IBB Tricked Abiola, by Enahoro

The Chairman, Pro-National Conference Organisations, Anthony Enahoro, described the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Bashorun Moshood Abiola, as a man of courage, despite what everyone might think.

Enahoro said that despite the harsh conditions under which he was detained by the military government of late General Sani Abacha, Abiola proved that he was not chicken-hearted.

Enahoro spoke in Lagos on Monday at a symposium by the June 12 Coalition and the June 12 Stakeholders to mark the 13th anniversary of the annulment of the election.

He said, "Eventually when things went wrong and he was in detention under Abacha, I had an occasion to request Abacha for a session with Abiola and this was granted. That was the last occasion on which I saw Abiola and I will always remember that as hideous and savage as things were for him, there was nothing chicken-hearted about him."

The elder statesman, who described Abiola's actions as historic, noted that the late politician represented the dreams of many Nigerians.

He added, "The Abiola chapter in Nigerian politics was historic in more ways than one, because he represented the dream of a new Nigeria and a modern Nigeria.

"It will forever be tragic because his dreams and the dreams of many Nigerians could not be fulfilled through him."

Enahoro also narrated how Abiola, before contesting the 1993 presidential election, sought his support.

He said that when he asked Abiola what gave him the assurance that he would win the election, the business mogul stated that Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), whose regime annulled the election, had assured him that he would leave office.

At another seminar to mark the annulment of the election in Lagos, a former Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Na'Abba, called for the investigation of members of the National Assembly who supported the failed bid to extend President Olusegun Obasanjo's tenure.

Na'Abba lamented that political offices had been personalised, a development he said undermined the constitution.

At the seminar organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, he said, "Absolute loyalty should be to the constitution and not to any political office holder.

"There is a need to empower Nigerians so that they won't bother about rulers but about the constitution."

The Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, described the annulled election as a "watershed of Nigerian political history."

In an address delivered on his behalf by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Dele Alake, Tinubu said it was ironic that the present Federal Government had done nothing to recognise the importance of the date.

Tinubu stated that the current democratic dispensation headed by Obasanjo was made possible through the June 12 struggle.

He said the defeat of the third term agenda was a signal that a good section of the Nigerian community had woken up to the dangers of misrule.

He added, "Nigeria has never been as rich in terms of revenue as it has been in the last seven years.

"Conversely, ironically and unfortunately, this is the time Nigeria has been the poorest in terms of living standards, in terms of comfort, in terms of infrastructure.

"This is the period that Nigerians have found it worse.

"What does that tell us? There is incompetence in the central leadership."

A former military administrator of Kaduna State and Secretary General of the Arewa Consultative Forum, Col. Hamid Ali (rtd), canvassed an independent electoral body.

Ali, who represented the ACF, stated that the spirit of June 12 was revived on May 16 this year when the Senate threw out the tenure elongation bid.

He said, "The current concern of most Nigerians is whether the Independent National Electoral Commission as constituted can conduct fair, free and credible elections with a minimum number of irregularities and without the usual noticeable degree of thuggery, manipulation and law enforcement brigandage that characterised the 2003 elections."

Ali further said that the chairman of the INEC, Prof. Maurice Iwu, should be screened and endorsed by the National Assembly and should be accountable to the National Assembly.

A member of Movement 2007 in the National Assembly, Mr. Uche Onyeagocha, said the defeat of the third term agenda by the National Assembly would make it the last attempt by any Nigerian leader to perpetuate himself in power.

The legislator reminded Nigerians that officials of the INEC who supervised the 2003 elections were still at their duty posts in the commission.

He said the commission would not be independent as long as it was funded directly by the Federal Government.

He added, "The 1999 Constitution must be amended if this country will have to move forward.

"There are too many issues involved in that constitution which, if not resolved, will not allow for the development of our country."

Also speaking, the Director, Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi, said the reason for the poor state of Nigeria was that the government was far from the governed.

Utomi added, "We now have two nations, the nation of the leaders and the nation of those led."

He said the challenge of the annulled election was in the invention of a new Nigeria where there would be accountability and transparency.

A former Director-General of the Centre for Democratic Studies, Prof. Omo Omoruyi, also cited the recent third term bid as an instance that showed that the administration was insincere about a handover plan.

Omoruyi said part of the fallout of the defeat of tenure elongation was the insistence of Obasanjo to use the succession issue to punish those opposed to third term.

Omoruyi noted, "The President now wants to install a successor who is a third termer and who would continue in his image. This plan will also suffer the fate of the ill-fated third term.

"Plans to use the governors he called thieves yesterday to commence the nomination process for his successor is a recipe for disaster.

"We are going to make the same mistakes of the past. We don't need reluctant leaders."

Others who spoke at the seminar included renowned professor of Philosophy, Mrs. Sophie Oluwole; and the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji.

Those present at the event included the Chairman of the Ohanaeze Transition Committee, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd); the President of the Oodua Peoples Congress, Dr. Frederick Fasehun; one of Abiola's widows, Teju; a former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Segun Osoba; and Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi.

In Osogbo, the Osun State capital, a group, the Committee for Democracy and the Rights of the People, called for the trial of a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

The group said Abdulsalami as head of the government then should account for Abiola's death.

Deputy National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Amitolu Shittu, who addressed the rally at Oke-Fia, said it was sad that what Nigerians were witnessing in the name of democracy was far from what was envisaged by those who laid their lives for democracy.