JUNE 12, 1993: MY REMINISCENCE

By
Atonyesia Dimieari-Peterside

Having concluded my first degree programme at the University of Port Harcourt in 1992, I was posted to Borno State for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps programme. The night trip from Port Harcourt through Onitsha to Maiduguri was the longest, and of course, the most tiring land journey I had embarked on so far.

Arriving at the Orientation Camp situated close to the Station Kano (a popular motor park that the natives adulterated as "Tashion Kano" the next morning, I was greeted with hundreds of young faces struggling to get registered at the various registration points. Many loud speakers from the Mammy Market were churning out a cacophony of music, in an obvious determination to stamp their presence in the subconscious of the Corpers.

Registration done and bed space allocated. The early morning biggle woke us up to a new lifestyle. Regimented. Is this how it is? I asked introspectively. The sand dust. The ever-present Tsetse flies and house flies. The sizes of the house flies were scary. Never saw such before then. Inspite of these, everybody must come out for the drills. The various platoons exhibited healthy rivalry in their bid to excel. The endurance trek was an exciting experience. The fear of the Camp Commandant was the beginning of wisdom.

At the end of our orientation camp period, I was deployed to Government Girls' Secondary School, Baga. Baga is one of the towns in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. During the period, I taught students in Senior Secondary 1 to 3 English Language and Literature.

Some fascinating things about the school system there, I heard it's mostly so in the northern part of the country ( I stand to be corrected, though), is that students were not paying school fees - I don't think it has changed now. The school was a complete boarding school and the students were fed three times daily. As a teacher, you were not permitted to punish any erring student in your class; a staff, referred to as "SERGEANT" was assigned such responsibility.

As the build up to the 1993 June 12 Presidential Election continued, Corpers, were mobilised as ad-hoc staff. The training sessions at the local government headquarters were intense.

June 12 arrived. The collection of election materials was seamless. So much order. Baga, as a Ward, had ten polling units at the time, viz: Mile Four, Dabar Salta, Bunduraw, Baga Lawanti, Bujumari Daleye, Karumburi, Bulabulin, Bulama Adamti i, Bulama Adamti ii and Baga Viewing Centre.

Yours truly was the Presiding Officer for Karumburi Polling Unit. One of the locals, Dogo Bulama, was assigned to me as my Polling Clerk. He disappeared after ten minutes of our arrival and setting up at the unit. Did he come back? No, he didn't.

I was alone waiting for voters to come and cast their votes for their preferred presidential candidate. My regular companions were, however, the big house flies and some children, mostly almajeris, that came begging for alms with their outstretched unwashed plates. Where are the voters? I asked myself severally in utter frustration. And to think that the Karumburi Polling Unit had 1,870 registered voters on the list, heightened my anxiety and curiosity. Remember, there was no mobile phone then, at least to call the Supervisor, I, nonetheless, stayed calm outwardly.

For eight hours, I waited for prospective voters, and for eight hours, not a single voter showed up. Out of 1,870 registered voters on the list? Yes! Not a single one showed up.

By 3:52pm, it had become obvious that nothing was going to change, I brought out the sensitive materials to record my reports. I then noticed three men walked to me. I was startled, yet happy that I was about having the first set of voters, not minding that it was almost end-of-voting timeframe. No, my assumption was wrong. They did not come to cast their votes. They, rather insisted I entered the result in favour of Alhaji Bashir Tofa, the presidential candidate of the National Republican Congress (NRC). My plea for them to cast their votes was rebuffed. With some degree of tact and wisdom, I persuaded them to accompany me to the collation center, being the local government headquarters, where I assured them their demands would be met. They were disappointed at the end of the day

I turned in the result from the unit as National Republican Congress (NRC) Alhaji Bashir Tofa - 0 and Social Democratic Party (SDP) Chief Moshood Abiola - 0. When I was asked by some local and international observers at the collation center what transpired, I told them no voter showed up throughout the voting period. The expression on their faces was that of utter shock.

Days after, the General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida administration annulled the election for some unfounded reasons.