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The Contrasting Irony of the Cancelled and the Un-cancelled Elections By Babandi Gumel Fourteen years back to be precise June 12 1993 Nigerians witnessed one of the most free and fairest elections ever conducted in the Country which saw Chief M.K.O Abiola of the SDP and his Vice Presidential Candidate Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe now Secretary to Government almost nearly installed to power. There was scene of jubilation as the result filtered as most Nigerians were so happy and upbeat with the result. Unfortunately as fate struck the election was cancelled there and then by the then Military Leader General Ibrahim Babangida. People were so angry with the annulment of the result which saw wave of protests in various parts of the Country almost engulfing the whole Nation causing chaos to near anarchy. After installing an interim Civilian Government under Shonekan a Yoruba from the same place with Chief Abiola in order to appease the masses Babangida was forced to step aside. However the people were neither impressed nor appeased and continued with the protest intermittently and incessantly without a break. This made it worse security wise making it more difficult for the newly installed Civilian Regime seen as puppet unable to handle the situation causing chaos. With laws and order on the brink of breaking down a new strategy had to be adopted. In order to rescue the Country from disintegrating by unnecessary chaos the Military under General Sani Abacha took over the mantle of leadership. With determination on one hand coupled with iron fist approach militarily Abacha threw the presumed winner of the election Chief Abiola to jail and started cracking on all the main oppositions. Among those jailed included the immediate former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and his Deputy Late General Shehu Musa ‘Yar Adua who unfortunately died in prison. Divergent contrasting irony of fate started to dawn on both the opposition and the ruling party which began striking them one after the other. After the death of Shehu Musa‘Yar Adua the brother of the current President Umaru‘Yar Adua then followed the sudden death of the former Military Leader General Abacha and within one month after his demise Chief Abiola about to be released by General Abdus Salam Abubakar the new Military Leader also joined the other two deceased leaving this world unceremoniously. General Abubakar released Obasanjo from the Prison and was persuaded to contest the election which he did. He won overwhelmingly with the help of voters from the North as his Yoruba kith and kins decided to turn their back against him. Interestingly thorough mobilisation organised mainly by Ibrahim Babangida helped Obasanjo to defeat a fellow Northerner another former General and Head of State Muhammadu Buhari seen as Arch rival of Babangida who engineered coup against his Regime (Buhari’s) in 1985.This caused bitter rivalry between the two which lasted for years. Obasanjo narrowly won the second term of the 2003 election regarded as fairly rigged against Buhari who took the case to the Supreme Court which lasted more than two years before deciding in favour of Obasanjo .Similar case is now in front of the Supreme Court brought by both ANPP Candidate General Muhammadu Buhari and the AC Presidential Candidate former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Coincidently Atiku Abubakar the newly self-appointed champion of democracy was the Vice President under Obasanjo for eight years until recently this year when their term came to an end. Initially Atiku and Obasanjo were so close but as time went on after the second term they became rivals sidelining Atiku forcing him to leave the Ruling Party cross carpeting to AC. It was unimaginable or even unthinkable for the Vice President who was always in the corridor of power to imagine or understand the suffering he underwent the kind of hardship Buhari and other opposition were going through for years. Atiku only understood this clearly when he was forced out of the Ruling Party which suspended him even could have been banned from the race altogether had not the Supreme Court intervened in his favour. Ironically he managed to sail through by the Court’s quick intervention after bitter struggle with the Ruling Party. Unfortunately the 2007 Election was massively rigged in favour of the Ruling Party by the former President Obasanjo who was alleged to have deliberately hand-picked ‘Yar Adua to be his anointed successor. Analysing the two contrasting periods one can say with certainty while the 1993 election seen as free and fair election meeting international standard unfortunately annulled by Babangida causing uproar among ordinary Nigerians the 2007 election massively rigged below any standard was on the other hand refused to be cancelled by Obasanjo despite pleas by ordinary Nigerians and International Election Monitors. Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe who was the Vice Presidential Candidate of 1993 election was in the fore front among those protesting against the annulment of the election this time around now he is the new Secretary to the Government of President Umaru Musa ‘Yar Adua which is yet to be recognised by many Nigerians. The Civil societies and the Labour Congress have already given the Government an ultimatum to rescind some of the previous policies which brought hardships to the people or face the wrath of the workers beginning this week. However behind door parley is said to be taking place between the government and the opposition but no concrete agreement has been reached. While Babangida cancelled the 1993 election despite all the protests ironically Obasanjo refused to cancel the 2007 deliberately in order to favour his PDP Ruling Party thus maintaining the status quo. The two former Generals in contrast Babangida and Obasanjo played game of rub my back and I rub your back. Babangida was believed to be behind the quick drafting of Obasanjo from prison to presidency as a consensus candidate for some vested interest. On the other hand Obasanjo was believed to have helped Babangida shelved his ambition of contesting the election therefore quickly recruited ‘Yar Adua prefering him to other former Civilian governors to succeed him for some unknown interest best known to the General. While Late Shehu Musa ‘Yar Adua inprisoned by the Late Abacha was among those who engineered Abiola’s victory in the 1993 unfortunately paid the supreme price dying in prison without realising or fulfilling his ambition. However his younger brother Umaru Musa ‘Yar Adua who was said to have no such ambition after his second term as Governor of Katsina State got the mantle of the leadership on a platter gold after the immediate past President Obasanjo favoured him. So while the 1993 election was free and fair uncontroversial and yet cancelled as it was not favoured by the then Ruling Party the 2007 election perceived as massively rigged and controversial yet not cancelled as liked by the Ruling Party the controversies surrounding the two contrasting foes common and uncommon are here for Nigerians to reflect. The only thing to remember every one would reap whatever he has done good or evil and would be accountable before the Creator tomorrow in the Hereafter So it is advisable for the leaders to be fair and just today they can enjoy but tomorrow they would give account. |