JUNE 12 remains a watershed in Nigeria’s history, the plinth on which the pillars of democracy in the country stand. The take-off point for Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, the June 12, 1993 presidential election produced Nigeria’s freest and fairest presidential election. As the country observes ‘Democracy Day’ today and 24 disappointing years of civil rule, Nigerians should recommit themselves to the ideals of participatory democracy, national cohesion, and the culture of mass action to compel accountability and good governance. Its heroes and martyrs should never be forgotten.
The election, won by the business mogul, Moshood Abiola, over his sole opponent, Bashir Tofa, was poignant in many ways. It broke the barriers of regionalism, ethnic particularism, religion, and sectarianism. It was Nigeria’s first major transnational mandate, facilitated by the military regime’s engineered two-party system.
“Free and fair elections,” declares the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, “are the foundation of democracy.” June 12 established that Nigeria too can have a clean democracy nurtured by free elections. Before and since then, elections in the country have suffered credibility problems. The ones of 1964/65 and of 1983 were so terrible that they each precipitated military coups and military dictatorship. Elections since 1999 have similarly often undermined faith in democracy. The 2023 elections were also marred by malpractices and violence, including the new, malignant one of voter intimidation and suppression.
But June 12 delivered relatively clean, transparent party primaries and a credible election where, despite the limited use of technology, ballots were counted in full view of all, and the results were announced there.
Barriers of religion were also broken. Abiola’s Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket received national backing – a far cry from the cynical, conspiratorial, and exclusionary Muslim-Muslim ticket of 2023 that has further deepened sectarian animosities. Three decades ago, citizens premised their electoral choices on the character of the candidates, their perceived competence and integrity, and the programmes of the political parties.
Regional voting patterns were upturned as the candidates won in certain regions outside their ethnic and regional bases. Abiola, a Southern Yoruba, won 19 states (out of 30), including the home state of his opponent, Kano (today’s Kano and Jigawa states) and the South-South states. Tofa, a Northern Kanuri, won in the South-East states. No other election has come close in terms of its pan-Nigeria acceptability.
Nigerians went to the 1993 polls with much hope. Unfortunately, those hopes were shattered by the cavalier annulment of the election. Up till today, the ‘annuler-in-chief,’ Ibrahim Babangida, has never fully explained to Nigerians’ satisfaction why he took that evil step. The annulment triggered protests lasting till 1998. Hundreds of people were killed by security forces. Now, elections hardly excite hope.
Protests over the June 12 injustice and state brutality were climaxed by the assassination of Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, in June 1996, and the mysterious death in detention of Abiola himself on July 7, 1998. The tree of liberty and democracy that Nigeria currently enjoys was watered with the blood of martyrs. They must never be forgotten.
Sadly, the annulment triggered a relapse into the country’s default mode of mutual hostility and suspicion among the major nationalities, regions, and faiths. Instead of rallying around the ideals to jointly fight for the restoration of the mandate, opponents reached into the divisive bag to drape the struggle for democracy and justice in ethnic robes.
June 12 offered other lessons. One is the pivotal role played by Abiola, the symbol of democracy, who was never allowed to take office but died in captivity. His charisma, the programmes of his ‘HOPE 93’ campaign, galvanised enthusiasm and raised hopes that democracy is achievable and can deliver beneficial dividends.
A major nugget arising from the run-up to, and annulment was the vibrancy of civic awareness and mass mobilisation of the people for civic action and peaceful protest. A non-profit, Open Democracy, explains that protest is fundamental for human rights democracy because it compels good governance, accountability and gives a voice to both the majority and minority.
The ‘Golden Era’ of civil society and mass action was spear-headed by heroic individuals, groups, labour unions, market women, students, journalists and the mass media. Nigerians braved the tanks and oppressive state machinery of two successive military juntas, the second, led by the brutal and thieving Sani Abacha, being more paranoid and murderous.
Many paid with their lives; others less well-known, endured torture in the hands of regime enforcers and years of imprisonment, yet others suffered destruction of their businesses, homes, and careers. Those who could, fled abroad through the famed “NADECO route,” the secret, improvised escapes through bush paths and forests out of the country to evade arrest or worse by regime goons.
NADECO – the National Democratic Coalition – an alliance of various groups, and NALICON, led by the legendary nationalist and elder statesman, Anthony Enahoro, and a slew of pro-democracy CSOs and outspoken clerics, raised civic consciousness, defied police/soldiers’ tear-gas, bullets, harassment, including phantom coup accusations, and trials. Bombs went off in homes and public places planted by regime agents. Bagauda Kaltho, a journalist, and Shola Omoshola, head of security at the Lagos Airport, were killed in bomb explosions in Kaduna and Lagos respectively.
Peaceful civil action is one of the cornerstones of a thriving democracy. Democracy is never won or sustained on a platter. South Korea emerged from decades of military rule and dictatorship because of protest actions by the people which toppled the brutal regimes. There, citizens still constantly hold the government and institutions of the state accountable. In 2017, South Korean protesters forced President Park Geun-hye out of office following a corruption scandal.
The people of Taiwan, by popular action and demonstrations, have achieved responsive and accountable democracy. From 2017 to 2019, Romanian protesters forced the government to backtrack on legislation seeking to protect corrupt officials. In 2016, Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, was forced to resign due to citizens’ protests over his involvement in the Panama tax havens. Nigerians, too, must rediscover the culture of regular popular pressure to sustain democracy.
Democracy has not delivered because Nigerians have left the field for professional politicians, moneybags, contractors, and their hangers-on. In 1999, the poverty rate was about 52 per cent, but 63 per cent of citizens now live in penury. Unemployment rate is 33.3 per cent. Nigeria has an out-of-school children population of 20.2 million. It is the world’s 15th most fragile state (2022), and eighth most terrorised (2023). The citizens are paying dearly for their lethargy.
Nigerians should rediscover their enthusiasm for democracy, and overcome the serial betrayals of the rapacious politicians. The relevant institutions should be compelled to organise clean elections.
There is another, perhaps the most important outcome of the June 12 struggle that Nigeria desperately and urgently must reignite: from it arose a renewed clamour for restructuring of the country into its natural configuration of federalism. Federalism promotes equality and participation. The American Institute for Economic Research says it allows for self-governance, resource control and for law and order to be provided locally.
Nigeria’s perverse centralised system is a one-way route to implosion. An alphabet soup of over 250 ethnic nationalities, diverse cultures, faiths, and worldview forced into a union by a foreign power must necessarily organise governance along the lines of federalism. The 1999 Constitution is only federal in name; in reality, it over-centralises power in the central government and weakens the 36 component states.
NALICON, NADECO, CSOs, the various regional and ethnic socio-political groupings, and professionals, led a popular agitation for a renegotiation of the union by the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference featuring ethnic nationalities and stakeholder representation to agree on how to govern the union.
Every administration since the birth of the Fourth Republic that arose out of the June 12 struggle has worked hard and treacherously to frustrate that goal. Olusegun Obasanjo, 1999-2007, stridently insisted while in office that “Nigeria is not negotiable.” Goodluck Jonathan, 2010-2015, dismissed the clamour saying that “a marriage of 100 years” (referring to amalgamation in 1914) cannot be negotiated. Muhammadu Buhari, 2015-2023, promptly repudiated his party’s campaign promise to trigger restructuring, saying that its advocates were incomprehensible.
To Buhari’s credit however, his administration legislated June 12 as Democracy Day and a national holiday, just as Martin Luther King’s birthday was eventually adopted as a holiday in the United States. Out of office, Obasanjo and Jonathan are now advocates of restructuring.
President Bola Tinubu was a major figure in NADECO and the June 12 pro-democracy struggle; he and his family were harassed, and he escaped arrest only by a whisker to flee into exile. In office, will he too abandon the dreams of democracy, good governance, and restructuring? He should not, but lend his office and influence on these ideals to quickly reset Nigeria to a true federation.
A majority of those who eventually became the chief beneficiaries of civilian rule were persons who actively worked against the actualisation of June 12, sat on the fence, or exploited it for personal or group gains. Many who laboured much for the struggle never reached the front seat when Nigeria attained the Fourth Republic. Nigeria therefore lacks true democrats in the most important public offices, including the legislatures. The true ideals of June 12 may remain elusive for now; but the date and dream will burn for long in the hearts of true patriots.
