•Babangida and MKO Abiola
General Ibrahim Babangida, drew more fire yesterday from across the country over his public admission that the late Chief Moshood Abiola won the June 12, 1993 election.
Several key actors in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), including Oba Olu Falae, Dr. Amos Akingba and Olawale Oshun, dismissed Babangida’s latest stance as belated, reports The Nation.
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi said leaders should learn from the scenario, adding that the onus is always on them to take responsibility for their good and bad decisions.
Abiola’s daughter, Hafsat Abiola- Costello, said there was nothing new in what the former ruler said about the true winner of the election, although his brother AbdulMumini seemed satisfied that at long last Babangida “expressed remorse about the decision he made.”
Gumsu Sani Abacha, daughter of the late military ruler General Sani Abacha, chose to respond with cryptic messages on X apparently over the indictment of her father by Babangida for allegedly engineering the annulment of the election results.
Babangida also claims in his memoirs that Abacha plotted to violently overthrow his administration and had hatred for the late Chief Moshood Abiola.
In one of the messages on her X handle G_sparking, yesterday Gumsu wrote in Hausa: Allah baya bacci fa!! Muyi hattara da duniya wallahi (God does not sleep. We should be careful with this world, I swear).
Babangida, speaking at the launch of the book “A Journey in Service” in Abuja on Thursday, had described the annulment of the election as most regrettable.
“The nation is entitled to expect my impression of regret,” he said.
He added: “As the leader of the military administration, I accept full responsibility for all decisions taken under my watch, and June 12 happened under my watch.
“Mistakes, oversight and missteps happened in quick succession, but as I state in my book, in all matters, we acted in the supreme national interest so that Nigeria could survive.”
He acknowledged that his administration’s actions disrupted the nation’s transition to civilian rule but claimed that the country overcame the setback.
One of the sons of the late Chief Abiola, AbdulMunini, said on Arise TV yesterday that “I think it’s important that we understand that we’re human and it’s in humans to err and what we need to do is to acknowledge when we make those mistakes and seek forgiveness.
“So, for me, I think that was more important to me: the fact that he expressed that remorse towards the decision that he had made.”
Falae: NADECO knew that IBB committed error
Falae, who served as Secretary to the Federal Government and Finance Minister under Babangida, said pro-democracy forces knew that the former military president committed a blunder long before the Thursday confession.
Falae, who is now the Olu of Ilu Aabo, Akure, said he had no further reaction to IBB’s admittance of error beyond the reaction NADECO made 32 years ago.
Falae said the annulment led to a chain of events, including the persecution of activists, bombings and loss of lives.
He said: “What reaction again? We, members of NADECO, reacted 32 years ago when Abiola’s election was annulled.
“We formed NADECO in Gen. Adeyinka Adebayo’s house at Ikeja; 52 of us signed a memo demanding the de-annulment.
“It was the first time civilians would give a military government an ultimatum.”
Falae added: “The government started harassing us. I spent two years in detention.
“We made our comments 32 years ago. We rejected the annulment and we gave an ultimatum. We have nothing to add to that.
“Some of us paid the supreme price. We were detained. Some lost their lives. Some were exiled. Gen. Akinrinade’s house was bombed.
“We made our reactions 32 years ago. I have nothing to add to that.”
Leaders should not shun responsibility, says Akinyemi
Akinyemi, who was among NADECO chieftains who fled the country, said “the facts have spoken for themselves.”
“You take responsibility for decisions taken under you when you are the one on the seat of power,” he said.
“The decisions could be yours or taken by your lieutenants. You are the one who will sign it or refuse to sign it. If you don’t decline, it is your responsibility.”
Akingba: IBB messed up Nigeria
Eighty-seven-year-old Akingba said history will not forgive Babangida because he “messed up the country.”
He said whether he took responsibility or not, it is true that he annulled the poll and threw Nigeria into a nightmare.
Akingba added: “History will record that it was his own making. He has to live with it. The annulment led to the killing of Abiola, his wife and other people. That cannot be recovered.
“Abiola died. His wife died and many others who are not remembered again. If I had gone, nobody would remember me, except my family.”
Akingba said the reflection on the annulment should lead to the debate on the unresolved national question.
His words: “Nigeria should agree on a loose federation. But they wanted a unitary government. People are different. We are not one. We need to go back to the regions. They said they unified us. It cannot work.
“We are just roaming about the bush. Let’s have our Southwest Region, Midwest Region, Eastern Region, South-South Region, Northeast Region, Northcentral Region or Middlebelt Region, and Northwest Region, made up of people who have been together from time immemorial.”
Current leaders should learn lessons, says Oshun
Oshun, who was NADECO Secretary abroad, said no leader will escape from the demand for accountability.
He urged the current crop of leaders to be mindful of the decisions they take in power.
He said IBB cannot attribute that important decision to other subordinates because he was the leader.
Oshun, however, lamented that despite the confession, the damage has already been done.
He said: “We thank God that he has now owned up. Almost every Nigerian knows that the responsibility for that annulment was his own as the Head of State, irrespective of what Abacha and David Mark asked him to do.
“It is okay that he has owned up. The truth is that a lot of collateral damage, a deep one, took place. People lost their lives on Ikorodu/Lagos road and in various demonstrations that took place across the country.
“Even those of us who went on exile, the damage cannot be quantified. We must thank him for having the courage to take full responsibility. Nobody doubted he was responsible. But he was cowardly for not owing up.
“Writing the book is significant to him. All occupants of office – local government chairmen, governors, senators, ministers – one day would be called to account. It is a significant lesson.
“Nobody can escape the day of accountability when they will account for their actions and inactions. Those in government should behave well so that they will not come back to apologise in 20 years time.”
Okurounmu: Babangida is worried by conscience
Okunrounmu said the ghost of June 12 had hunted Babangida for 32 years, stressing that the former leader is troubled by his legacy.
Noting his decision to take responsibility, he said Nigerians who knew that he annulled the poll are no fools.
Okunrounmu stressed: “We knew all the time that he annulled it. May be he is being worried by his conscience now that he is close to his grave. He is worried about his legacy.
“I don’t think he is bearing full responsibility. He was saying the Emirs and Northern rulers then pushed him to do it. Then, he is still not bearing responsibility.
“Before, it was a different story. He said young military officers like David Mark said if he allowed MKO Abiola to be president, they would shoot him. Which is the true story? David Mark who insisted that Abiola should not be president or Northern emirs? He needs to clarify that.
“As president, the buck stopped at his desk. He should bear full responsibility. “
IBB’s annulment damage now history, says Agbakoba
A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), yesterday said he was not interested in General Babangida’s apology.
Agbakoba, a civil rights activist who fought the military as a leader of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), said what matters is for the country to move forward.
He said: “I am frankly not interested in IBB’s apologies as the damage is now part of Nigerian history.
“My focus is on how Nigeria can learn lessons and become a truly great nation.
“My policy therefore is to get behind anyone who is President of Nigeria to encourage him or her to place this great country where it truly belongs – one of the world’s great.”
Peterside: Are we supposed to clap for Babangida?
Founder of Stanbic Bank, Mr.Atedo Peterside, dismissed the IBB admission as a non-issue.
“IBB admitting, in 2025, that MKO Abiola won the June 12 Presidential elections in 1993 is as significant as him admitting that night follows the day,” he said on X.
Continuing, he said: “Are we supposed to clap because he told the truth after three decades?
“Am I missing something?”
We always knew my father won, says Hafsat Abiola
Hafsat in a statement yesterday said Babangida’s public admission that her father won the 1993 election does not change the pain and injustice suffered by her family and Nigerians.
She said: “When anyone mentions June 12, my mind always goes to MKO and Kudi. But June 12’s staying power was because the vote that Nigerians expressed that day was a vote for a better future and for unity.
“MKO may have been the symbol of the Hope ’93 campaign but June 12 was about more than one man; it was about the promise of Nigeria that would deliver for Nigerians.
“For those that kept expressing doubt that Nigerians had spoken so decisively on that day, I’m glad that General IBB’s admission that MKO won the election can now lay the matter to rest.
“It’s sad that such a galvanising statement as the breakthrough vote for MKO should have been truncated by an unjust annulment.
“But I will be forever grateful to both MKO and Kudi for not allowing their fears for their personal safety to stand in the way of the people’s desire for a better Nigeria.
“May such commitment endure.”
It’s healing to see IBB express regret – Abdulmumuni
Abdulmumuni Abiola, like his sister, said he already knew that his late father won the election.
“Even from the young age of eight when the elections were held, I knew my father had won the elections even before they were announced,” he said.
“I think the second part was more important for me: the acknowledgement that he felt remorse for the actions that he had taken at the time and also his expression that if he had the opportunity to do it again, he would have taken a different path.
“I think it’s important that we understand that we’re human and it’s in humans to err and what we need to do is to acknowledge when we make those mistakes and seek forgiveness.
“So, for me, I think that was more important to me, the fact that he expressed that remorse towards the decision that he had made.
“We now basically know that Abiola did win, and he won across Nigeria. We can talk about Abiola as the figurehead of the June 12 struggle, but what we need to understand is that the Nigerian people were the ones who gave him that mandate and they were the ones who believed in his vision. So, this is also healing for the Nigerian people as well to hear the head of state at the time say those words.”
Abdulmumuni reflected on how the annulled election impacted his life.
He said: “When we look at the events of June 12 1993, it brings up a lot of emotions for me. I remember after the election was annulled, I remember my father struggling to get his mandate, struggling to get justice for what he assumed was the wrongful annulment of the election.
“It proceeded for him to get arrested. He eventually lost his life. At the time when he had gotten arrested, my mom had come out and tried to get him released, and ended up losing her life.
“So, I know what was lost. I lost a companion in my mother, I lost a guardian, I lost a protector.
“I basically became an orphan based on that event or that era. You see, I’ve always lived a life, my father was one to always turn your other cheek, in my religion it talks about forgiveness.
“It talks about forgiving not necessarily for the perpetrator’s sake, but for your sake so you can actually move on.
“And I think that this was traumatic for the Abiola family, but it was also traumatic for the Nigerian people as well.
“You mentioned some of your colleagues, their experiences around that time and how they were so afraid. It was uncertain, the future was uncertain for a bunch of Nigerians.
“We lost a lot of great Nigerian people who felt that Nigeria was not redeemable and they left the country. There was a lot of brain drain in that period as well.
“So I know that there’s a lot of trauma that has come out, and I don’t think that there will be anything that can be said or done to alleviate that stress.
“What I’ve tried to do in my life and in moving forward, especially as you can’t change the past, but we can only focus on the future.
“I’ve tried to not dwell on it, I’ve acknowledged what had happened in the past, but not dwell on it and just try to see how I can use this anger, hurt, and frustration in a way that is productive and moves the nation forward.
“I think that we can all sit here and talk about all the things that have gone wrong, but we have a nation to run. And we have issues that are pertinent at this time.”
Gumsu Sani Abacha: God does not sleep
Gumsu, in a series of posting on her X handle @G_sparking, between Thursday and yesterday said: Allah baya bacci fa!! Muyi hattara da duniya wallahi (God does not sleep. We should be careful with this world, I swear).
In another, she just wrote ‘Weakling’, and in yet another one, she wrote ‘ABACHA’ with the emoji .
How Abacha plotted to overthrow my govt, kill MKO — IBB
Babangida in his memoirs also alleged that the late Abacha plotted to overthrow his administration and that the late military ruler had hatred for Abiola.
He labelled Abacha one of his biggest headaches during his unending transition programme to civil rule.
Admitting that though Abacha once saved his life and risked his life to ensure that he (Babangida) took over in1985, Babangida said the Kano born general was a complex character whose intention could not be easily understood.
He wrote: “Without question, one of my biggest headaches at this time was Sani Abacha. I knew that Abacha was ambivalent about a return to civil rule. But I thought, in retrospect now, naively, that he would support our transition to civil rule programme.
“As I said earlier, Abacha and I had come a long way. We were good friends, and he had indeed been nice to me. As I have said elsewhere, he saved my life once and also risked his life to ensure that I took over in 1985. I could never forget those details.
“But it’s also correct that he was a complex character. He was capable of bottling up a lot inside without giving a hint of where he was. And then, suddenly, the bottle bursts, and we begin to see a different person.”
He further said: “I obviously didn’t know everything about him! For instance, I was alarmed to discover that he and a handful of others mobilised negative opinions against me within the military, portraying me as the problem.
“That campaign was geared towards a violent military coup to remove me as president forcefully.
“But even more bizarre for me was my discovery of the loathing that Abacha had for the person of Abiola, whom I thought had a good relationship with him.”
