INDEPENDENT
June 13, 2009
June 12: Kingibe, Not Abiola, Reason For Annulment -Bafyau
By Lekan Fadeyi, Michael Jegede, (Lagos) And Yaqoub Popoola (Ado-Ekiti)
Former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Pascal Bafyau, has said the choice of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Baba Gana Kingibe as running mate to the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun MKO Abiola, rather than the popular belief that the former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, wanted to sit tight in office was the reason for the annulment of that election, believed to be the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history.
The former Labour leader, who spoke on “Impact of June 12 on Nigeria’s Democratic Experience,” in Ado-Ekiti at a public lecture organised by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to mark the anniversary of June 12, added that the failure of the late business mogul to honour agreement reached with the then top military hierarchy on the choice of his running mate cost him his mandate.
Stating his own version of the annulment saga, Bafyau said he was the person who dragged the late Abiola into the presidential race, claiming that Abiola never knew he was much popular.
The ex NLC boss said his action was based on Abiola’s posture as a patriotic and detribalised Nigerian, who has acceptability across ethnic and religious divides.
He, however, alleged that the late Abiola had a pact with the military top brass that he (Bafyau) should be made his running mate, only for Abiola to capitulate because of the alleged pressure from and preference of the governors of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) controlled states.
He said that the inability of the winner of the election to muscle the pressure from the then serving governors actually pitched Abiola against the military.
Bafyau said the action of the late Abiola at that time sent a wrong signal to the military circle, who then saw him as somebody who could not be trusted.
His words: “I was the one who convinced Abiola to vie for the Presidency. Even, when he was hesitant, I pressurised him not to entertain fear that he was going to win the election, because really, he did not know he was popular.
“He had a pact with the military to make me the vice presidential candidate, but pressure from his party made him change his mind overnight and that was the genesis of the crisis.
“All efforts (were made) to convince Babangida not to rubbish the good work he had done, having conducted the freest and fairest elections at all levels then, but he refused to listen because it was the resolution reached by the military top brass,” he said.
Describing the late Abiola as a political martyr, Bafyau said all efforts he made to secure bail for the late business mogul from the military resulted to naught, because he refused to sign the bail bond that could have guaranteed his freedom.
He said Abiola, being a patriotic Nigerian and well loved person considered the signing of the bail bond as a great disservice, dishonour and breach of trust to the entire Nigerians, who were on the street, protesting against the military oligarchs over the annulment.
“This man believed in the people. He refused to capitulate even when the ship was about to wreck, so that he would not disappoint Nigerians, who were risking their lives on the streets to protest against the military who were bent on subverting their will,” said Bafyau.
But the Action Congress (AC), in a swift reaction said Bafyau’s antecedent, did not place him in good stead to talk about the June 12 struggle, describing him as a sellout.
AC’s guest lecturer and governorship candidate in Osun State, Rauf Aregebesola, who was represented by the United Action for Democracy (UAD) leader, Comrade Abiodun Aremu, stated that it was on record that Nigerian workers suffered a great deal under the leadership of Bafyau, whom he accused of conspiring with the military to polarise the labour union.
Governor Segun Oni also in his speech said the election really broke the barrier of political intolerance in the country, saying the loser then, Basir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) did not behave as a bad loser.
“Both the winner and the loser of the ill-fated election were good Nigerians and we expect the politicians of today to follow this step.”
Prominent Nigerians have continued to lament what they tagged loss of nationhood and the opportunity to deepen the country’s democracy following the annulment.
“All other ones are either arranged by the military or that you get to office through rigged elections,” said Olisa Agbakoba (SAN).
First civilian governor of old Kaduna State and Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Balarabe Musa, said the opportunity for a new Nigeria that is nationally united through the subordination of the differences in the country was messed up by the annulment.
He stated that “the demand for free, fair and democratic elections that are capable of bringing about a legitimate government, a basis for peaceful development of the country which all came with the election, are still the things we crave for but have not gotten because of that mistake foisted on us by the military.”
Former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba said: “I have always told people around me that I am not optimistic of our political future as a nation. No light in the horizon, instead I see a thick cloud. I see that Nigerians are frustrated, in spite of their love for democracy, they have become despondent. They have lost interest in exercising their rights at elections.”
