Annulled Presidential Mandate

Annulled Presidential Mandate

IN The first part of this serial on Abiola, I promised to comment on whether the renaming of Unilag after Abiola was proper. Well, i won’t do so again. The case on the subject is in court.

To comment on it, therefore, would be subjudicious.

In place of the issue, however I will write on Abiola’s annulled presidential mandate spotlighting how he was betrayed. No to brass tacks. The first person who stabbed Abiola at the back was Babangida, his supposed friend.

Both of them believe in the iron law of powerism: the rich few should always rule the majority through power batch succession. Invariably, Abiola was “promised” the 1993 presidency by Gen. Babangida while he was military president from 1985 – 1993. Trust, Abiola accepted the deal.

Remember, nevertheless Babangida told Nigerians that “ I know those whom we won’t succeed me even though we don’t know who would succeed us.” Yes unless a civilian president is endorsed by a military regime in the third world when soldiers want to leave power he can never win a presidential election put in place to anoint their successor.

That is the message of Fela’s track ‘soldier go, soldier come. In Nigeria’s peculiar case, Babangida only misinformed Abiola in words, deed and body language that he would hand over power to him. Babangida’s heart was with another candidate Bashir Tofa, his protégé. For this reason, Babangida had options A and B plans to undo Abiola’s election as president. Never, ignore a green snake!!

See Babangida secretly and initially deployed a lot of Nigeria’s commonwealth to ensure Abiola didn’t emerge as SDP’s presidential candidate in the June 13, 1993 election. Who – side. Abiola jumped and passed the obstacle option A plan failed.

No problem. Babangida dusted up option B plan. He annulled Abiola’s election claiming breaches and irregularities against the electoral laws of Nigeria. Ample evidence of them were captured by dedicated secret video cameras carried by secret service personnel planted by Babangida in SDP camp and, so, that is how Babangida’s script to prevent an Abiola’s presidency was choreographed with cinematographic artful flourish. A diabolic friend Babangida destroyed a trusting friend Abiola. Yes –o. If you no wan give person de food u chop remain, spit inside de food. Okpari – o. That is what Babangida did.

Also, the SDP betrayed Abiola viscerally. When the battle to consolidate his victory in the June 12 election was on from June 12, 1993 to July 22, 1994 when he was arrested and incarcerated the party never lived up to expectation. See all through this period, Abiola was left alone to lead the campaign to validate his mandate while the party stood a long distance behind him. Yet the party ought to be the arrowhead of the battle.

Had the SDP led the struggle, it would have been more difficult to crack the June 12 nut. For instance let’s assume Anenih, national chairman of the SDP, had assembled all the party’s 30 state chairmen and principal officer at Epetedo in Lagos to declare Abiola president. Government would have had its hands full arresting over 200 top party men including Abiola and trying them for treason. Indeed, it is hard to break a whole broom but easier to break a broom stick.

Matters would have been even worse off for the government if all the incarcerated SDP members decided to speak in one tongue, radical praxis of either “make Abiola president or kill all of us.

However, this scenario never played out. Abiola alone was left in the firing, front line of the titanic struggle for the SDP mandate. Come July 11, 1994 once more it was Abiola alone that took a ragbag, bruised retreating “army” of few SDP faithful and deceits to Epetedo where he declared himself president as if the mandate was not collectively owned by him and the SDP.

After this, government came after him. On July 22, 1994 they got him. The silver lining of his desperate, personal and lonely struggle for the SDP mandate began to peter away. A general has a cat’s invincible nine lives when he fights from the rear leading to war able – bodied, loyal troops. The SDP however ignored this fact. That is why it was so easy to steal Abiola’s mandate. On his part, too, Abiola’s SWOT analysis on the struggle was poor. It didn’t wash.

But this was the end of the matter. It turned out too that the 8,128, 720 Nigerians who voted for Abiola weren’t even prepared for the long war of the attrition to recover his mandate and, so counted votes didn’t count on SDP terms.

Enter the senate like today, its members did not provide moral leadership. Instead of standing up to be counted among SDP mandate warriors, they joined Babangida’s June 12 train. How? A majority of the senators, after collecting red envelopes and portfolio promises, removed Dr. Iyorehia Ayu, a pro- Abiola henchman, as senate president. He was replaced by Senator Albert Legogie a supporter of Babangida, who help also to dismantle Abiola’s mandate.

Some press men similarly worked for Babangida during the June 12 crisis. Fortunately, The NIGERIA OBSERVER in 1993 had a crop of fear less journalists which included Akido Shittu, Onaiwi Suleiman, Adekunbi Ero and my humble self who didn’t side with the Babangida forces. It is no wonder that, after considering the implications of our arrest and those of other principle journalists nation wide, Babangida settled for the closure of this newspaper in 1993 along with other ones defending Abiola’s mandate.

Can’t you see therefore The NIGERIA OBSERVER has what it takes to be a standard bearer of quintessential journalism? Not again. Today, the carpenter cannot get even a hammer and a nail for his work of roofing a housing estate.

No lamentation, please Dry bones shall rise, again God no day sleep. Dog no day chop kola but sleep no day catcham for night…

Remember again justices Bassey Ikpeme, Dahiru Saleh and Mohammed Saleh. They were all used to sabotage Abiola’s mandate. Also, most of Abiola’s kinsmen in the South West joined the group fighting him. Awoists in the group hated Abiola’s guts for disrespecting Awo. A highlight of Abiola’s “sin” was the rubbishing of Awo with his newspaper. The National Concord. Using as a point of entry what was termed Awo’s Maroko Scandal.

Much more of anti—Abiola’s South West posture. Late in 1993, Obasanjo screamed from Zimbabwe, where he went on a trip, that Abiola was not Nigeria’s expected messiah. Later, Chief Ernest Shonekan accepted to head the Babangida evil contraption called Interim National Government. Both Obasanjo and Shonekan are all from Abeokuta where Abiola comes from. A case of your own kinsman joining a “gambari” to flagellate you. A divided house can never stand the heat of an enemy.!!

Also, Sonny Okosuns, Shina Peter and other PMAN members abandoned Abiola for the Babangida and Abacha bandwagon working hard to destroy Abiola’s stolen mandate. Yet Abiola was their friend. Lateef Shofolahan, one of Abiola’s aid, betrayed Abiola also Shofolahan leaked out Kudirat Abiola’s itinerary which led to her assassination on June 4, 1996. How you are, says the Indian.

Finally, on July 7, 1998 Abdulsalami Abubakar government and an American team of “negotiators” led by a CIA agent Thomas Pickering gave Abiola an upper cut. During a meeting with them in ASO Villa, government offered Abiola a cup of tea. After drinking it, he died. End of script. His June 12, 1993 mandate was buried with that fatal stab on his back.