I didn’t annul June 12, 1993 election, I only cancelled it – IBB

Thursday, September 28, 2006 - By KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna
Former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, may have unwittingly stirred another controversy over the June 12, 1993 presidential elections with a declaration that he merely cancelled the elections, but did not annul it.

Babangida, who said that the cancellation of the election was spurred by the prevailing circumstances at the time, however, did not give reason for the action. He spoke on the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna.

Babangida admitted that the June 12 presidential poll was the freest, fairest and the best ever to be held in the history of the country, but said he had to cancel the result because of certain constraints.
“Elections were held and those of you in the media adjudged them as the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections in the chequered political history of the nation.

You (media) admitted it and the entire world also confirmed it. There was no crisis. There was no rigging whatsoever. It was the best election ever held in the country. It was something we have never had in the country during democracy,” he said, adding, "But it was not annulled. It was rather cancelled. We gave the reasons. We told Nigerians that we cancelled the election because of the prevailing circumstances then."

He submitted that the cancellation of the election should not be a basis for his disqualification from the presidential contest in 2007, saying that participating in the election was his legitimate and constitutional right.
Babangida boasted that his regime performed meritoriously by developing the country, a feat he said should earn him another opportunity to lead the country again.

"My government performed meritoriously in the development of Nigeria and I possess the leadership qualities to rule the nation again, because Babangida has been there before; he has tremendous experience and knows what is obtained to lead a nation like Nigeria.”
The former military president reiterated his ambition to contest the 2007 presidential poll, saying, "Insha Allahu, I will definitely contest on the platform of my party.”
He did not, however, mention the party, but said that his presidential campaign machinery was already in place and that his attention cannot be diverted.

"I've a political party and I hope to go only with my campaign on the platform of the party. That's the first thing. Right now, my attention is on this and there are so many of my supporters in the country," he explained.

Asked whether the probe of his elder son, Mohammed, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will not affect his presidential ambition, he said: "It may interest you that my son went to EFCC out of his own volition and he answered all the questions put to him to the best of his knowledge."

Babangida further debunked a widespread speculation that the relationship between him and President Olusegun Obasanjo has not been cordial.
"People are entitled to their own opinion. My own understanding of the relationship between me and the president is that it has been cordial. Don't forget that we were in the Army together and he was my senior. Up till now, I have respect for him," he said.

IBB Justifies Annulment of June 12 Elections
By Leon Usigbe, Vanguard Daily 24 October 2000
Kaduna—Former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has observed that his annulment of June 12, 1993 election elevated many Nigerians to their current positions of prominence in the polity.
He spoke on the Hausa Service of Voice of America (VOA) which was monitored in Kaduna yesterday.
Gen. Babangida said “it is seven years after the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, yet people keep asking me about it in spite of enough answers I have given.”
“But you will find out that it is just a group of people who feel aggrieved by the annulment of the June 12 presidential election.”
“If it were not for the annulment, what would have been their positions today?”
“June 12 has served as a key to open the door for many Nigerians in positions of authority today.”
“These beneficiaries of June 12 annulment are not being fair to me.”

IBB‘s Special Adviser on Media, Prince Kassim Afegbua said it was to save the country from a major crisis. ”There were security reports, which indicated that it was not safe to hand over power to the late Abiola because he lacked the capacity to lead the country.”

In his broadcast to the nation on June 26, 1993, IBB had given us the reasons why the election was cancelled. Among all the fabrications in that speech, one was particularly nauseating: ”There were cases of documented and confirmed conflict of interest between the government and both presidential aspirants”, he said, ”which would compromise their positions and responsibilities were they to become president”.

For the first time since the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late business mogul, Bashorun MKO Abiola, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, has given a reason for the annulment. He said he was compelled to nullify the election because of security threats to the enthronement of a democratic government at the time.

Babangida made this disclosure yesterday on a TV programme, Moments with Mo, anchored by Mo Abudu and broadcast on MNet channel of DSTV.
Babangida, who described the annulment as “unfortunate” and revealed that he would launch a book on the saga next year, said having been on the steering wheel of government at the time, he and the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) knew that the new democratic government to be installed would sooner than later be toppled through another military coup deta’t, which he said his government wanted to avoid.

According to him, his regime had decided that it would be the last administration that would ascend the seat of power through coup, adding that it would make no sense to install a democratic government that would be truncated within another six months.

He, however, admitted that the June 12 presidential election was free and fair and also the best of all elections ever conducted in Nigeria’s history.
“June 12 was accepted by Nigerians as the best of elections in Nigeria. It was free and fair. But unfortunately, we cancelled that election. I used the word unfortunately, for the first time. We were in government at the time and we knew the possible consequences of handing over to a democratic government. We did well that we wanted ours to be the last military coup deta’t. To be honest with you, the situation was not ripe to hand over at the time.

“Forget about the wrong things that happened in politics. The issue of security of the nation was a threat and we would have considered ourselves to have failed, if six months after handover, there was another coup. I went through coup deta’t and I survived it. We knew that there would be another coup deta’t. But not many people believed what we said. They could have allowed me to go away and then they (coup plotters) would regroup and stage another coup. This is how coups are staged - one man will always come to complain. And he will try to convince you about his complaints,” Babangida said.
He said security threats to the advent of democracy at the time culminated in fresh plans to conduct another election within another six months after June 12 annulment, with better strategy, but which he said he could not achieve as a result of the hostility which accompanied the cancellation. According to him, another election was conceived to come up in November 1993.

He revealed further that he was determined to conduct another election which culminated in the constitution of an Interim National Government (ING), which he noted was eventually toppled by a military coup staged by General Sani Abacha.

Babangida implied that what happened to the ING was eventually the fate that would have befallen the civil rule which his regime would have handed over to.

The former military president said the whole concept of his regime’s plan to hand over to a civil government was aimed at effecting a lasting change which could put paid to rigging. This notion, he said resulted in the decision to register only two political parties, the Social Demoratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). “When there are two things, you have an option – this or that or nothing. We tried to regulate the number of political parties. We knew what to do,” he said.

Babangida, who expressed fears that his revelation might put him in trouble, was not categorical about his presidential ambition come 2011. Instead, he played around it, saying he was not getting younger, adding that he would rather make himself available to make certain corrections whenever he deems fit.

June 24, 1993
By KENNETH B. NOBLE,

The Nigerian military Government today annulled the presidential elections held 11 days ago and abandoned its promise to hand power back to elected civilians anytime soon.

The announcement was made in a decree signed by the military leader, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who said "these steps were taken to save our judiciary from being ridiculed and politicized locally and internationally."
But Western diplomats and opposition figures in Nigeria, interviewed by telephone from here, dismissed General Babangida's excuse for canceling the elections as a duplicitous attempt to wrap in legal terms what is, in effect, an indefinite extension of military rule.

For one thing, the general's critics said, the military authorities tightly controlled virtually every aspect of the planned transition to civilian rule. Not only did they limit the number of legal parties to two -- the right-of-center Republican National Convention and the left-of-center Social Democracy Party -- but they also named them, wrote the parties' platforms, appointed senior party officials, provided campaign funds and even built thousands of party offices.

"The military has only themselves to blame for this mess," said a Western diplomat with extensive experience in West Africa. He, like many Nigerians, said an orderly transition to civilian rule was doomed from the start because the military authorities were not genuinely committed to the process. Suspend Electoral Commission

In the brief announcement today, General Babangida also suspended the National Electoral Commission, which, since multiparty elections were first announced in 1986, has been the main governmental body responsible for restoring democracy.

The presidential elections, held on June 12 in Nigeria's 30 states, involved chunks of land that are in many instances more populous and wealthy than many African nations. Roughly one out of every four black Africans is a Nigerian.

And although voter turnout was light by past standards, there was no evidence of the violence and vote-rigging that marred the last round of balloting, nearly a decade ago. Foreign observers generally described the elections as free and fair.

Nonetheless, the election results had been delayed after a spate of legal challenges in the Nigerian courts. By most accounts, the most significant lawsuit was brought on behalf of the Association for a Better Nigeria, a lobbying group of wealthy businessmen, politicians and military officers who had led a highly visible campaign urging General Babangida to remain in office at least four more years.

The association had charged that the transition to civilian rule had already been compromised by widespread vote tampering and corruption. Last week the association won a court order restraining the National Electoral Commission from releasing final election results. The military authorities said today that the profusion of court cases had made a "ridiculous charade" of the elections that could eventually "culminate in judicial anarchy."

The nation's ruling body, the National Security and Defense Council, which includes General Babangida and other senior military leaders, met this morning and will meet again on Thursday.

There was no immediate reaction to the cancellation from Moshood K. O. Abiola, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, who held a sturdy lead over his opponent, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention, before counting was halted last week by the National Electoral Commission.

Tonight, according to reports monitored here, Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, was calm. Criticism From Soyinka

But leading figures in the country, including Wole Soyinka, a writer and an opponent of military rule, have warned that further attempts to block the transition to civilian rule could plunge the country into anarchy.

"A very tiny but powerful cabal is toying with the future of our nation," Mr. Soyinka said in a statement. "Any further delay in making the people's verdict official is a deliberate cultivation of chaos."

Gani Fawehinmi, a lawyer and human rights worker, said in a statement: "The nation is in danger. It is abundantly clear that the military government is leading Nigeria into a political crisis of immeasurable, chaotic proportions."

The military has been in control in Nigeria for all but nine years since the country gained its independence from Britain in 1960.

It remains to be seen how Nigerians, especially those from the Yoruba ethnic group in the populous southwest, will react to the cancellation. Many Yoruba have long resented the domination of Nigeria's political life by the mostly northern Hausa-Falani ethnic group, and were ecstatic when one of their own, Mr. Abiola, appeared to have won the recent balloting.

Moreover, there is a pervasive sense among Nigerian Christians that the military authorities favor the northern Islamic groups, who make up about half the country's 90 million people. Under Maj. Gen. Mohammed Buhari, General Babangida's predecessor, Christian schools were taken over by the state, and permits to build churches were held up while the construction of mosques increased.

Photo: Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the military leader of Nigeria, announced the annulment of the recent presidential election. (The New York Times)