Every major anniversary celebration has become a ritual in chronicling all that has failed in Nigeria. Year after year, things continue to go from bad to worse. Lamentations are, therefore, not just inadequate, but inappropriate for a time like this. On the 21st anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election adjudged the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria, and which was annulled by the military in a streak of authoritarian madness, the scars are still deep and healing is far from complete. A traumatized nation, poised then for a real taste of joy, still reels in the pain of a cruel and unnecessary abortion. It was probably the most wicked act perpetrated against this nation by then military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida.
On June 12, 2014, some eminent Nigerians took time to reflect on the significance of June 12 and stressed it was a watershed in Nigeria’s history since primordial considerations were jettisoned and instead, the people voted for peace and unity. Those who spoke at a public lecture to mark the 21st anniversary of June 12, organized by the Lagos chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), included former Transport Minister and PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) member, Chief Ebenezer Babatope; Afenifere spokesman, Yinka Odumakin; Kwara governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed; his Ogun counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Chief Olu Falae. The leaders further urged peaceful co-existence and unity, stressing, that was the only way to keep the memory of the acclaimed winner of the June 12 poll, the late Chief MKO Abiola, alive.
The reflections centered on the disgraceful action of General Ibrahim Babangida, who annulled the election and the long-term implication it has had on the polity. It is just enough to say that with that singular action, Nigeria succeeded in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and the nation’s manifest rendezvous with glory was halted by a mindless dictator. Twenty-one years on, there is democracy, but true democrats are hard to come by. Elections have been held, but the will of the people has not had the kind of expression it had on June 12, 1993. Leaders have come, but none has come free of religion or ethnic baggage as was the case on June 12, 1993. The result has been a Nigeria still questioned by many Nigerians; a nation full of promise but still in doubt of itself.
June 12 was certainly a milestone in Nigeria’s quest for its true identity. It was the epoch in the struggle against military rule and the return of democracy. It was the manifestation of the hopes and aspirations of all Nigerians to be governed by leaders chosen on the basis of democratic principles. On that day in 1993, Nigerians also said goodbye to parochialism and primordial considerations that had governed the country. An all-Muslim ticket was not seen as an incongruity; but simply as a Nigerian ticket. Nigerians voted for Abiola and Babagana Kingibe, despite their religious affiliation, in a classic statement of an end to the usual appeal to base instincts and the dawn of a New Nigeria. Indeed, a new nation was being born in which there was one ethnic group: Nigeria and only one religion: Nigeria. But the Nigerian military led by Babangida annulled that great movement of history and pulled Nigeria into the abyss of despair in which it still gropes today.
Authoritarianism returned to the polity with a vengeance when the people vehemently sought the actualization of their will. A bestial culture of impunity again seized the foreground and in the process, a once united country was bifurcated along Muslim-Christian, North-South and East-West divides. General Sani Abacha, who seized power in the ensuing anomie, placed Nigerians under siege. The rights of the people were trampled upon under the jackboot of military despotism; many Nigerians were jailed and others were extra-judicially executed. A reign of terror was unleashed on the land. Alfred Rewane and Kudirat Abiola, wife of MKO Abiola, among many others, were felled by assassins’ bullets. Numerous others bore the scars of attempted assassination by state agents. Newspapers were shut down and Nigeria became a pariah nation, under multilateral sanctions. The ills of military rule were met with a corresponding resistance from a heroic people who demanded that the soldiers should leave the political scene and return to the barracks.
It was, of course, the struggle to revalidate June 12 and end military rule that ushered in the current civil dispensation in the country. The current President who was nowhere near the frontline in the battle for democracy should, therefore, realize with humility that it was the epochal struggle, which began on June 12, 1993 that gave birth to the political space he currently occupies. It is this strong sense of history that has made many Nigerians to continuously mark June 12 yearly. The same sense and strength of history is behind the call to recognize June 12 as the authentic Democracy Day. Unfortunately, successive governments, reaping from the sacrifice of June 12, have not been imbued with that much sense of history, let alone grace to trace their source to June 12.
The Nigerian government, however, cannot continue to labor under a silly illusion. It is high time the government immortalizes the symbol of June 12; not through a dubious renaming of the University of Lagos after Abiola, but at the very least, recognize him as a martyr of democracy and acknowledge him, as a President-elect. And, in the face of many national challenges, including abject poverty of the masses and insecurity of lives and property, today’s leaders will do well to assuage the desire that won the June 12, 1993 election by running a better government and acting in ways that could earn them the trust of all Nigerians. Else, like the military dictators of old, they too would, sooner or later, be consigned to the dustbin of history.
After many false starts, dashed hopes, and perennially low expectation, now is the time to change direction. We need to reset the agenda for the country, to lift the conversation from the mundane level where it currently resides. And this can only be done by a new kind of leadership. Such leadership must be driven by a sense of urgency to correct the contradictions in the land, to infuse hope and purpose in the citizenry. It is a different culture of leadership that will galvanize the country in a totally new direction, and place emphasis rightly on the overall interest of the Nigerian people, not the temporary occupants of high offices. June 12 was the benchmark for integrity and due process and to return to stability and development, Nigeria must revert to the principles that define June 12.
