Sule Lamido, A former Jigawa State governor, who was the National
Secretary of the defunct Social Democratic Party, speaks about the
annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election among other
national issues with JOHN ALECHENU
The former Secretary-General of the National Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria, Frank Kokori, accused you
of abandoning the struggle to actualise the June 12 mandate.
Now, where was Kokori in the power equation of the South? He came
on board during Babagana (Kingibe)’s chairmanship, when I was the
chairman of Kano State SDP. When I became the party’s National Secretary
under Chief Tony Anenih, Kokori had lost out. He was nowhere near; he
didn’t even know what was happening in the Social Democratic Party,
especially how June 12 was prosecuted because after the Babagana-led
executive was dissolved, Kokori simply went back and relapsed into
oblivion. It is part of this story of opportunism: people coming in to
latch in and exploit June 12, because they have found a way to re-invent
themselves. The annulment of June 12 was a pattern that had been
established, a continuation of a tradition of disqualifying candidates
to annulling conventions. It was the character of the transition. After
the annulment of June 12 (1993), I was called by the people who were
then holding forth and I made it very clear that we were through with
elections; we will only come back to it in 1996 because we ran an
election, you cannot annul it and say we should go back and hold another
one. They then told me the reason why they annulled June 12.
What did they tell you?
Depending on whom you are talking to. When (General) Murtala
(Muhammed) died, Abiola came in with a claim that he was owed, I think,
about N45bn for contracts executed by International Telephone and
Telecommunication for the Ministry of Communications. The military high
command at that time said no. He went round the Emirs in the North to
lobby and the emirs asked that they (military) should please pay the
money. They (military) said they cancelled the June 12 elections because
if they made him President, he would take his money and the country
will become bankrupt. Those who were close to Abacha should know this,
because Abacha was then one of the big shots; they were all aware. There
was this Bosnian war going on in Yugoslavia. I said sir; the Nigerian
people are very innocent. This is like the case of a Bosnian woman raped
by a Christian Serb who got pregnant. Yes, it is true that the
pregnancy is a product of rape but this is also my flesh and blood, I
cannot kill it. This (election) is my baby, my flesh and blood, I will
not kill it. I said so. We went through a process and expenditure, the
campaign, the Election Day and even the entire government machinery was
involved in the election which we won and you are now coming with the
excuse that you owed some money. That’s your problem. The baby is my
baby. Yes, it is a product of rape but I can’t kill it. At that time,
the Nigerian mood had been worked to go against June 12.
How?
There were organised rallies all over Nigeria even National
Republican Convention governors coming to support (Ibrahim) Babangida.
In the National Assembly, (Iyorchia) Ayu, who was the Senate President,
was impeached because of his stance on June 12. They put in Ameh Ebute
and protesters were mobilised by state governors to Abuja on solidarity
visits. I can also remember Hajiya (Abibatu) Mogaji was the arrow head
of the anti-June 12 rallies in Lagos. I remember her coming to Abuja –
because she was very close to Babangida – she brought women (protesters)
from Lagos to Abuja. I mean no offence. All the mallams and clerics,
Nzeribe and Association for Better Nigeria, all of them, they were all
there. When I say there was too much treachery, it is true there was.
Kabiru Rabiu from Kano and I went to Abiola. We saw him very frightened.
He told us they were coming to kill him. We took him in a car. We were
the only people he trusted in this world, Rabiu, a driver, and I, and we
sneaked him out of his house in a car. The story of June 12 is a very
sad history of political adventure. (Shehu) Yar’Adua felt betrayed by
Kingibe and he decided to punish him by instructing his supporters to
vote for Abiola during the Jos convention. The (SDP) governors
blackmailed Abiola into picking Kingibe as running mate. So many things
happened.
What do you make of the posthumous GCFR award to Abiola and the GCON given to Amb. Babagana Kingibe?
This administration has been on board for more than three years. It
never talked or thought about June 12. I think Professor Wole Soyinka
captured it very succinctly that for the time Abacha was there, Buhari
never said anything about June 12. He said by the time you were there
with Abacha, you never talked about June 12. How do you honour Abiola
and then praise his tormentor? It was a case of opportunism. Simple!
Nobody was consulted. Who were the key players at that time? Call them.
Call (Prof. Humprey) Nwosu, call Tony Anenih, call Tofa, and ask what
happened on June 12. You can then, based on very genuine premise,
instigate the process to make it more credible than opportunistic. The
people of Kano voted Abiola and rejected Tofa, their own son.
Northerners all over gave Abiola their votes against Tofa. We should see
June 12 as the sincerity of Nigerian voters. The North was able to vote
their son out to install Abiola. This government is simply acting on
instincts about elections; it is simply desperate for power.
You spoke recently about the growing culture of hate speech especially in the North. What were you driving at?
In the North today, we have preachers insulting each other because a
government has come with a culture of hate. Speak and the government
will come at you, barking and harassing you to keep quiet. If you speak
against any bad thing in the government – which is your right – they
will take it personal and say you are speaking against Buhari. He is
Nigeria’s President, like it or not. Whether I like him or not, he is my
President. Whenever I disagree with him, I will say sir, ‘I don’t
agree’, it’s my right. If you look at Buhari’s campaign speeches, they
are laced with hate. He was on record during the campaigns saying ‘in
pursuing my ambition, cast your votes and count them. Protect it. If you
are touched, kill’. He said it.
Some have said the PDP brand is so damaged that a change of
name is required and that governors Nyesome Wike and Ayo Fayose are the
people calling the shots. Is this true?
Before we went into the last convention, so much was said. Wasn’t
it? They said we couldn’t do it. They kept on whispering into our ear.
No matter what you are going to say, in any convention, there are people
who determine the outcome. There are factors; there are events and
there are circumstances. There are people who guide the circumstances.
There were elections in 2015. All of us in the North lost elections;
people in the South-South won their elections. They withstood all the
APC machinations and onslaught. As governors, they are supposed to be
visible. If my party were to be the one in Jigawa, my governor would be
very, very visible, but then, we lost out. So, naturally, those who are
very visible are those who won their elections in their states. For
prevailing against and surviving APC, you are now condemning them; come
on, you should commend Wike, Fayose and the governors of Enugu, Bayelsa
and others for having the capacity to win the elections against all the
machinations. Look at Rivers State, the killings and the maiming to
terrorise but they won the elections. If you say it’s all about Wike and
Fayose, whom do you want to guide us? El-Rufai? They were abusing us
when we were going for our convention. I told them to wait for their
own. They will be bringing ambulances to pick bodies. We saw what
happened during ordinary congresses. They will simply kill themselves.
If you become President, what would you do with June 12?
If I become the President, I will put it in proper perspective. I
will go into the archive and bring out the genuine results and if Abiola
is the winner, I will call INEC to announce the results and I will then
go through the process and make sure we pay the N45bn he was owed
because that was the main thing they said led to the annulment. I will
withdraw the honour given to Babagana Kingibe, because he doesn’t
deserve it. He betrayed June 12 and followed his kinsman (Abacha), going
by the tribal bond, to undermine June 12. They picked Abiola and locked
him up. I will put in place processes and procedure and see how best to
properly honour Abiola through due process.
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Via Sunday Punch