Where were you when you heard the news of the June 12 annulment? Where were you when you heard that the man you freely gave your votes in the freest presidential polls ever held in this country would no longer be president of Nigeria? Where were you when the hope of the man of hope turned into hopelessness? Everyone surely could remember where he or she was. You surely can remember your immediate reaction to that piece of ugly news: shock, disbelief, indignation, exasperation. However, could this be according to the prophecy that “After Babangida Another Criminal Has Arrived”? (ABACHA) Then the outpouring of grief, rage and anger, the bonfire on the streets, the verbal missiles at Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and his regime for that national perfidy. The sudden home rush, the collective condemnation of the taboo of annulment, a strange word that suddenly found its way into our political lexicon, courtesy of the Maradona. Oshodi, the capital of chaos, exploded into one insane city with every one walking in every direction at the same time. Then, there was the incoherent ‘Step Aside’ speech on national television and the usually courageous president shivering literally like a jelly, like one who had been summoned to preside over a hollow ritual; his voice croaky, his feet wobbly, his eyes unsteady and his lips twitchy as he declared that he was stepping aside as his own ‘personal sacrifice’ out of the political crisis he and his men certainly contrived. Before anyone knew what was happening, Chief Ernest Shonekan, the dour-looking hoary-voiced former UAC chief is announcing himself as the new head of an interim national government, hurriedly assembled by the fleeing General. Then, the expected news: Shonekan and his ING packing up like a pack of ill-arranged cards, after barely 82 days in office [not in power], and the dark-goggle-loving General, taking over after hovering in the shadows of the interim men for all the period they pretended to be in power, fulfilling the above prophecy. Like a bad movie, Abacha clamped the man who won election into jail for declaring himself [and rightly so] president. Then, the military strong man [Abacha] himself suddenly expired, while the person he was preparing to kick out of the army, General Abdusalami Abubakar, stepped in as head of the new military junta. Hope rose that the man who had been kept in a hell- hole by Abacha would sooner be released to go home to be president of his family, if he would not be allowed to exercise the mandate given him by his countrymen and women. It was a hope tragically dashed. Barely one month after Abacha’s death, news filtered in that the person with the lavish smile had finally ended his earthly struggles, after having a deadly sip of tea, served by his jailors. M.K.O. had gone to be with the saints, gone to be with his makers. Never to be with the people, the common folks he loved to no end. Never to agitate over any mandate anymore. Never to have enemies who pretended to be his friends, gone from the Nigerian political field filled with all kinds of mines and dangerous people. Tomorrow is another June 12, the day to remember the time when all Nigerians, from all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, voted across tribal and religious divide, to have one man lead them in an unprecedented free election. June 12 is Nigeria’s freedom day. Freedom from the dictatorship of ethnic jingoism and other kinds of cant, freedom to freely choose our leaders even though that right was cruelly aborted. June 12 is simply unforgettable for the unity it brought to the country. Without June 12, there may have been no Nigeria. Sadly, the gains of June 12 is gradually been eroded by those who do not wish the country well, by their words and deeds. Those who have been stealing the country blind since 1999 when they found their way to power. Leaders who have nothing to show other than their expanding waistlines, as dividend of democracy since the advent of democratic rule. The real tragedy of June 12 is that most of those who fought the military to a standstill before, during and after June 12, are today not in power but still at the barricades fighting to have a just and truly democratic society. Another great tragedy of June 12 also lies in the fact that the key actors of that sad episode in our national chapter, haven’t yet owned up to the fact that the roles they played in that monumental tragedy which threatened to drown the whole nation, was indeed truly ignoble. The nation, I suppose, would have been too glad to have these guys make a clean breast of their roles in the sad event by coming clean and confessing that by their action[s], they have sinned against God and man, and then, asking for forgiveness from the people, majority of whom haven’t quite recovered from the shock and trauma of the madness of the aftermath of the June 12 annulment. The casualties abound in the cities, towns and villages. Many lost families and loved ones; fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters; kids separated from their families forever. Businesses and means of livelihood severed forever. No thanks to the June 12 annulment. As we celebrate yet another June 12, we can only hope and pray that many of those who played whatever role in aborting June 12 will stop trying to be smart, and simply own up to the fact that the decision to annul June 12 was a costly action which bled the country from several points. True, we cannot continue to cry over spilt milk. Nevertheless, what is wrong with the people who spilt the milk simply owning up and apologizing? Nigerians may chose to forgive the thoughtlessness of these people, but let the people have the respect they deserve from those who have hurt them so bad. As for M.K.O, he is certainly not dead. He lives in the hearts of millions of his countrymen and women and to live in the hearts of those we leave behind, according to the old saying, is not to die. Never, never again, will there be another June 12, when one man or group of men will sit and annul the people’s mandate! Never Again!
Tags: Abacha, UAC, Oshodi, Interim Govenment, June 12, Election Annulment, Nigeria, Shonekan, IBB
For the people of a country to love a man so dear, then something must be peculiar about him. If I may ask, what made him so endeared to nigerians as a whole, even people not from the yoruba tribe are talking of this man as their hope before things fell apart. How I wished I had gooten in contact with this said man before his death because he is best fit to answer some questions on my mind. He alone has made history of his life and will be remembered as long as man lives.He is indeed a man of charisma.He would have probably saved us from this mess we are into now. As a man,he died but as a legend, Abiola lives on.