By Raymond Nkannebe

Many Nigerians, including this writer still share the considered view that the decision by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration last year to post-humously recognise Chief MKO Abiola as the winner of the controversial June 12, 1993 election, was a red herring of sorts, or as some persons have chosen to describe it, a Greek gift.

Giving the timing of that audacious move, only a political neophyte would not see it’s political undercurrents. Since the mishap of June 12, the South West of the Country have not had a last word on the matter. It continues to feel betrayed and cheated after one of its own was denied the seat of the presidency in broad daylight. Not even the surreptitious enthroning of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the president of the Country by the military hierracy in 1999 was enough to placate frayed nerves in the West for whom the abortion of the June 12 election was a non-compoundable evil.

The day had thus taken a life of its own and at least two states in the western region observed it annually as a public holiday with state-sponsored activities dedicated to its commemoration. Despite all entreaties made to successive Nigerian governments by the Yoruba intelligentsia since the return of democracy in 1999 to officially decorate June, 12 in the pantheon of Nigeria’s history, same have met a cold reception by Abuja.

While the administration of Good luck Jonathan came close to that with its contemplation of conferring post-humous National Award to the hero of June 12, it was talked out of it by the Justice Belgore award committee who was of the view that national awards cannot be conferred post-humously.

Apparently not persuaded by the sentiments of the award committee, and perhaps determined to consolidate his electoral chances in the South West in the permutations to the recently held general elections, president Muhammadu Buhari saw a political millage within a serious national question: June 12 and decided in vintage Machiavellian fashion, to kill two birds with one stone: boosting his acceptance in the West of Nigeria by the act of conferring even if post-humously, the highest Honour in the land to the acclaimed winner of the June 12 1993 elections, Alhaji Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola on the one hand, and rising to an instructive pan-Nigerian feeling-the genie of June 12 which over the years had become a national affair.

And I think the commendations that followed that deft move by the Buhari administration, even amongst those who acknowledge that it was a political move, says it all.

Of course no one can water down what June 12 represents in the historics of Nigeria. Not only was it an election that afforded Nigerians the opportunity to choose their leader democratically after the truncation of the second republic, it was a missed opportunity for Nigeria to consolidate on her traditional nemesis of division along ethnic and religious lines especially on socio-political issues.

After the ethno-religious sentiments that gave birth to the revenge coup of July 1966 and the civil war that it precipitated, Nigerians never had the occasion to speak on an issue with one voice without being overtaken by ethnic or religious bias. But June 12 was going to change the narrative.

Abiola, a Yoruba of the popular Egba clan and his running mate— Babagana Kingibe, a northerner of the Kanuri stock, were both Muslim candidates on the presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and contested the June 12 1993 election against Alhaji Bashir Tofa; the Kano-born billionaire and his running mate, Harvard trained and Mbaise-born Sylvester Ugoh; who ran on the ticket of the National Republican Convention (NRC). It was the calculation of the NRC hierracy at the time that it’s more “balanced” ticket would give it an edge above the Muslim-Muslim ticket of its opponent, apparently in a bid to cash-in on the ethno- religious sentiments of the electorate.

But as it turned out, Nigerians on June 12 under the A4 Option of Prof. Humphrey Nwosu queued behind the Abiola-Kingibe ticket and just before the announcement of the result was aborted by the Babaginda Junta, Abiola had garnered a whopping 8,341, 301 votes ahead of his opponent’s 5, 954, 087 votes as unofficial reports put it before the annulment of the exercise. Not only that, Abiola was leading in 19 out of the then 30-state structure ahead of his opponent who managed 11 states. Instructively, Abiola won Alhaji Bashir Tofa in his home state of Kano. It was the first time a southerner would defeat a northerner in his home base.

And the message out of that was loud and clear. The electorates gave no hoot about the religious persuasions of the candidates. As one analyst put it, “it was a day that religion meant noting as far as who governs the country was concerned”. More than anything else, it was the “HOPE” for a better Nigeria that Abiola promised, that resonated with many Nigerians at the time, as it should be. But all of that was not to be. It is therefore from this sense of collective loss on the part of Nigerians who were all equal partners in the June 12 project, that it’s subsequent national appeal derives.

It is understandable however why the Yoruba have kept it closer to their heart. Not only was their son directly in issue in the political mishap, he would go on to die a very controversial death after prolonged incarceration by the Abacha junta and reportedly on a day he was due to be released. But beyond that, his beloved wife would also pay the supreme price following from her sundry activities in reclaiming the mandate of her beloved husband. It is along this context, I think, that June 12 remains an emotional affair for many Yorubas as Biafra is to the Igbo. However, that does not operate to take away it’s national allure, or make it a Yoruba-affair; hence why the signing into law of the bill marking June 12 as the official Democracy Day by president Muhammadu Buhari the other day, would go on after many years to become one of the remarkable acts of his presidency; to the extent that it was a move that struck at the chord of our journey as a nation.

Yet, it is not the mere commemoration of June 12 as Democracy Day that lays the ghost of Abiola finally to rest. That would be reducing the mysticism of the day. It must take a whole lot than the pomp and pegeantry that would pervade most government houses today to underscore the essence of June 12. As against being a day for outlandish celebration, it calls for serious reflection; not only on the life and times of the eponymous hero of the event, but also on the concept of democracy as a cherished system of Government in the 21st century and whether after 20 years of experimenting with Democracy, Nigerians could be said to have been given the “HOPE” the hero of June 12 promised.

In the United States for example, when the Martin Luther King day was declared, it was meant not just to honour him, but to uphold the principles and ideals he stood for as a champion of Civil Liberty whose campaign against racial segregation made America a better place. In much the same way, the celebration of June 12 would remain a cosmetic affair or another presidential pet project, if the ideals and values that go with it are not imbibed and internalised.

Without a doubt, two of those values stand out in the context of the June 12 election namely: free and fair electoral process and, the choice of leaders without recourse to narrow ethnic and religious considerations. Unfortunately, on both scores, Nigeria continues to wobble. The voting pattern in the last two presidential elections leaves a gory picture of a country deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines. Such voting demographics speaks volumes and portends a great danger for national cohesion. Certainly, those were not what June 12 looked like.

Away from the disturbing optics of the voting pattern in the referenced elections, is probably the more serious problem of electoral malpractices. It is to the collective shame of Nigeria and Nigerians that we continue to refer to an election conducted some 26 years ago as the freest and fairest in all our history despite the advancement in technology that could have been deployed to make the process a lot better. One of reasons why many pro-democracy activists enlisted in defence of the Abiola mandate was because of the consensus around it as a freely and fairly conducted election. It was therefore a cause worthy to die for. It is difficult to hazard a guess that anyone in our current patently rigged electoral process, would put their lives in the line for any candidate at an election; as it has become an open secret that politicians go to the polls to out-rig themselves.

If 26 years after, June 12 remains the model election for Nigeria, then it raises serious concerns for the hoopla about 20 years of uninterrupted democracy. It is an indictment that we have not made any progress in arguably the most fundamental ritual of any democracy: fee and fair franchise; which is what June 12 is most popular for. And there is no better proof of this than the cauldron of pre and post election cases now littered in our courts and tribunals.

It is in these key collateral failings that discourses around June 12 must be situated. Beyond the politics and Politricks of the event therefore, current and subsequent administrations must be seen to commit to the key values and ideals the absence of which brought about the mistake of June 12. It is only when this is done, that the memory of Abiola could be said to have been honoured and the essence of June 12 as a latter Democracy Day fully served. Not in its panegyrics.

Raymond Nkannebe is a legal practitioner