High Chief Lekan Alabi, the Maiye Olubadan of Ibadan Land, participated at an event in Lagos last Wednesday to mark Nigeria’s Democracy Day and the 31st anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd). At the event organised by the Coalition of Democracy Societies, Alabi, a veteran journalist and one of the protagonists of the struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country, read from his book, ‘June 12: Lest We Forget’. In this interview with ONYEDIKA AGBEDO, he reflects on the events of that time and Nigeria’s democratic journey so far.
You are one of those that participated in the struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country after the June 12, 1993 presidential election was annulled by the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Thirty one years after, how would you reflect on that incident and the events that followed?
Without being immodest, I was in the thick of the June 12, 1993 election by virtue of the fact that I was the founding secretary general of the MKO Abiola Dynamic Group with headquarters in Ibadan. I was also an executive member of another body called Association for Democracy in Nigeria (ADIN). Those two bodies campaigned for a free and fair presidential election of Saturday, June 12, 1993 in the old Oyo State; because Nigerians particularly the voters had gotten tired of the then self-styled military president of General Ibrahim Babangida (retd) political programme called Transition to Civil Rule after many years of military rule. Babangida was just shifting poles. He was banning and unbanning politicians at will. So, we told ourselves that if he meant well, if he were sincere about actualising what his government called transition to civil rule, why would he be playing Nigerians up and down?
So, our main objective was to appeal to Nigerians, politicians and voters, to keep calm and abide by the changing rules and regulations of Babangida’s military government. Lo and behold, Saturday, June 12, 1993 came and Nigerians had a peaceful election; the fairest. Nigerians on their own free will voted massively for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, the late Bashorun MKO Abiola. The results that were announced showed Bashorun MKO Abiola leading his opponent, Alhaji Bashiru Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). About three days after that election, we were getting from the grapevine, including sources inside Dodan Barracks, the residence of the military president, that the election result would be annulled. We said no; because the election was different in the sense that the electoral commission, the federal military government, the parties and the candidates complied with all the rules and regulations so the next thing should be the announcement of the result. When the announcement started trickling in, Abiola was leading by a wide margin only for the nation to be shocked in the national radio and NTA network announcement that the election result was annulled and that Babangida had given orders to the INEC chairman to withhold making public the remaining result. People were asking the big question:
