by Alexander O. Onukwue

The profound discussions and questions about the annulled elections of June 12, 1993, that should have seen MKO Abiola become the President of Nigeria, usually, revolves around why General Ibrahim Babangida acted in the way he did.

Could there have been an alternative to annulment, like a power sharing deal? Should IBB have disregarded his boys and allowed the August 27 inauguration to go ahead, leaving the nation to its fate afterwards? Wait, was the annulment even official?

More along the lines of the last query, we are taking a pause on being serious on June 12 in this article. Though when you read the following trivia, you may find out they are actually serious anyway.

Plain paper or Foolscap sheet?

The annulment of the June 12 elections became news on June 23, 1993. Was it announced by General Babangida? No, he was in Katsina on that day at the funeral of the father of Shehu and Umaru Musa Yar’adua (Abiola was also there but was prevented from seeing IBB).

How then was it announced? Nduka Irabor, the Press Secretary to Military Vice President, Augustus Aikhomu, was ordered to release the statement to State House correspondents at about 8:00am. The document on which the annulment was written was without any date, not signed, and did not bear the letterhead of the Federal Military Government. If you are asking if it was on a plain sheet or foolscap paper, you are not out of order here.

Brothers, Classmates, but no love lost

Olusegun Obasanjo hailed from the same town as MKO Abiola but never supported his presidential bid. They were classmates in school; Abiola was the editor of the school magazine, while OBJ was the deputy. According to OBJ, he did not think MKO was suited to lead Nigeria, from his assessment of how he had led the magazine team. Campus Editors, look round your editorial team, smile and give everybody a Macron handshake.

Beaten, Forgotten – Now in Debt?

Bashir Tofa, the candidate of the NRC and opponent of Abiola in the elections, was defeated in his State (Kano), Local Government (Dawakin Tofa LG) and hometown, by MKO. His running mate, Sylvester Ugoh who was the Governor of the Central Bank of Biafra, fared better with the NRC winning in the South-East generally, except Anambra (there was no Ebonyi then). Both have largely been forgotten in the political atmosphere, beside Mr Tofa’s reported refusal to appear before a Sharia Court on April 2017 over a debt of $200,000. All those funds spent in 1993 eh?

Martyrdom?  Let me first give my daughter a posh wedding

General Babangida was not called ‘Maradona’ for nothing. After the annulment, he knew he had to try to quell the brewing chaos and broker deals between all aggrieved parties, especially with his ‘friend’ MKO. On an invitation, the denied president agreed to meet the Military President on July 04, 1993, at the Villa. An offer of refreshment was rebuffed; MKO would not go in, the conversation took place outside where he had parked. In trying to get MKO to understand his predicament, Babangida said, “I swear to you… they would have killed us both if the result of the election had not been cancelled” to which Abiola replied, “You should have sworn me in first, and then if they killed us both… we would go to heaven holding hands and singing as two bosom friends”. We know how the rest of that went. Now, take your mind to 30 jets at Minna on May 12 this year; would even you, dear reader, have traded that magnificent pageantry, for an early martyrdom for this our Nigeria?

There’s more where those came from, but we’ll stop here for now. Let’s re-mode to the more serious matters: “Babangida Why?! Josh Dogonyaro Why?! Arthur Nzeribe Why?!”