93” could have been deferred in perpetuity. Some of those who sat at the ceremonial acclamation of that mandate last Tuesday at the State House Banquet Hall knew what they did to frustrate the somewhat ‘heady’ Abiola. Here, we speak of those who went behind his back to strike a deal with Abacha and worked to ensure that June 12 was finally dealt a fatal blow. Perhaps, one should ask: how did they feel when they heard Hafsat Abiola-Costello speak glowingly of the true love the father they never allowed her to enjoy had for the people of this country? Did they know that it was the same young graduate, Hafsat, who braved the odds many years back, asking the authorities to explain why her parents should come to such a tragic pass for daring to demand justice, fair play and equity for the people of this country? That same girl is now a full grown woman living with the 25-year anguish of being kept in the dark on why and how the state reached the agreement that her parents had to go for Nigeria to move on.

    If it were that simple, Nigeria would have moved on since that cruel elimination of Abiola and every other person that opposed the perpetuation of military oligarchs in power. They just didn’t want Abiola dead; they also wanted his memories wiped off like he never happened. But he did happen. Growing up in the suburb of Itire/Ijesha then, I remember vividly what Abiola Bookshop meant to us in different parts of the country. There was also Abiola Bakery, Concord Press and many other companies. Like Hafsat noted in her speech, MKO was one man who would rather die than allow anyone to shave his head in his absence. Even in those tortuous moments, he never forgot to lace his speeches with wisecracks that left many laughing through their pain. It was the Abiola personae that made June 12 a watershed. That election broke all barriers as Nigerians unanimously returned a Muslim/Muslim ticket to the consternation of the treacherous few who now gloat in the dark. And no one can ever forget the patriotism and strong sense of duty displayed by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu who stood firm in spite of intimidation from the military. He could have buckled under pressure. But he never did. That is why he is really an unsung hero of that once dark part of our history.

    To understand what Abiola stood for, you would have to listen to Hafsat’s testimonial at the event. Hear her: “In many ways, the events that transpired later revealed to Nigerians the eloquence in his heart; the fidelity of his commitment and even his own deep abiding wish that, if there was anyway his own actions would in any way compromise the people of Nigeria, MKO preferred to die. He preferred to leave the earth rather than compromise on you, on your integrity as a people and your sovereignty as a nation.”  And didn’t Abiola live those eternal words of his daughter to the last? Wasn’t he the reason why, when Nigeria began yet another journey of democratic experiment, the entire nation agreed that the South West must solely field presidential candidates? Did the winner of that election, his kinsman, recognise Abiola’s sacrifices throughout his eight year on that seat? Did he even acknowledge the significance of June 12 in our national history?

    When Prof. Wole Soyinka harped on the need to establish a hall of shame for those who betrayed the mandate, I assume quite a number of people in that hall would shift discomfortingly in their chairs. When Hafsat said it was quite ironic that a Buhari would be the one to posthumously honour her father, the import of that couldn’t have been lost to those who understood that Abiola, like every one of us, had his shortcomings. One of these was the fact that he sponsored the palace coup that ousted Buhari and foisted Babangida on the nation—the same Babangida that looked the other way when a simple sip of tea killed the dream of a nation and threw us into turmoil. How would we have been able to heal the wounds if Buhari had not summoned the courage to right the wrongs?

    Politics or not, Buhari made a huge difference in saying the five-letter word—sorry. But for sheer ego, that apology could have been made many years back. We cheapen the conversation when we criticize Buhari for trying to make huge political capital out of that gesture. Who wouldn’t anyway? Yet, we do know that June 12 is more than that. Knowing the mindset of the living heroes of that particular event, it was ennobling some of them exploited the occasion to lecture Buhari on the fine ethos of democracy and why he must address the imbalance in the land.

    Though a soothing balm was rubbed on the festering wounds of many years from both sides of the divide, those who spoke were not shy of telling truth to power no matter how unpalatable. That was why Soyinka tasked Buhari on the limits of his somewhat fecund loyalty to Abacha, the tormentor-in-chief of Abiola and all loyalists of his mandate. That was why Hafsat reminded him that the best way to truly honour the memory of her father is to make Nigeria a place where the over 200 million population are in full control of the levers of governance instead of the current situation where few landlords oppress the majority and dare them to go take a dive in hell fire. That was why Iyorchia Ayu demanded for his full understanding of how democracy works, asking him to develop an almost inelastic tolerance for the opposition. And, if we must rub it in, that was why those who couldn’t take the knocks for their treacherous past excused themselves from the occasion when June 12 became a reality—the day MKO’s inimitable message that “the hand of the giver is always on top’ toppled the evil machinations of his ‘friend’ and bruised the ego of a ‘kinsman’ who never saw MKO as the true symbol of the democracy that heralded him into power from the prison!

  • June 12: Activist extols President, advocates restructuring

    Chief Sunbo Onitiri, an accomplished estate surveyor/valuer and a political activist who sponsored the late Chief M.K.O Abiola’s Epetedo Presidential Declaration, has extolled President Muhammadu Buhari for bestowing the late Abiola, the presumed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election with the highest honour of the land.

    In a statement in Lagos, Onitiri said Buhari had rekindled Nigerians’ hope and faith on the sustainability of democracy in Nigeria with the singular act to honour our martyr of democracy.

    “This has shown that our efforts and struggles for democracy in Nigeria were not in vain”, Onitiri said.

    Onitiri and the late Barrister Tunde Adejumo obtained the historic landmark judgment that enabled Nigerians vote on June 12, 1993.

    Onitiri, who was in Abuja to witness the conferment of the honour on Abiola, called on the Federal Government to commence the process of restructuring Nigerian state without delay.

    Onitiri commended Buhari for giving Nigerians hope in democracy.

    “On behalf of other leading patriotic democrats both living and dead, I wish to commend President Muhammadu Buhari for rekindling our hope and faith on the sustainability of democracy in Nigeria with the singular act of bestowing the highest honour on our martyr of democracy Late chief M.K.O Abiola.

    “This has shown that our efforts and struggles for democracy in Nigeria were not  in vain. Most of us that laid down our lives and blood for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria have been sidelined from the governance of Nigeria. Sadly, opportunists and anti-democratic forces have been on the prowl, feeding fat on our democracy. They have distorted our democracy and struggle.”

    Onitiri, who is the Lagos Elders’ Council’s scribe, commended the efforts of other patriotic Nigerians in the struggle like Mr. Frank Kokori, Olisa Agbakoba, Wale Oshun, Mr. Opadokun and Prof Henry Nwosu, and the late Tunde Adejumo.

  • Nwabueze faults Buhari over June 12

    A senior member of the defunct Interim National Government (ING), Professor Ben Nwabueze, yesterday denounced the June 12 declaration made by President Muhammadu Buhari as a masterstroke of mischief and insincerity.

    Nwabueze, a Senior Advocate of  Nigeria (SAN) and Secretary of Education in the Ernest Sonekan-led ING, said there was  no legal justification whatsoever for the president’s action on the declaration and his conferment of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on the winner of the June 12,1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.

    He claimed that in the face of the law, for instance, the June 12 election is deemed not to have taken place, and consequently the date cannot be declared the Democracy Day and a public holiday.

    Nwabueze, in a statement in Lagos, queried the intention behind the president’s action, wondering whether it was “motivated by the public interest or by a political desire to secure the votes of Nigerians in the 2019 election, especially the votes of people of the South-West or to sow the seed of division among the members of the National Assembly in order to scuttle the threat to impeach him or to throw the country into turmoil or to smear the polity with the taint of illegality.

    ”A motive of mischief seems evident on the face of the declaration. It is indeed a masterstroke of mischief and insincerity, a deceitful contrivance, suddenly and mischievously trumped up to rescue his dying image three years after his installation as president,” he added.

    The senior lawyer argued that while it is indisputable that a presidential election was held on June 12, 1993,  it was “ annulled by a decree of the Federal Military Government (FMG), Decree No. 61 of 1993.”

  • ‘How agitation for June 12 crippled me, ruined my business’

    It is not for nothing that he was nick-named June 12. Fifty-four-year-old Comrade Abiodun Mustapha, the tailor to the late pro-democracy activist, Dr Beko Ransom-Kuti, was one the foot soldiers of the famous National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) who fought for the actualization of the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election believed to have been won by the late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). It was in the process of the struggle for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate that he lost a limb. Mustapha spoke with BIODUN ADEYEWA on the sad experience and his impression on the recognition the Federal Government recently accorded the election and its winner.

    What does June 12, 1993 mean to you?

    That was the day Nigerians warmly and joyfully voted for Chief Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola, the presidential flag bearer of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in an election that was widely adjudged free and fair and devoid of any tribal or religious colouration. But three days after the election was held, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida annulled it. It was from there that the struggle for the actualization of the June 12 mandate began here at Awoyokun, Idi-Oro and Mushin generally.

    Dr. Beko Ransom-Kuti, (Frank) Kokori and others spearheaded the struggle. He (Ransom-Kuti) was one of my prominent clients. My tailoring shop was here at Awoyokun. I had apprentices and workers working for me. My vision then was to expand my tailoring business to an industrial level. The fact that the likes of Dr. Beko Ransom-Kuti were patronising me gave me the confidence that my future would be great in tailoring business.

    I was 29 years old then; a very vibrant young man. A lot of other young people like me joined in the struggle. My association with Beko encouraged me to join.

    What would you say you gained or lost as a result of the struggle?

    On the fateful day I lost my right leg, we were on our way to Tafa Balewa Square (TBS) for the swearing in of Chief M.K.O Abiola as president. We were in the middle of the bridge that leads to Apongbon /Apapa at Alaka/Iponri when we got information that Chief M.K.O Abiola had gone to Shitta in Surulere. As we made to turn back in the middle of the bridge, we sighted two military helicopters and two amoured tanks also suddenly appeared, one from the Apongbon end and the other from Alaka end. We were caught between the two armoured tanks while the helicopters were hovering over us. Beko told us that we should not panic. Then suddenly, one of the helicopters opened fire and I saw people falling down around me. There was confusion and pandemonium. We were on the bridge, so there was no escape route for anyone. Then I heard a loud sound from one of the armoured tanks and I felt a pain on my right leg. I looked behind me and I saw people scattered into pieces on the floor. The soldiers were just shooting at us, armless civilians. I shouted and Beko, who was beside me, held me. By this time, blood was gushing out from my leg profusely. I removed my shirt and Beko used it to tie my leg, but blood did not stop running.

    Beko and I jumped down from the bridge and hid ourselves under it. The soldiers who saw us jumping down and ordered us to come out but we refused. I told them I was a worker and was only going to my office. Not long after, Gen. Oladipo Diya drove in and told the soldiers to stop shooting. He ordered someone to carry me from under the bridge, but the damage had already been done. Many people had lost their lives and many others were injured. It was pains, agony and tears everywhere. It was so pathetic and horrific. The wound on my right leg was fatal and the pains increased rapidly. Dr Beko gave me a letter to the hospital for my treatment. I was taken from one hospital to another but there was no doctor to attend to me because of the nationwide strike. Markets were under lock and key; everything was paralysed.

    It was at Island Hospital that I was treated 30 minutes after I had been there. The doctor who attended to me saw the letter that Beko gave to me and said, ‘This is my master’s letter.’ There, I was given the injection that stopped the bleeding at the emergency ward. But that was only the beginning of my ordeal.

    How?

    Eighteen days after I received the only injection at Island Hospital in Lagos, my leg was amputated in Ilorin. But I was not deterred at all. As soon as the leg healed, I joined the struggle again. I was arrested TVmany times with Dr. Beko in his house. He told me many secrets about our country and he always told me that Nigeria would be great. We normally yh OKcirculated the leaflets that were printed then to different parts of the state (Lagos) around 2 am. I had to close my tailoring shop because the security agents were always coming for me and my landlord got fed up with the harassment. My life has never been the same.

  • June 12: Nigeria’s own Sphinx

    “…And beware of a calamity that may not spare many innocent people among you, if it descends; and know that Allah’s retribution can be very severe”. Q. 8: 24

    Preamble

    For obvious reason, today’s article in this column is delibrately  given the title seen above. The word sphinx simply means a winged monster in Greek mythology, which had the head of a woman and the body of a lion. This monster was noted for terrorizing people who refused to subject themselves to the scourcge of its spell.

     

    Genesis of Sphinx

    Nigerians who are well familiar with European literature must still remember an historical riddle of a sphinx in the city of Thebes. That city was once the capital of ancient Greece. In a tragic drama entitled ‘Oedipus Rex’ and produced in 411 BC by a Greek dramatist called Sophocles who lived between 496 and 406 BC, we learnt of a curse that once befell the land of Thebes. As a result of the curse, not only were citizens afflicted by mysterious ailments that were killing them in droves, the cattle and the herds too were  gripped by an epidemic of reindeer-pest just as the crops on the citizens’ farms were terribly blighted.

    It was at that precarious time that one young man whose name was Oedipus emerged as the king. He had earned his people’s trust with a reputation of integrity and was determined to solve  the prevailing insuprable problems of the time which he inherited from his predecessor.

    As an adolescent, Oedipus had saved Thebes from a strange calamity wrought by a monstrous sphinx which mysteriously took its permanent seat on a rock by the roadside in the middle of the city. The sphinx had divided the city into two thereby splitting the citizens into separate camps where no side could interact with the other.

    That sphinx had a riddle which it put across to every passerby. And any accosted person that failed to solve the riddle was promptly devoured. Thus, for a long time, the city of Thebes remained under the plague of the monstrous sphinx which was feeding fat on the flesh and blood of the citizens.

    The sadness and hopelessness engendered by that unprecedented calamity turned  Thebes into a permanently  mourning city of passive inhabitants.

     

    Effect of the Calamity

    In such a situation, when the population of the city was decreasing at an increasing rate, how could any thought of mating by spouses for the purpose of procreation ever cross the mind of anybody? At that time in Thebes, citizens could only be sure of the moment in which they were  consciously alive without any hope for the next moment. Many people went on hunger strike without fasting. Many committed suicide to avoid the inevitable agony of that calamity while many more embarked on endless seclusion.

    That was the situation in Thebes until Oedipus found a solution to the problem of his time by getting rid of the sphinx which took  a leap, from its stool in despair and dashed out into permanent oblivion.

    Thus, the veil of the mysterious curse was lifted on the city of Thebes and Oedipus wo later became the king was immortalized as the saviour of the Thebesians.

     

     Nigeria like Thebes

    The similitude of that sphinx is like that of a  government in Nigeria which had a civilian body and a military head. A  self-styed military President who historically put an unprecedented democratic process in place to the admiration of all and sundry ended up destroying the process by his own whim on his own volition.

    With that scenario culminating in the infamous annulment of the freest and fairest election ever in Nigerian political history, the year 1993 became an unforgettable epoch turned into a spell that plagued Nigeria with a rainbow of depair for one quarter of a century.

     

    Politics as a Phenomenon

    The world of humans is predominantly governed by a pervasive phenomenon called politics. No individual or group or even family can escape the web of that phenomenon no matter how little. Overtly or covertly, politics, particularly in Africa, is without doubt, a devastating cankerworm cruising recklessly through the veins of most living men or women and eating gridily and deep into their fabrics. In the continent of the black race, Politics is one phenomenon that permeates all spheres of human life directly or indirectly and showers those spheres with a dew of acid.

    In Nigeria, like in some other countries of the world, there is as much politics in economic, social, cultural and religious aspects as there is in education and even sports.

    The emergence, in 1993, of a political billow  called June 12  which  metamorphosed into an implacable sphinx that plagued Nigeria for 25 ramshakle years  was not by fortuity.

     

    Obasanjo Versus Abiola

    Before analyzing the mentioned billow, it may be interesting to recall an episode here as a   preliminary insight into the real background of the emergence of a sphinx in Nigeria.

    Shortly after wide agitations began in the Sothwest of Nigeria in reaction to the satanically motivated annualment of the June 12 Presidential election  of 1993, an  unwarranted altercation fortuitously came up between two Chieftains of Abeokuta in Ogun State who were once schoolmates. One of them was General (now Chief) Olusegun Obasanjo. The other was Bashorun MKO Abiola. That altercation came in form of venomous salvos at a time when targeting the eye of the bull was almost an abomination especially in the Sothwest of Nigeria. The first of those salvos was fired without provocation,  by General Obasanjo thus:

    “I know Abiola very well. He was my classmate. He is not the messiah we need in Nigeria now…”.

    And in a prompt retortion, Bashorun Abiola fired back as follows:

    “Obasanjo has always been a liar. His love for falsehood is unparalleled. He was never my classmate. He was a year junior to me in school. He didn’t want to join the military but had to reluctantly because his school performance couldn’t carry him far academically and in those days, military was an option for students like him. My campaign slogan is HOPE and people see me as their HOPE. They voted for me to give them HOPE. Those people are the ones I represent, not Obasanjo”.

    The popular June 12 Presidential election of HOPE was devilishly annulled through a hand-written tarse statement of one paragraph allegedly delivered to Radio Nigeria by the then Press Secretary to Admiral Augustus Aikhomu who was then the Vice-President. The cry and hue that greeted the announcement of that annulment was the immediate precipitate of what grew into a gargantuan sphinx in Nigeria.

    Perhaps, if that democratic process that brought about two party system and a unique electoral formula called option A4 had not been obliterated by the fiat of its architect, Nigeria would have beome a political Eldorado lifting the African continent to a distinguished pedestal that would have been the destination of most countries of the  world today.

    Option A4 was an African invented democratic  voting formula that was not only exceptionally transparent but also economically viable. Formula A4 was an open voting system that required neither ballot boxes nor ballot papers. And it gave no room either for political thugery or monetary inducement. All that was required for any citizen to exercise his/her legitimate franchise was to register for voting and then queue up behind the portrait of his or her chosen candidate for counting after verification and clarance. If there was need for the government to spend any money on election at all, at that time, it was just on electoral officers’ allowances and transportation. No electoral process in the history of democracy in any part of the world had ever been as economical as that of June 1993.

    Unfortunately, that ingenuously deviced electoral formula became a victim of annulment in the hands of its principal designer.

    If such a monster with a civilian body and a military head which Bashorun Abiola described as a criminal diachy   was not a satanic sphinx what other name could it have been called? It was the  plague of that monster that gripped Nigeria’s jugular for the past 25 years until an Oedipus in the name of Muhammadu Buhari who emerged three years ago (2015) as President with a determination to rescue the Nigerian cizenry fron the mancles of Nigeria’s military sphinx by solving the riddle of that sphinx. And looking at the situation of Nigeria today, it will not be out of place to conclude that the Greek sphinx of yore had come to  reincarnate in our country at the instance of a military hegemony headed by General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida wh self-styled himself President.

     

    June 12 as Democracy Day

    With the conferment of the highest national honour in the countryie: Grand Commander of the Federal Republic  (GCFR) on the late Bashorun MKO Abiola, the winner of the June 12 1993 presidential election by President Muhammadu Buhari, last week Wednesday, June 6, 2018, the coast of injustice became clare with a glowing light as Nigerians were  greatly relieved of  a seemingly endless  agony.  “…The truth has come and the falsehood has vamoosed. Surely, falsehood, like darkness, is meant to vamoose in the presence of the truth”. Qura’n….Afterall, truth is the main healer of the open wound which conscience constitutes in the life of man.

     

    GCFR Award Before MKO

    The conferment of that honour  on Bashorun MKO Abiola who was not sworn into office as President despite winning election  was not the first in Nigeria. Such honour  had earlier been conferred  on another colosal Nigerian who was not a President. That person was the late  Chief Obafemi Awolowo of the then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). And the conferment was done in 1982 by the then President Sheu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). If there was any remarkable difference between  the two conferments it was the historic declaration of June 12 as Nigeria’s democracy day as well as the official national apology that accompanied it. The apology was to pacify over 14 million Nigerians  voters in June 1993 whose great hope was heartlessly turned into a paroxysm of depair. Neither a declaration of public holiday nor a national apology could have accorded Chief Awolowo’s conferment because he never won any election at the national level that could warrant such.

    Although the 1982 conferment gesture was seen by some people as politically motivated to pacify Chief Awolowo who lost to Alhaji Shagari in the Presidential election of 1979, the honour did not generate any controversy as in the case of Abiola’s posthumous one. That further confirms that politics in Africa is a product of envy and mischief and it may remain so for a very long time.

     

    Danger of Military Rule

    Today, Nigeria, like Thebes of yore, is passing through an experience of a similar spell in terms of corruption, insecurity and economic woes . The difference, however, is that Nigeria’s case is taking a triangular dimension with different interpretations. The impression created by this siruation is that there seems to be no obvious presence of an Oedipus here with a real capacity to handle the sphinx in such a way as to bring succour to Nigerians as did Oedipus of Greece and thereby become a hero. That impression is an evidence of corruption.

    Rather than one sphinx encountered by the Thebesians, Nigeria is encountering three at the same time. There is the vivid presence of Boko Haram vandals in the North; there are the economic pirates called militants in the Southsouth and there are the devilish human vampires called kidnappers in the Southeast.  All of these seem to have jointly hijacked the governance of the country albeit tacitly. The only part of the country that is seemingly less restive for now is the Southwest. And, incidentally, that is the region from where the Nigerian stream is being clandestinely polluted for all and sundry through the media.

    Today, Nigeria has become an unsafe haven in which dangerous tribal and sectarian specters are operating with unbridled audacity under various guises thereby making any hope to look like despair.

     

    In Retrospect

    Retrospectively, it was all like a comic drama in October 1986 when a frontline Nigerian journalist (Dele Giwa) was blown up with a letter bomb in the living room of his residence in Ikeja, Lagos. That criminal act was widely followed by public lamentations and condemnations. But the politics of the time under the military government never allowedthe incident to go beyond that level as no reports of the inquiries into the dastardly incident saw the light of the day. With that, wicked incident, an evil precedent was laid in a country where imitation of evil practices has become a fundamental norm. That evil act can never be recalled any day without tracing it to the military government. Since that unfortunate incident, many others of   its like had occurred killing Nigerian men, women and children in scores and dozens. For instance on May 31, 1995, a bomb exploded and killed many innocent Nigerians. Also on January 18, 1996 a bomb detonator died at Durbar Hotel in Kaduna while trying to unleash havoc on innocent people. And about two days later, another bomb exploded at Aminu Kano Airport in Kano.Also on November 14, 1996, a bomb exploded at Murtala Muhammd Airport, Ikeja, killing a Chief Security Officer. Even  The number is unlimited. Even on October 1, 2010, a public bomb blast in Nigeria occurred at the Eagles Square in Abuja while the country’s 50th anniversary of independence was being celebrated under President Goodluck Jonathan. The bomb killed several people and injured many more others. But rather than nipping a reoccurrence of that incident in the bud, it provided the politicians with another opportunity to trade politics as usual at the expense of peace and tranquility in the country.

    Today, Nigeria is grappling with more insuperable problems of insecurity than ever before.

     

    Essence of History

    The real essence of history is for human beings to learn from its lessons. Without such lessons, history would have served no purpose in the life of man. Governance is like driving in which no one can claim to know all or see all. The essence of having people around you as a leader is to seek and utilize their constructive advice so that if any failure occurs you will not bear the brunt all alone. No human being has monopoly of wisdom and nothing in governance destroys as much as an individual’s sheer whim.

     

     Yar’Adua for Instance

    The late President Yar’Adua did not act alone when he declared unconditional amnesty for the Southsouth pirates. He must have surely done it in consultation with some people. And no section of the country raised any objection to it. Perhaps without that singular policy, more than 50,000 former Southsouth pirates who later  enjoyed the Nigerian amnesty programme in various forms would have remained in the jungle killing and maiming innocent people as the Boko Haram terrorists are now doing and vandalizing oil pipelines as well as other economic installations.

    Rather than throwing ridiculous tantrums like that between Chief Obasanjo and General Babangida in which the two were mutually calling themselves ‘fool’, Nigerian leaders should learn from history and act what they learn from it. Thry must always remember that history makes man just as man makes history. God bless Nigeria!

  • June 12: Our Bastille Day

    In many countries of the world, some days are sacrosanct and are set aside every year for national celebrations and national renewals. Such dates are no doubt chosen in these countries because they signify important and unforgettable milestones in the history of such countries. In the United States of America, July 4 every year commemorates the declaration of the country’s independence on July 4, 1776. On this day, the American founding fathers dislodged British imperialism. In China, October 1 every year is celebrated to remember the beginning of the new communist government which started on October 1, 1949. In France, the National Day which comes up on July 14 every year as the Bastille Day commemorates the storming of Bastille fortress on July 14, 1789 and the unity of French people on July 14, 1790. The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 was the turning point in French revolution.

    In Nigeria, our national day comes up every year on October 1 to commemorate the day our country got independence from the British on October 1, 1960. Our liberation from the yoke of British imperialism was no doubt a laudable achievement, but over the years we have not been celebrating the day with fervour and passion needed for such a national day as it is done elsewhere. It may be because as our post-independence leaders told us that we got our independence cheaply on ‘a platter of gold’. The celebrations on October1 are invariably celebrations by government functionaries with passive or no participations by the average citizens. From my observations year in year out, I am of the opinion that Nigerians need a day to galvanize in us a spirit of nationhood and oneness at least once a year as it happens in countries like France, USA and China.

    God answered the prayers of Nigeria for a unifying day to be celebrated with fervour and passion on June 12 1993. On this day, the freest and the most peaceful presidential election ever conducted in the history of the country took place. People voted for the candidates of their choice without any resort to primordial instincts of ethnicity, religion and other unsavoury peculiarities. Even the elements cooperated that day as there was no single drop of rain in the country on that fateful day. Nigerians also surprised themselves that day as all unpleasant characteristics of previous elections were completely absent in the presidential elections of June 12 1993. Nigerians were very proud of themselves and were waiting with joy for a new dawn when military dictatorship that had blighted the country for a long time would be cast permanently into abyss of infamy. Unfortunately this was not to be as agents of darkness and crude political domination struck a heavy blow that rocked violently the shaky foundation of our country’s fragile unity.

    As the results of this unimpeachable presidential elections were being collated, with a clear winner emerging in person of Chief M.K.O. Abiola of the Social Democratic Party, the military administration of the malevolent Ibrahim Babangida not only stopped the collation of the results of the election but unpatriotically annulled the entire election. This singular act caused unprecedented political earthquake in Nigeria.  The unprecedented pan-Nigerian mandate given to Abiola was thrown out without any remorse by Ibrahim Babangida and Nigerians rose as one to oppose this draconian action of Babangida whose body language had given the impression to most Nigerians that he was not serious with his deceitful and winding transition programme. Incidentally, the first major casualty of this wicked annulment was Babangida himself who was booted out of power with ignominy after eight years in the saddle. The political contraption called interim government which he set up under the naive Ernest Shonekan did not survive as another military dictator Sani Abacha took over after Shonekan was pushed aside.

    Abacha’s military government tried every fiendish action in the book to obliterate the memory of this unimpeachable mandate and the winner of the mandate, Abiola which he clamped into jail for declaring himself the President of Nigeria in the Epetedo Declaration which he gave on June 11, 1994, a year after he won the presidential election. The agents of Abacha killed many people agitating for the revalidation of the June 12 mandate, many fled to exile and many, including journalists were sent to prison the country was turned into a killing field and became a pariah state. Despite the draconian measures of Abacha who was bent on transforming to a civilian president through political gerrymandering, the agitation for the declaration of Abiola as the legitimate president did not wane especially in the southwestern part of the country.  Abacha died suddenly without achieving his moronic aim of turning Nigeria into his fiefdom and his successor General Abdulsalam Abubakar did not revalidate the June 12 mandate. Unfortunately Abiola also died in prison and nothing was done on June 12 mandate before the civilian administration which came aboard on May 29, 1999.

    The opportunity to clear the mess  on June 12 election left by the military administrations of Ibrahim Babangida and Abacha came with the inception of the democratic dispensation on May 29 1999. However, it is a matter of regret that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who came to power as a result of Abiola’s sacrifice was not interested in anything connected with June 12 election and the mandate given to Abiola through that landmark election. For reasons best known to him, he had disdain for Abiola and the annulled June 12 election. Instead of naming June 12 as the democracy day in the country, he instead named May 29, the day he became president as Democracy Day. Also to show his hatred for Abiola and his mandate, he refused to implement the resolution of the National Assembly that Abuja National Stadium should be named after Abiola. Not a few Nigerians including his ardent supporters were and are as still disappointed at Obasanjo for his stand on June 12 election and the mandate given to Abiola through that election when he was in power for eight years. It is reported that Akin Osuntokun, one of his aides recently condemned his attitudes on this issue when he was in power. There is no doubt that this attitude of Obasanjo would continue to blight his achievements. Umaru Yar’Adua who took over from Obasanjo was too preoccupied with his failing health to think about redressing the June 12 debacle. Jonathan who came next to the presidency in a tepid move to address the debacle, named University of Lagos after Abiola. This move was rightly resisted and he tamely gave up.

    I am sure that most Nigerians must have been caught unaware by the June 6 release of President Buhari on the recurring June 12 issue that has plagued our country for the past 25 years. In his unusual released personally signed by him, the president described the presidential election of June 12 1993 won by the late Chief Abiola as “the freest, fairest and the most peaceful since our independence”. In the same statement, President Buhari declared that henceforth June 12 would be designated as our Democracy Day instead of May 29 which Obasanjo declared as Democracy Day in 1999. In giving legitimacy to this election, the president has since conferred posthumously, the highest national honour in the land (CCFR) on the acclaimed winner of the election, Chief Abiola on Tuesday which coincided with day this presidential election was held in 1993.This honour is usually reserved for former Heads of State in Nigeria.

    I must confess that this action of President Buhari surprised me. I did not expect President Buhari who was very close to Abacha, the military dictator who clamped Abiola into jail when he tried to reclaim his mandate to speak glowingly about June 12 election and Abiola. Many people have read political motive into this move by President Buhari, they feel that it was done to win votes in Southwest in the coming presidential election in 2019. To me this is not a crime, as politicians are known all over the world to use any ammunition in their political armoury to fight elections. The erudite Professor Bolaji Akinyemi said that President Buhari’s action could be likened to the move made by President Nixon, a rabid anti-communism politician when he brought communist China from the cold to world limelight by making USA to recognize its former foe. To this I will also add that it was the Conservative Party of Britain under Winston Churchill that opposed granting independence to British African colonies that eventually gave independence to these colonies when the party was led by Harold Macmillan in the fifties and sixties.

    In his press release, President Buhari even elevated June 12 above October 1 which is the anniversary of our independence day. From now it will not be out of place to refer to June 12 every year as being equivalent to the Bastille Day in France. Although no fortress was destroyed on June 12, 1993 but on that day, Nigerians destroyed the rickety fortress of military dictatorship in our country with its attendant emasculation of personal freedom and fundamental human rights.

     

    • Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

     

  • June 12: Twenty years on, a date that remains fresh, indelible in history

    It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.

    It was a season of hope; it was a season of despair.

    It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness.

    It was the age of belief; it was the age of incredulity.

    It was the season of light; it was the season of darkness.

    It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.

    Those were the rousing words with which the great novelist, Charles Dickens, characterised the French Revolution of 1789. They came to my mind as I contemplated this occasion of the 20th anniversary of that epochal event in our history “the June 12, 1993, presidential election”.

    We had thought the historic election would usher us into the best of times; its annulment thrust us into the worst period of military dictatorship.

    The election engendered so much hope; its nullification cast a poll of despair over the nation.

    June 12 showed the capacity of our people for immense political wisdom; it also showed the foolishness of truncating the will of the people.

    June 12 renewed our belief in the viability of the Nigeria enterprise; its abortion demonstrated the fragility and vulnerability of the Nigerian project.

    June 12 shone a radiant light of hope across the country; its termination enveloped the country in the darkness of despair.

    It is amazing that two decades have flown by since that day when Nigerians massively cast their votes across ethnic, religious, regional and other sectional divides for Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola as their president on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).Yet, June 12 remains fresh and indelible as a unique day in our national evolution.

    Like the proverbial city on a hill, the light of June 12 shines brighter with each passing year.  October 1, 1960, marked our liberation from the yoke of external colonialism, June 12 signalled the commencement of our liberation from the dehumanising bondage of internal colonialism as symbolised by military rule.

    June 12 remains a living beacon of hope and inspiration that justice crushed to the ground will rise again; that we have the capacity as a people to resist dictatorship and tyranny; and assert our liberty and dignity.

    With the benefit of hindsight, the annulment of the June 12 election has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the democratic evolution of our country. As the British historian, Arnold Toynbee, perceptively noted, progress is most often made when individuals and communities are forced to respond to the challenges posed by crisis situations. The annulment of the June 12 election and the regression to full scale dictatorship hurled the country into a severe crisis of legitimacy and credibility that nearly culminated in a civil war and outright national disintegration.

    Of course, the struggle for democratic restoration in Nigeria was waged at a huge cost. Many of our compatriots paid the supreme sacrifice. We can recall here such heroic martyrs as Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Ken SaroWiwa and Pa Alfred Rewane, who sacrificed their yesterday for our today. Of course, there were scores more who died on the streets in confrontation with security agents of military dictatorship. Hundreds more suffered the hardship of imprisonment and exile. Thousands had their businesses ruined and were thrown into penury. Unlike our independence in 1960, the democracy we enjoy today was not won on a platter of gold. It is the product of the blood, sweat, tears and agony of thousands of patriotic and committed Nigerians. This is why it is so distressing that democratic institutions and processes are being daily undermined recklessly today by those who wield power but do not appreciate the cost that was paid for the privileges they enjoy and take for granted.

    Is it not surprising that, 14 years after the return to civilian rule, June 12 is not yet nationally recognised and commemorated as a unique and significant day in our national life? In the same way, Chief MKO Abiola has not been accorded the honour he deserves for not only emerging as president but, even more importantly, for refusing to compromise his mandate at the cost of personal deprivation and ultimately his life. It could have been so easy for him to trade away the mandate as so many other politicians did and return to his private business empire.

    The men who rode to power on the back of his sacrifice today refuse to acknowledge MKO Abiola as role in our political development. It is so sad and shameful. They try to pigeonhole him and the June 12 struggle as a regional affair. This blackmail cannot wash. This injustice will not stand. A future progressive government must ensure the commemoration of June 12 as our national democracy day. Indeed, the history of the June 12 struggle must be taught in our schools. Our children must learn that we have the capacity as a people to resist and defeat tyranny. This is what those who are doing everything to suppress the memory of June 12 are trying to do; to make us forget our ability to check tyranny so that they can foist a new rule of impunity on us as they are beginning to do. They will fail.

    A future progressive government must ensure appropriate posthumus national honour for Chief MKO Abiola, the gazetting of the results of the 1993 presidential election as announced by Prof Humphrey Nwosu and the formal recognition of Abiola as the winner of the election and a duly elected president of the country.

    However, the greatest honour we can bestow on the martyrs of June 12, the best way we can ensure their sacrifice was not in vain, is to firmly resist the current slide to tyranny in Nigeria and ensure the consolidation of a viable and vibrant democratic system where the rule of law is supreme and the votes of the people count in free, fair and credible elections.

    Now, what are some of the lessons, which we can learn from the June 12, 1993, presidential election that can help us in building a sustainable democratic culture in Nigeria today? A key factor in the successful pan-Nigerian outcome of the June 12 election was the two-party system under which the election was conducted. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) were national parties.

    They were government-funded and had functional secretariats in all local government areas and states across the country. The implication of this was that, in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural polity like Nigeria, the parties had to build winning coalitions across sectional divides to win national elections.

    Following this experience, all genuine democrats must support the on-going efforts to forge a merger among progressive opposition parties to provide a viable alternative to the Peoples Democartic Party (PDP). I refer here to the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose impeding implosion unto the national political scene will soon ignite the entire country. The new more balanced party system we are working hard to realise today will be the result of a voluntary democratic process and not a government imposition by fiat as was the case under the military.

    Already, there is plenty of excitement and expectation in the atmosphere. Nigerians are hungry for change. The country has stagnated for too long. How can a country with so much fertile land be a net importer of food? How can a country with so much natural water not be able to provide the majority of its citizens both in rural and urban areas with pipe borne water? How can a country with a population of over 160 million people not be able to generate more than 4,500 MW of electricity after a decade after a so-called road map to power stability has gulped over $16 billion with little to show for it? How can a country with so much work to be done “infrastructures to be built, services to be provided” not be able to provide jobs for its teeming youth population? Why 14 years after the return to civilian rule do we not at least one modern fast railway line while we are celebrating the revival of an archaic railway system that takes 30 hours to move from Lagos to Kano?! Why are most of the highways across the country death traps?

    The current one “party dominant system breeds complacency and non-performance and must be transformed. That is what the APC is about”. A more balanced two-party dominant system will promote healthy competition, improve governance standards and boost accelerated development. It is not surprising that the beneficiaries of the current unproductive and inefficient status quo are resistant to change. They are employing all tricks in the trade to thwart and sabotage the merger efforts. Well, let them try as much as they can. There is no stopping an idea whose time has come. APC will soon cure them of their chronic political migraine.

    Another key factor in the June 12 election was that the electorate was presented with clear-cut party programmes and ideological platforms to choose from. The NRC was to the right of the political spectrum while the SDP was to the left. Chief MKO Abiola’s campaign programme was tagged “Farewell To Poverty”. It contained details of his economic and social welfare policies and was widely distributed and publicised across the country. The programme was even printed in indigenous languages, including Hausa and Fulfude. It is thus, no wonder that Chief MKO Abiola won overwhelmingly across the country. There was so much expectation after his victory that food prices would drop and living standards improve “a hope that was cut short by the annulment.” By the time the APC manifesto is released, Nigerians will have a choice between the failed policies of the PDP that have worsened their lot over the last 14 years and alternatives that can generate meaningful national transformation in the shortest possible time.

    But what do we have today? Nigerians are being threatened that the country will break up if somebody from a particular region does not win the presidential election in 2015. This is irresponsible and undemocratic. By its very nature, democratic multi-party elections imply that you cannot know or determine the winner in advance otherwise, there would be no need for an election! One would have thought this is simple logic. Such threats imply that some elements are already afraid that their preferred candidate has not performed well enough in office to win voluntary nationwide electoral support in the next election. But it is even more alarming that some of those making these threats have won huge contracts to secure the country’s oil pipelines, a task that is the legitimate function of the Nigerian military. The implication is that they have access to arms and ammunition to disrupt peace and endanger security. Their threats are in no way empty and must not be taken for granted.

    Is this why they have been emboldened to challenge the sovereignty of the Nigerian state if their kinsman is not re-elected in 2015? This is a very dangerous development that requires the close vigilance of all Nigerians especially since the appropriate security agencies have shown a disinclination to call such elements to order.

    Equally critical to the success of the June 12 election was an open and credible electoral process. At the time, the open-secret ballot system that required voters lining up and being physically counted was employed. The process was transparent and credible. Today, despite marginal improvements in the electoral process, we still have a grossly unreliable voters register. Given the amount of funds expended, we ought by now to have a biometric voters’ register that can guarantee accuracy and reliability in place.

    The full application of the biometric system for elections in Nigeria should be non-negotiable. In Ghana, in Kenya, in Sierra Leone and in Liberia, biometric system was employed to ensure free and fair elections. Nigeria cannot be different. Superficial changes at the top hierarchy of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have not percolated down the organisation. The implication is that top officials of the commission often pay lip service to free and fair elections while the officials on the field collude with unscrupulous officials to perpetrate electoral fraud. Before the 2015 elections, the National Assembly has a responsibility to strengthen the country’s electoral laws to deepen electoral reforms, strengthen the autonomy of INEC and increasing the possibility for every vote to count. And there you have the answer to political stability. That is a credible electoral system in which there is one man, one vote and the electoral act provisions is not easily prone to manipulation by the ruling elites or party.

    Also quite worrisome is the high level of violence that continues to mar our elections. This is a serious issue that must be addressed, especially when state-armed militia groups are threatening violence if a pre-determined outcome is not achieved in the 2015 election. To worsen matters, nobody has ever been charged to court and successfully prosecuted for blatant acts of electoral violence.

    The June 12 election was held in an atmosphere of unprecedented peace throughout the country and there is no reason why things should have degenerated this badly 20 years after.

    Nigeria, today stands at a critical crossroad. What are at stake are our very survival as a country and our collective wellbeing as a people. The potentials of Nigeria are trapped by a defective federal structure that promotes the development of underdevelopment.

    We remain a giant with clay feet perpetually punching below our weight. An otherwise highly endowed country continues to be ruled by her 10th eleven and yet, entertains the illusory hope of ranking among the top 20 economies in the world by Y2020 “barely seven years from now”.

    No wonder that day-dream has been wisely and quietly jettisoned. Right now, three states in the Northeast ‘are under emergency rule’. Their democratic structures have been effectively castrated by the very people whose ineptness and incompetence have led to the deterioration of security across the country in the first place.

    We need to be very vigilant and careful so that those whose responsibility it is to ensure national security do not deliberately shirk their duties to enable them impose emergency rule on more states and further weaken democratic structures and processes.

    Twenty years after the historic June 12 election and its unfortunate annulment, we would have expected that sufficient lessons should have been learnt from the unsavoury experience.

    This unfortunately is not so as amply demonstrated by the show of shame at the recent Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election. Prior to the election, there had been open intimidation of governors to jettison Governor Rotimi Amaechi and back a candidate supported by the presidency. The most brazen acts of impunity were perpetrated to undermine Amaechi’s government in Rivers State. When the election eventually took place, Amaechi defeated Jonah Jang of Plateau State by 19 votes to 16 in an exercise in which 35 governors participated; an exercise which was recorded on camera. Then what happened? The losing side claimed that their candidate had won and declared him the winner and new chairman of the NGF! The losers thus tried to annul the legitimate victory of the winner just as happened with June 12! This shows that it is still a long way to Uhuru and vigilance must remain the watchword of all genuine democrats.

    Despite the antics of anti-democratic elements, we must ensure that a vibrant and virile democratic culture takes root in our land to serve as a tool for accelerated development.

    Our long suffering people deserve no less.

  • June 12: A prophesy foretold

    I wrote a piece about four years ago, which was at once a eulogy, a lamentation and a prophesy. And it is for the virtual fulfilment of that prophesy last Tuesday, by the Buhari Administration that I think it auspicious to revisit and serve you my ‘ODE TO MKO: A PARODY OF SHAKESPEARE’. Enjoy it.

    Prologue

    ‘We will not die in that man’s company that fears his fellowship to die with us. This day, the 12th of June, shall be our day of the ‘Feast of Saint Crispian’. Our version of the martyrdom of the saints of abnegation. This is the day about which the supremest sacrifice was paid, by ‘one’ so that the tree of our democracy may thrive. Hopefully the day will come when any that shall witness this day will, yearly remind his neighbours and his friends; saying to them ‘this is the day that the gods of ‘democracy’ hath made. Then will he strip his sleeves and show, if he has, the scars of struggle and say with pride ‘these wounds I had in defence of June 12’. Or at least he should tell the story that he knows; or the tale that he had been told, about this historic day of June 12, the ghost of which will know no rest, till it be appeased with the validation of its mandate and the recognition of the martyrdom of its hero, MKO.

    THE POISONED CHALICE

    On the 12th day of June, a mandate was given; by the ‘many’ to one worthy of the peoples’ trust. He was a ‘man of the people’. He was a ‘peoples’ man’. The great MKO. My Principal. My liege; and my mentor. The ‘freest and fairest election’, in unison everyone had said; and on account of which states to states, region to region, zone by zone, all in league of amity, were ready to chart a new dawn for people and country, where ‘though tribe and tongue may have differed, in brotherhood yet we would have stood’. But just then came the off-key note that jarred the hymn of vaunted harmony. The ‘freest’, ‘fairest’ election, soon was cowardly annulled; and the innocent winner cruelly put to jail. And on the 8th day of July after years in their gilded jail, the great MKO was felled at last. Assassinated. For daring to win an election. But that was not even as ironic, as the fact that my principal breathed his last right before ‘visiting’ secret diplomatic agents of the world’s pre-eminent policeman, America. Yes, Abiola died in the shadows of the omni-hearing, eagle-eyed one, Uncle Sam. But ‘Big Brother’ Sam, for all his vaunted fame, of ‘seeing’ beyond the limits of sight, and of ‘hearing’ beyond the ken of all decibels, on this very day of infamy when my Principal was felled, Uncle Sam said he saw no evil and that he heard no evil.

    Yet all discerning minds had known, that between Uncle Sam’s merchants of death and our own killer agents of state, a lot had been kept mum, and a lot left unsaid. For how could a prisoner who for years had endured the agony of incarceration, brazing the harangues of operatives of state, how could such a one suddenly die only a couple of minutes to freedom’s gate? How could a prisoner hale and hearty just a while ago, soon lay dead after a hot, steamy cup of tea? And how could his felled body after such suspicious death, from all its hair follicles soon be drenched, in profuse sweat like, a petal wet in morning dew? No! A poisoned chalice was the ‘justice’ that my boss was finally served; for daring to ask that his mandate be restored. MKO was murdered in mock-appeasement of the ghost of the jackbooted, bespectacled one, Abacha; who had just pre-deceased him by a curious administration too, of poisoned ‘apples’. And so to even the score of Abacha’s eminent death, and in mollification of contending tribes and tongues, Abiola too they decided must go.

    TRAITORS ALL

    But this was the very top, the height, the crest or crest unto the crest, of murder’s arms; this was the bloodiest shame, the wildest savagery, the vilest stroke, that ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage presented to the tears of soft remorse. All murders past, do stand excused, and this, so unmatchable, shall give a holiness, a purity, to the yet un-begotten sin of times; and this shall prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest, when exampled by this heinous spectacle. The earth had not a hole to hide this heinous deed. Great men, Shakespeare wrote “often die by vile bezonians: A Roman sworder and banditto slave” he said “murdered sweet Tully; Brutus’ bastard hand stabbed Julius Caesar; savage islanders killed Pompey the great” and “Suffolk himself by pirates died”. My principal the great MKO was felled by the army and politicians of his fatherland. Socrates corrupted the youth they had said; and by the compromised of a shameless Grecian judicial system, the hemlock he too was fed. But my principal without a proper charge, other than lawfully winning an election, was baited to drink a poisoned tea. A thousand daggers they had hidden in their thoughts; which they had whetted to sharpness on their stony hearts.

    THE BOGEY OF ‘MAY 29’

    Soon the army of exigency had become the army of mischief. Avoiding remembrance of ‘June 12’ or recognition of the 8th of July. And they came up with a barren May 29 which they claimed was our ‘Democracy Day’. Between the ‘fig’, the ‘olive’ and the tree of ‘vine’, they chose the accursed tree of Jesus that bore no fruits. They chose May 29 in spite of ‘June 12’. What hath this day deserved? What hath it done that it, in golden letters should be set among the high tides in the calendar? If the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, June 12 is our ‘Democracy Day’. All too soon the political anti-Christ has taken over the altar of our sacrifice; undeserving beneficiaries of the struggle have become architects of the new dawn; those with scars to show are mere parenthesis in the essay of our new democracy. All too soon night owls shriek where mountain larks should sing; and “more pity” as they say “that the eagle should be mewed while kites and buzzards prey at liberty.

    EPILOGUE

    When is our day of the feast of Saint Crispian? That day is not the 29th day of May! For none there is that day to strip his sleeves and show his scars, and say to the multitude: these wounds I had on May 29.  That Day is either the 12th of the month of June when the historic election took place, or the 8th day of July when its winner was put to the scaffold. Between these days an icon was no sooner made than he was felled. Such a mighty rise, dogged so soon by so treacherous a fall!

    But we grieve not, knowing that he died so that the essay of our new dawn may be made legible. Lie still in thy muted grave my liege MKO. Thy rest is nigh; thy repose will soon come. Thy tongue-less tomb will soon be laced with a waxen epitaph; and it shall proclaim: ‘Here lies the president who, in Heaven before the angels, took his oath; and posthumously on earth, is crowned ‘Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’.

    Amen, and amen again!

  • June 12: A parley with MKO Abiola

    WHAT a glorious outing for the Abiola family and all those who identify with the magic of June 12!

    Millions watched on television as President Muhammadu Buhari, at a colourful ceremony and before a select audience of worthy compatriots, apologised for the injustice that saw a nation lose its sense and a great man his life. It was an emotional spectacle at the seat of power in Abuja on Tuesday. And what a day of reminiscences.

    Kola Abiola, the late Moshood Kasimawo Olawale Abiola’s eldest son, yielded the podium for his sister Hafsat to speak for the family. She did not disappoint. We were touched as she spoke, carefully picking her words to strike the right chord and urging Buhari to forgive whatever wrong her father might have done him. Of course, she drew great applause.

    Abiola, she said, was already rehearsing his inaugural speech. Why not? The results were pouring in and victory was in sight.

    What a day of apologies and genuine actions to lay to rest the ghost of the June 12, 1993 election – Nigeria’s fairest and freest ever – which was annulled for no reason by the military, headed by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who went by the fraudulent title of “president”. He was not at the ceremony. Ernest Shonekan, a chief and head of the Interim National Government (ING), the emergency contraption the military deployed to subvert the popular will, but which collapsed like a pack of cards that it was, was also absent. So was former President Olusegun Obasanjo, arguably the biggest beneficiary of the June 12 crisis, who refused to recognise Abiola, obviously from sheer egoism.

    Nobody missed them.

    Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka shelved a foreign trip for the ceremony. He, as usual, lashed the dictators who abused Nigerians by their horrific actions and called for a “hall of shame” to ensure that history records their evil deeds for future generations.

    Asiwaju Bola Tinubu recalled the days of the struggle, praised the President for showing courage in honouring Abiola and assured him of support in his bid for a fresh term.

    If only the dead could talk. What could the man of the moment have said on all this? How would Abiola have reacted to the recollections of his heroism? A newspaper baron, he was fond of calling his editors to catch up on the news of the day and make some comments. Let us just imagine one of his numerous calls to the Concord newsroom. Here we go:

    Hello… this is MKO. How’re you?

    Ah! Fine; thank you sir (the reporter is shocked).

    Good. I trust all is well with you. What’s going on in town?

    It’s the 25th anniversary of your historic election as President. Now you have been officially recognised as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The highest honour in the land has been bestowed on you sir.

    “Ah! Thank you. I aaam…mmm .. I am grateful. Mo dupe pupo. But let me tell you, I knew this day would come. Nigerians, 14 million of them, voted in that election. From the east, west, north and south; everywhere. It was a sunny day; I remember. Even nature was behind us. No tribe; no religion. Then the military…no, a clique in the military annulled the election. They said if I was sworn in I would be killed. Did I look like a commander-in-chief who would be afraid to die?

    “And, young man, aburo, you may recall that I told them clearly that a student who has passed an exam does not need to repeat it. Yes. I said so. The people have spoken. Loud and clear. You cannot make the sun to rise twice in one day, even in Africa. No.

    “It was a colourful ceremony at the Villa sir. President Buhari apologised to your family and all Nigerians. All your June 12 activists were there. “

    “Really? That’s great and I thank them all. Mo dupe. And I praise Buhari for his courage; that is how it should be. Those who were trying to clap with one hand now know on which side of history they are. Men of no principles, no character and mere weaklings who were not worthy of the uniforms they wore. Shame.”

    “Unfortunately, Obasanjo could not attend. He was away in Norway, according to his letter to the Presidency.”

    “Obasanjo. Eh en; Obasanjo was invited? Was he not the one who said I wasn’t the messiah Nigeria needed? He’s a master of intrigues, full of foxy ideas and pure ego. After I had made the supreme sacrifice, he became the biggest beneficiary of it all. I was even told that he planned to stay on in power and all that. What’s Obasanjo doing in Norway? Is he selling stockfish now? I remember he used to be a chicken farmer.”

    “Babangida, your friend, was also not there sir – for some health reasons.”

    “Hmmmm. Ibrahim. I didn’t expect him to come. He caused it all by not behaving like a true General. His courage failed him (I doubt if he had any). He said his boys vowed to kill him if he handed over to me. And I asked him if he was ready to relinquish power before I contested the election; he swore with the Holy Koran that he was. That was why I told them when they mounted pressure on me to surrender my mandate: ‘The mandate belongs to 14million Nigerians. I am only the custodian of this sacred mandate. And you can’t shave a man’s head in his absence. Nigerians, 14million of them, will be here if I must give up. They didn’t find it funny. And remember that I once said ‘with a friend like Babangida, nobody needs an enemy. That is the truth.”

    “Chief, there are people who believe that if you had agreed to rerun the election, you would have been alive for your family and business today.”

    “Looook, my dear, doooooon’t, don’t talk like that. You can’t abort a pregnancy after the baby has been born and people are already congratulating the mother. No. It’s too late. And I…I… I …I told them so. How can you be running and at the same time you are looking backwards? “

    “Shonekan was also absent, chief. I don’t remember the reason he gave.”

    “Shonekan; why should he be there- to collect another Greek gift? He reminds me of the elephant’s story. They told the elephant that he was going to be king. They dug a big hole and covered it with a beautiful carpet and put a throne on it. On the day of the elephant’s inauguration, there was a huge party. Women were singing, A o merin j’oba…(We shall install the elephant as king). They put the elephant on the throne. He crashed into the deep pit. He was deceived. He was used. I won’t say more than that. I won’t – for now. What Chief Shonekan failed to realise is, ‘the bigger the head, the bigger the headache’ Yes.”

    “As for those who are saying that I should have surrendered to stay alive, I thank them. That is human. But you know me; I am a man of the people. I can die for anything I believe in. Besides, I stated clearly when the struggle began that on this matter, one of three things would happen. ‘I have never been president, I have never been dead before and I have never gone to jail. One will surely happen.’ No regrets at all. An Are Onakakanfo must be ready to die fighting; he must not run away. It is a taboo, eewo.” Only a bastard will say the fear of death would not let him claim his father’s title.

    “Tinubu is advocating that your manifesto should be adopted to fight  poverty.”

    “You see, aaah…aaaah (Abiola laughs),let them read Farewell to Poverty, my economic blueprint in which I said by the grace of God in five years, no Nigerian child will go to bed hungry. And that is the truth. We can do it. I have to go now, aburo.

    “Thank you and God bless.”

    “Thank you sir.”

    Joshua Dariye goes to jail

    FORMER Plateau State Governor Joshua Chibi Dariye chose a wrong day  to go to jail. Tuesday was full of activities to mark the 25th anniversary of the June 12,1993 election, which MKO Abiola won. It was Abiola’s day at the Villa. President Muhammadu Buhari  revalidated the election and conferred on Abiola the highest honour in  the land – the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).

    Editors were troubled. The front page, naturally, was Abiola’s. But here was a former governor bagging a big award – 14 years in jail for N1.162b fraud – which also deserved a front page splash. Dilemma. To his credit, Dariye still found space on some front pages. What a feat!

    Dariye
    Dariye

    He arrived in court in his official vehicle as a senator; he left in a pick-up van. Of the N1.162b ecological fund released to the state, Dariye surrendered N550m. He splashed part of the cash on his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    To his lawyer, Paul Erokor (SAN), there is no point appealing the verdict. “We are forced to fall on your mercy,” he told Justice Adebukola Banjoko, who insisted that corruption must not go unpunished.

    The Dariye case went on for 11 years. Now, justice is served – fresh  and hot. Just as it was in the case of former Taraba State  Governor Jolly. He was jailed on May30. Are public officials learning any lesson from these and similar cases?