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 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 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.
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