Reuben Abati: Remembering MKO and June 12
This
day, June 12 will always be remembered by those who have defied the
culture of silence and conspiracy against a significant moment in
Nigerian history, to remind us of how today, 23 years ago, the battle
against the exit of the military from power was fought at the ballot by a
determined Nigerian people. It is indeed sad that apart from the South
West states of Oyo, Ogun, Lagos and Osun which have doggedly continued
to celebrate the hero, and later martyr of that battle, Chief Moshood
Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, there has been studied indifference to
the June 12 phenomenon by the Federal Government and remarkably, the
rest of Nigeria.
When Nigerians voted in the presidential
election of June 12, 1993, they chose the Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO
Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe under the platform of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP). MKO Abiola not only defeated the Presidential candidate of
the National Republican Convention (NRC), Bashir Tofa in his home state
of Kano, he also defeated him “fairly and squarely” with “58.4% of the
popular vote and a majority in 20 out of 30 states and the FCT.” That
election was adjudged to be free and fair, and peaceful. But the Ibrahim
Babangida-led military government had been playing games with the
transition-to-civilian rule, and so it chose not to announce the final
results of the election, and later on June 23, 1993, the Presidential
election was annulled.
This was a coup against the Nigerian
people, and an act of brazen injustice, but June 12 will go down in
history as the birthday of the revolution that swept the Nigerian
military back to the barracks. The media began to refer to MKO Abiola as
“the man widely believed to have won the June 12, 1993 election”, or
perhaps, “the undeclared winner” but those who played key roles at the
time, including Humphrey Nwosu, the chief electoral umpire, have since
confessed that “their hands were tied”, and that indeed MKO Abiola won
the election. General Ibrahim Babangida, then Head of State, has not
been able to live down that error of judgement. It was the final error
that also consumed his government, forcing him to “step aside”, and as
it turned out “step away”. He left behind an Interim National Government
(ING) led by Chief Ernest Shonekan who was handpicked for the
assignment, but the ING contrivance only survived for 83 days; in
November 1993, General Sani Abacha, who was in the ING as Minister of
Defence, seized power. It was obvious that the military never wanted to
relinquish power.
June 12 brought out the worst and the
best in the people: the worst in the military and its hungry agents
definitely, but the injustice of its annulment released the people’s
energy and capacity for protest. Progressive Nigerians spoke in unison
against military tyranny and the violation of their right to choose. The
Abacha government, which had initially deceived the progressives about
its intentions, unleashed a reign of terror on the country: media houses
were attacked, journalists were jailed, bombed, beaten, civil society
activists were hauled into detention. But the repression was met with
stiff resistance. The people insisted on the election of June 12, the
military’s exit and Abiola’s declaration as winner of the election. On
June 11, 1994, in what is now known as the Epetedo declaration, Chief
MKO Abiola declared a Government of National Unity and asked for his
mandate to be duly recognized. He was subsequently arrested for
treasonable felony, but that only added fuel to the protests. Abiola
later died in custody on July 7, 1998, a month to the day, after General
Sani Abacha himself died.
But the real outcome was that the
military had been branded evil, and the people would accept nothing but
the end of military rule. This was the scenario that led to the return
to democratic rule on May 29, 1999, and the specific choice of a
political figure from the South West to assuage the expressed fears of
the South West that the denial of MKO Abiola’s mandate was an assault on
the right of the South West. The ethnicization of the June 12 protest
was unfortunate because indeed the struggle against tyranny recruited
foot soldiers from virtually every part of the country, international
support also gave the struggle higher relevance; those were the days
when serving foreign diplomats joined pro-democracy protesters to wave
placards on the streets. Many died, and they were all from across
Nigeria, businesses were affected, but the people were determined to
make the sacrifice. It was that revolution that made May 29, 1999
possible, and if any date is deserving of celebration, it is June 12.
The irony is that those who benefited
most from MKO Abiola’s martyrdom do not want to be reminded of him. And
those who used to talk about injustice have since, given the
opportunity, inflicted their own injustice on the people. Those who used
to swear by Abiola’s name have since found new political patrons. Those
who proclaimed Abiola as the symbol of democracy and the rallying point
for the people’s hopes have since been dancing on his grave. Successive
federal administrations since 1999, have also failed to redress the
injustice of 1993, by doing the minimum of declaring June 12 a national
holiday. There have been suggestions along this line, including the
possibility of a post-humous national honour (the only constraint here
is that the national honour is not awarded post-humously although there
is nothing that expressly forbids this in the enabling Act), or the
naming of a major national monument after MKO, or the official admission
that the June 12, 1993 election was indeed won and lost and was not in
any way inconclusive.
Truth: Nigeria forgets too soon, too
easily. For, when indeed the Jonathan administration tried to address
this injustice by naming a significant national institution after MKO
Abiola, the attempt resulted in controversy and a storm. The last
paragraph of then President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2012 Democracy Day
speech had renamed the University of Lagos after MKO Abiola. Both the
students and staff trooped to the streets in protest. They rejected the
name-change and declared that their university’s name is a brand that
nobody, not even the Federal Government of Nigeria could tamper with, in
honour of anybody, living or dead. They said they were not consulted
and the University Act had not been amended. Politics and opportunism
was read into the gesture, and the government had to eat the humble pie.
Would the reaction be different if another government were to take the
same step, the same way the reaction to the increase in the pump price
of petroleum products has been different this year, under a different
dispensation?
MKO Abiola was a victim of military
politics and conspiracy, now his martyrdom and legacy seem lost in the
intricate web of conditioned amnesia and the ego of those who continue
to compete with his memory. In a country where history is no longer
taught, and there are no well-managed museums and monuments to make
history part of the public landscape, a generation is already emerging,
like the generation of UNILAG students in 2012, who may someday ask: who
is MKO Abiola? Those who refuse to teach history run the risk of
producing children who may lack the capacity to remember and the wisdom
to appreciate history’s many lessons.
Those who insist speculatively that MKO
Abiola could not have been a good President also miss the point about
his example and legacy: his martyrdom shaped the architecture of much
that happened subsequently in Nigerian history, and it is not the
military’s duty to veto the people of Nigeria. The military have been
shipped out of power for good, they can only return as they have been
doing as retired soldiers, and whatever happens with our democracy, the
people are resolved that nobody can annul their right to choose, and it
is part of their right to choose, to sometimes make mistakes and learn.
The various state governments and civil groups that remember and
celebrate MKO Abiola every year deserve a pat on the back for defying
amnesia. June 12 is ultimately not just about one man who became a
symbol; it is also about the collective struggle against military
tyranny, a reminder of people power and the value of civil society; it
is that historical moment when Nigerians voted for change and stood by
it.
On this occasion of the 23rd anniversary, may the words of MKO Abiola at Epetedo on June 11, 1994 prick our conscience: “People
of Nigeria, exactly one year ago, you turned out in your millions to
vote for me, Chief MKO Abiola as the President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria. But politicians in uniform, who call themselves soldiers but
are more devious than any civilian would want to be, deprived you of
your God-given right to be ruled by the President you had yourselves
elected. These soldier-politicians introduced into our body politic, a
concept hitherto unknown to our political lexicography, something
strangely called the “annulment” of an election perceived by all to have
been the fairest, cleanest and most peaceful ever held in our nation.
“…My hope has always been to
arouse whatever remnants of patriotism are left in the hearts of these
thieves of your mandate, and to persuade them that they should not allow
their personal desire to rule to usher our beloved country into an ear
of political instability and ruin…
“Instead they have resorted to
the tactics of divide and rule, bribery, and political perfidy,
misinformation and (vile) propaganda. How much longer can we tolerate
all this? There is no humiliation I have not endured, no snare that has
not been put in my path, no “setup” that has not been designed for me in
my endeavor to use the path of peace to enforce the mandate that you
bestowed on me one year ago. It has been a long night. But the dawn is
here. Today people of Nigeria, I join you all in saying, “Enough is
Enough!”…Enough of military rule…Enough of square pegs in round holes…”
I recommend a reading of the entire declaration by all patriots in remembrance of Chief MKO Abiola. Google it. Read it.
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