Still on importance of June 12

AS a participant in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO)-organised mass resistance to dictatorship and opposition to the annulment of June 12th 1993 presidential election in Nigeria, I would like to refresh your memories of the events that led to the formation of NADECO group, the vision, the truth and the cause of injustice as the whole world see it at that time and why President Muhammadu  Buhari’s decision to declare that day June 12th as Democracy Day will be highly appreciated by Nigerians. NADECO was formed by the middle of the year 1994 as a reaction to the flawed approach of a military dictator and in collaboration with some civilian co-conspirators to overturn the decisions of the Nigerian electorate to elect a leader of their choice. It was a bold move by some patriotic Nigerians to bring an end to military dictatorship and to reclaim the mandate freely given by the people of Nigeria on June 12, 1993 to Chief MKO Abiola not only to be the democractically elected president of Nigeria, but also to save democracy and the right of the people of Nigeria to freely choose their political leaders.

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I belong to Afenifere group of NADECO under the leadership of Adekunle Ajasin, Abraham Adesanya, Chief Bola Ige, Alhaji Lam Adesina, all of blessed memory; Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Ayo Opadokun and a host of other eminent Yoruba leaders that are  ardent followers of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. We used to hold monthly meetings at the residence of Chief Adesanya at Ijebu-Igbo at that time. These great, patriotic leaders co-ordinated efforts with other Nigerian patriots at home and abroad; they risked their lives to save democracy and prevent General Sani Abacha and his allies from getting away with their scheme of delegitimizing democracy. Members of our team from Oyo State include Alhaji Lam Adesina, Chief Michael Koleosho, Baba Jogunosinmi, OlujideAjao, Alhaji Muili Popoola, Tunji Amole,and myself. As ordered by the then military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, a presidential election was  held on June 12th 1993 to hand over power to a civilian president and ensure a return to democratic rule after several years of military dictatorship. It was reported  in the news at that time that the election was the best election ever held in Nigeria;it was an election that was devoid of thuggery and rigging. It was conducted by the National Electoral Commision  (NEC) headed by Professor Humphrey Nwosu.

Chief MKO Abiola won the election by a clear margin and Alhaji Bashir Tofa who contested against him congratulated him on winning the election. It was later reported that a total of 14,293,396 votes were cast and Chief MKO Abiola the Social Democratic Party (SDP)  candidate,  got 8,341,309 votes while his opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa the National Republican Convention Party (NRC) got 5,952,087 votes. However, we woke up the following morning to hear surprising news over the radio and television that the election result had been annulled by President Ibrahim Babangida and Nigerians were left in the dark as to why the election was annulled. Later, it was announced that an infamous group called Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) headed  and coordinated by both Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe, a second republic senator and a multimillionaire and one Mr. Abimbola Davies were the ones who pushed  for the annulment of the election.

Nigerians were very suspicious of the unfolding scenario; they believed that it was a scam being perpetrated by some very powerful Nigerians who always holding the country by the “jugular vein”. A couple of days after the annulment of the election, the scheme which the planners of the annulment of election result put in place started to unfold. It was revealed that Chief Nzeribe and Mr. Davies had gone to Abuja High Court on the eve of the election day to stop the presidential election claiming that there were irregularities and corruption in the conduct of SDP political party primary election won by Chief Abiola , according to the news , the court presided over by late  Justice Bassey Ita Ikpeme sat at 9.30 pm the same day the petition was filled and granted the request of the petitioners that the man who won the freest and fairest election was elected at the party primaries via corruption, and General Babangida used that as an excuse to annull the election result. That decision put the country in a turmoil  and led to series of changes in the rulership of the country, as power brokers continued to play their games under cover.

General Sani Abacha took over the rulership of the country suddenly in another military coup on November 17, 1993. Prior to Abacha’s sudden  appearance, it was Chief Earnest Shonekan who was the interim/transition president of the country pending the resolution of the annulment crisis. However, General Abacha, the Minister of Defense under Shonekan, suddenly took over from Shonekan and announced to Nigerians in a nation-wide broadcast that Chief Shonekan resigned because of the stagnant nature of his government and his inability to manage the democratic process in the country.

In order for Abacha to have absolute power required for effective dictatorship, by the month of September 1994 , he used a decree to place his government not only above the jurisdiction of the courts but  also with the power and right to detain anyone for any reason for up to three months without trial. The annulment sparked off massive protests by people across the  country and eventually draw the attention of the International community to what was happening in Nigeria at that time. On June 11, 1994, a year after that democratic election, Chief Abiola declared himself president of Nigeria and went overseas. Shortly after, he returned to Nigeria and was arrested by General Abacha on June 23, 1994 and detained under house arrest for four years, then died under mysterious circumstances on July 7, 1998. From this brief history, the question of truth and justice on the part of Nigerian military leaders continues to agitate the minds of Nigerians. The incident was not only an injustice to Chief MKO Abiola but also to millions of Nigerians who voted for him at that election.

Based on oral and recorded history, it has been the inactions of those who could have acted , the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it matters most that has made it possible for evil to triumph, besides it is a fact that the world is often in a great peril from those who tolerated or encouraged evil than those who actually committed evil, and much more , when we do not have the courage to defend our right , then we unconsciously choose to lose our dignity.

The Yorubas in the west have a culture of democratic rule ever since the time of Oyo Empirewhich embraces the system of check and balance on the rulership of the people.

This is the background of the boldness of these patriotic leaders to mobilize other Nigerian patriots at home and abroad to form NADECO who synchronized their energy and unbending courage to stand up to Abacha dictatorship and encouraged Chief MKO Abiola to claim his mandate freely given to him by millions of Nigerian voters who choose to embrace democracy.

The courageous Nigerian patriots under the leadership of Baba AdekunleAjasin quickly recusitated the highly sophiscated democratic politics of Western Nigeria and take up the leadership role not only to sensitize but also to mobilize all Nigerians for organized mass resistance against dictatorship by first organizing a group of 17  people of one person per each of the 17 states in Nigeria that time which was called “G 17” and which was subsequently upgraded to 34 members by increasing representation in the group to 2 members from each state which was called “G 34” that group composes a broad coalition of Nigerian democrats and conservatives who then made a courageous call on that Government of General Sanni Abacha to step down for chief MKO Abiola who won the June 12th 1993 presidential election . It was indeed a very dangerous and fearful time for people to voice their decent against military dictator as military assasins were made to run after and  assassinate people who ever get bold enough to question their authority, however NADECO was determined to confront General Sanni Abacha and his allies scheme to delegitimize democracy in Nigeria.

Military dictatorship is born from power of gun and so it undermines the concept of the rule of law and gives birth to a culture of might, a culture of weapons, violence and intolerance and in addition breeding an environment of fear and terror, dictators know that when we  are afraid , we lose all our senses of analysis and reflection, our fear has always been a driving force behind all dictators repressions , by this principles General Sanni Abacha sent his hit men to assassinate a number of fearless Nigerian Patriots who dare to challenge his authority ; Mrs. KudiratAbiola  the wife of Chief MKO Abiola was assassinated by day light on a Lagos street on June 9th 1996, an assassination attempt was made on Baba Abraham Adesanya , a prominent leader of ofAfenifere group of NADECO at that time.

In October 1997, when   Baba AdekunleAjasin died, the Afenifere group of NADECO planned a befitting  burial ceremony for this patriotic leader in OWO his home town in Ondo State where he was buried, his burial ceremony was planned to show not only Nigerians but the whole world that Afenifere was in full control of the people of Western Nigeria at that time despite Abacha terror against their leaders and that the people of Western Nigeria are fully behind their leaders, but the fear of Abacha terror interfere with that burial plan as many of the local government political leaders that aligned with Afenifere were afraid of offending Abacha by publicly identified with NADECO leaders  because Abacha told the whole world that time that all Nigerians peoples were  behind him and his dictatorship agenda, for example some very popular Yoruba cultural group that were arranged to grace the occasionwere scared from attending that burial ceremony, myself and Chief Bola Ige was involved in mobilizing a popular “Gelede” group from Ijio, Iwajowa Local  Government of Oke Ogun in Oyo State but the fear of Abacha terror prevented the group from attending the burial ceremony, remember sources of local governments are always from federal government revenue allocation account.

In one other instance of terror Alhaji Lam Adesina another leader of NADECO  was detained on the order of General Sanni Abacha at Agodi Prison in Ibadan at that time I went to the Prison to see him to inquire of what happen, I was surprised when about five fully armed police men and prison officers  escorted him to the visitor reception area of the prison to see me, I was highly terrified that day and only told Alhaji Lam to have faith and the will of God will prevail, he was eventually released,  it was also this same time that Chief Bola Ige was detained in    Jos Prison, when he was released from prison I visited him in his Bodija  residence when he narrated to me how they tricked him to come for a meeting in Abuja, and on getting to Abuja he was asked to sit in a room and kept in that room for hours when they told his family members that are waiting for him outside that they should leave because the meeting will take a while after they  send his family members away then they took him to Jos prison, he was later released from prison. These are some of the horrors I can recall that Abacha and his accomplice used to disarm the highly determined NADECO leaders and strengthen his dictatorship. I am sure several other NADECO associates must have been humiliated for been member of that group.

Abacha and his allies knows that the fastest way to dumb down a population is to scare them, but dictatorship of the few instead of the initiatives of the millions cannot produce a happier and or a more prosperous society,  it is  a fact of life that sacrifice is sometimes painful when life is devoid of purpose, but when you live  for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then sacrifice becomes a labour of love, clearly for NADECO at that time it was a case of “ALUTA CONTINUA” the struggle continue.

NADECO leaders believed that to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respect and enhances the freedom of others,  the leaders of NADECO believed that the  secrete of freedom lies in educating people , whereas the secrete of tyranny is keeping them ignorant, also they believed that patriots blood is the seed of freedom tree, that freedom can never be voluntarily given by the oppressors, it must be demanded for by the oppressed, that patriots who are not ready to die for freedom will put the word freedom out of their vocabulary, NADECO boldly encouraged Nigerians not to bend their back, as  a man cannot ride you unless your back is bent for him to ride you. When people’s freedom are taking away from them , their peace of mind is equally taking away because no one can have peace of mind unless he has freedom.

Nigeria freedom from various dark forces has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished  at a cheap price to the self desire of a dictator, the NADECO members were inspired by the fact that when we exposed ourselves to our  deepest fear, then we render fear powerless and consequently the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes then we are freed and of equal importance is the fact that that if people who cherished freedom, who knows the importance  of mutual respect are not ready to speak out at such crisis time , to be more committed and visible , then we can expect sad and painful tomorrow. One other important fact anchored by the event of June 12th 1993 on the history of Nigeria is that truth never pleads or compromises or waivers, it invite and await our acceptance, some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up, and decorations, however as time goes by what is true is revealed and what is false and fake fades away., In real life sometimes clouds and darkness do surround us , yet heaven is just and the day of triumph will surely come when justice and truth will be vindicated, though sometimes the wheel of justice grind slowly .

It is an important fact of life that justice is conscience of the whole humanity , and those who clearly recognized the voice of their own conscience usually recognizes the voice of justice, I believed President MuhammduBuhari not only recognized the voice of his own conscience but also the need to act according to that voice by declaring June 12th a  memorial day,  this apart , to have a recognition of the parts you play  while alive by the highest authority of your country is a great achievements, the parts played by NADECO leaders in the history of freedom of Nigerians to choose their political leaders should never be forgotten in the history of Nigeria and much more,  though Chief MKO Abiola may be a multimillionaire during his lifetime, the parts he played in the June 12th 1993 election will place him in a higher level  in the history of Nigeria.

• Chief Atanda is Asiwaju of Isemi-Ile, Oyo State.