Gen Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida,
(IBB), Nigeria’s Head of State during the June 12, 1993 election, annulled the
exercise. The election is believed to have
been won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, candidate of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP).
Abiola, who was incarcerated
after declaring himself president, died in custody on July 7, 1998 in Abuja,
the nation’s capital.
Below is the full text of IBB’s
nationwide broadcast that annulled the election…
“Fellow Nigerians, I address you
today with a deep sense of world history and particularly of the history of our
great country. In the aftermath of the recently annulled presidential election,
I feel, as I believe you yourself feel, a profound sense of disappointment at
the outcome of our last efforts at laying the foundation of a viable democratic
system of government in Nigeria.
I therefore wish, on behalf of
myself and members of the National Defence and Security Council and indeed of
my entire administration, to feel with my fellow countrymen and women for the
cancellation of the election. It was a rather disappointing experience in the
course of carrying through the last election of the transition to civil rule
programme. Nigeria has come a long way since this administration assumed power
and leadership about eight years ago. In the attempt to grapple with the
critical and monumental problems and challenges of national existence and
social progress, this administration inaugurated and pursued sound and
justifiable policies and programmes of reform. These policies and programmes
have touched virtually all aspects of our national life – the economy,
political process, social structures, external relations, bureaucracy and even
the family system.
I believe strongly that in
understanding, conception, formulation and articulation, these policies and
programmes are not only sound but also comparatively unassailable. I believe
too that history, with the passage of time, would certainly score the
administration high in its governance of our country. Let me also express my
deep conviction that the core strategy and structures of our reform policies
and programmes, as enunciated in 1986/87, would, for a very long time, remain
relevant and durable in the course of changing our country positively. I
believe that at the exit of the administration from power, we would leave
behind for prosperity a country with an economy, the structures of which have
been turned around for good. The average Nigerian person has come to reconcile
himself with the fact that his or her social progress remains essentially in
his or her hands in collaboration with other fellow Nigerians and not merely
relying on what government alone could provide for him or her. The days are
gone for good, when men and women trooped to government establishments for
employment and for benevolence.
This administration has built the
foundation that would take Nigerians away from their previous
colonially-induced motivations and the encumbrances of colonialism. We have
laid the foundation for self-reliant economic development and social justice.
We have established a new basis in our country in which economic liberalization
would continue to flourish alongside democratic forces and deregulated power
structure. In all these, the average Nigerian person has more than ever before
this administration imbibed and assimilated the values of hard work, resilience
and self-confidence. It is true that in the course of implementing our reform
policies and programmes and especially because of the visionary zeal with which
we approached the assignment and responded to incidental pressures of
governance, we engendered a number of social forces in the country. This is so
because we sought to challenge and transform extant social forces which had in
the past impeded growth and development of our country.
We also sought to deal with the
new forces to which our programmes of action gave rise. Thus in dealing with
the dynamics of both the old and new social forces, we ran into certain
difficulties. In particular, during the course of handling the interlocking
relationships between the old and new political forces and institutions, some
problems had arisen leading us into a number of difficulties and thereby
necessitating our having to tamper with the rules and regulations laid down in
the political programme. As a result, the administration unwittingly attracted
enormous public suspicions of its intentions and objectives.
Accordingly, we have experienced
certain shortfalls and conflicting responses to the pulls and pushes of
governance in the course of policy implementation. I believe that areas of
difficulties with the transition programme, especially from the last quarter of
1992 to the recent cancelled presidential election, derived primarily from the
shortfalls in implementing the programmes of actions which, though objectively
taken, may have caused a deviation from the original framework and structure of
the programme.
Fellow Nigerians, it is true that
by the cancelled presidential election, we all found the nation at a peculiar
bar of history which was neither bargained for, nor was it envisaged in the
reform programmes of transition as enunciated in 1986/87. In the circumstance,
the administration had no option than to respond appropriately to the
unfortunate experience of terminating the presidential election. Our actions
are in full conformity with the original objectives of the transition to civil
programme. It was also in conformity with the avowed commitment of the
administration to advance the cause of national unity, stability, and
democracy. In annulling the presidential election, this administration was
keenly aware of its promise in November 1992 that it would disengage and
institute a return to democracy on August 27, 1993.
We are determined to keep the promise.
Since this transition, and indeed any transition, must have an end, I believe
that our transition programme should and must come to an end, honestly and
honourably. History will bear witness that as an administration we have always
striven, in all our policy decisions, to build the foundation of lasting
democracy. Lasting democracy is not a temporary show of excitement and
manipulation by an over-articulate section of the elite and its captive
audience; lasting democracy is a permanent diet to nurture the soul of the
whole nation and the political process. Therefore, it is logical, as we have
always insisted upon, that lasting democracy must be equated with political
stability. Informed by our sad experience of history, we require nothing short
of a foundation for lasting democracy.
As an administration, we cannot
afford to leave Nigerian into a Third Republic with epileptic convulsions in
its democratic health. Nigeria must therefore confront her own reality; she
must solve her problems notwithstanding other existing models of democracy in
other parts of the world. In my address to the nation in October 1992, when the
first presidential primaries were cancelled, I had cause to remind our country
men and women that there is nowhere in the world in which the practice of
democracy is the same, even if the principles are similar and even for
countries sharing the same intellectual tradition and cultural foundation. The
history of our country is not the history of any other country in the world
which is either practising advanced democracy or struggling to lay the
foundation for democracy.
Yet, in spite of the uniqueness
and peculiarities of Nigeria, there are certain prerequisites which constitute
an irreducible minimum for democracy. Such essential factors include: A. Free
and fair elections; B. Uncoerced expression of voters preference in election;
C. Respect for electorate as unfettered final arbiter on elections; D. Decorum
and fairness on the part of the electoral umpires; E. Absolute respect for the
rule of law. Fellow Nigerians, you would recall that it was precisely because
the presidential primaries of last year did not meet the basic requirements of
free and fair election that the Armed Forces Ruling Council had good reason to
cancel those primaries. The recently annulled presidential election was
similarly afflicted by these problems. Even before the presidential election,
and indeed at the party conventions, we had full knowledge of the bad signals
pertaining to the enormous breach of the rules and regulations of democratic
elections.
But because we were determined to
keep faith with the deadline of 27th August, 1993 for the return to civil rule,
we overlooked the reported breaches. Unfortunately, these breaches continued
into the presidential election of June 12, 1993, on an even greater proportion.
There were allegations of irregularities and other acts of bad conduct leveled
against the presidential candidates but NEC went ahead and cleared them. There
were proofs as well as documented evidence of widespread use of money during the
party primaries as well as the presidential election. These were the same bad
conduct for which the party presidential primaries of 1992 were cancelled.
Evidence available to government put the total amount of money spent by the
presidential candidates at over two billion, one hundred million naira (N2.1
billion). The use of money was again the major source of undermining the
electoral process. Both these allegations and evidence were known to the
National Defence and Security Council before the holding of the June 12, 1993
election, the National Defence and Security Council overlooked these areas of
problems in its determination to fulfill the promise to hand over to an elected
president on due date.
Apart from the tremendous
negative use of money during the party primaries and presidential election,
there were moral issues which were also overlooked by the Defence and National
Security Council. There were cases of documented and confirmed conflict of
interest between the government and both presidential candidates which would
compromise their positions and responsibilities were they to become president.
We believe that politics and government are not ends in themselves. Rather,
service and effective amelioration of the condition of our people must remain
the true purpose of politics. It is true that the presidential election was
generally seen to be free, fair and peaceful.
However, there was in fact a huge
array of electoral malpractices virtually in all the states of the federation
before the actual voting began. There were authenticated reports of the
electoral malpractices against party agents, officials of the National
Electoral Commission and also some members of the electorate. If all of these
were clear violations of the electoral law, there were proofs of manipulations
through offer and acceptance of money and other forms of inducement against
officials of the National Electoral Commission and members of the electorate.
There were also evidence of conflict in the process of authentication and
clearance of credentials of the presidential candidates.
Indeed, up to the last few hours
of the election, we continued, in our earnest steadfastness with our transition
deadline, to overlook vital facts. For example, following the Council’s
deliberation which followed the court injunction suspending the election,
majority of members of the National Defence and Security Council supported
postponement of the election by one week. This was to allow NEC enough time to
reach all the voters, especially in the rural areas, about the postponement.
But persuaded by NEC that it was capable of relaying the information to the entire
electorate within the few hours left before the election, the Council,
unfortunately, dropped the idea of shifting the voting day. Now, we know
better. The conduct of the election, the behaviour of the candidates and
post-election responses continued to elicit signals which the nation can only
ignore at its peril.
It is against the foregoing
background that the administration became highly concerned when these political
conflicts and breaches were carried to the court. It must be acknowledged that
the performance of the judiciary on this occasion was less than satisfactory.
The judiciary has been the bastion of the hopes and liberties of our citizens.
Therefore, when it became clear that the courts had become intimidated and
subjected to the manipulation of the political process, and vested interests,
then the entire political system was in clear dangers. This administration
could not continue to watch the various high courts carry on their long drawn
out processes and contradictory decisions while the nation slides into chaos.
It was under this circumstance that the National Defence and Security Council
decided that it is in the supreme interest of law and order, political
stability and peace that the presidential election be annulled.
As an administration, we have had
special interest and concern not only for the immediate needs of our society,
but also in laying the foundation for generations to come. To continue action
on the basis of the June 12, 1993 election, and to proclaim and swear in a
president who encouraged a campaign of divide and rule among our ethnic groups
would have been detrimental to the survival of the Third Republic. Our need is
for peace, stability and continuity of politics in the interest of all our
people. Fellow countrymen and women, although the National Electoral Commission
and the Centre for Democratic Studies officially invited foreign observers for
the presidential election, the administration also considered it, as important
as a democratic society, that our activities and electoral conduct must be open
not only to the citizenry of our country but also to the rest of the world.
In spite of this commitment, the
administration did not and cannot accept that foreign countries should
interfere in our internal affairs and undermine our sovereignty. The
presidential election was not an exercise imposed on Nigerians by the United
Nations or by the wishes of some global policemen of democracy. It was a
decision embarked upon independently by the government of our country and for
the interest of our country. This is because we believe, just like other
countries, that democracy and democratization are primary values which
Nigerians should cultivate, sustain and consolidate so as to enhance freedom,
liberties and social development of the citizenry. The actions of these foreign
countries are most unfortunate and highly regrettable. There is nowhere in the
history of our country or indeed of the third world where these countries can
be said to love Nigeria or Nigerians any more than the love we have for
ourselves and for our country. Neither can they claim to love Nigeria any more
than this administration loves our country.
Accordingly, I wish to state that
this administration will take necessary action against any interest groups that
seek to interfere in our internal affairs. In this vein, I wish to place on
record the appreciation of this administration for the patience and
understanding of Nigerians, the French, the Germans, the Russians and Irish
governments in the current situation. I appeal to our fellow countrymen and
women and indeed our foreign detractors that they should cultivate proper
understanding and appreciation of the peculiar historic circumstances in the
development of our country and the determination not only of this administration
but indeed of all Nigerians to resolve the current crises. Fellow Nigerians,
the National Security and Defence Council has met several times since the June
12, 1993 election.
The council has fully deliberated
not only on our avowed commitment but also to bequeathing to posterity a sound
economic and political base in our country and we shall do so with honour. In
our deliberations, we have also taken note of several extensive consultations
with other members of this administration, with officers and men of the Armed
Forces and with well-meaning Nigerian leaders of thought. We are committed to
handing over power on 27th August, 1993.
Accordingly, the National Defence
and Security Council has decided that, by the end of July 1993, the two
political parties, under the supervision of a recomposed National Electoral
Commission, will put in place the necessary process for the emergence of two
presidential candidates. This shall be conducted according to the rules and
regulations governing the election of the president of the country. In this
connection, government will, in consultation with the two political parties and
National Electoral Commission, agree as to the best and quickest process of
conducting the election. In the light of our recent experience and, given the
mood of the nation, the National Defence and Security Council has imposed
additional conditions as a way of widening and deepening the base of electing
the president and sanitizing the electoral process.
Accordingly, the candidates for
the coming election must: (1) Not be less than 50 years old; (2) Have not been
convicted of any crime; (3) Believe, by act of faith and practice, in the
corporate existence of Nigeria; (4) Possess records of personal, corporate and
business interests which do not conflict with national interests; (5) Have been
registered members of either of the two political parties for at least one year
to this election. All those previously banned from participating in the
transition process, other than those with criminal records, are hereby
unbanned. They can all henceforth participate in the electoral process. This is
with a view to enriching the quality of candidature for the election and at the
same time tap the leadership resources of our country to the fullest. The decree
to this effect will be promulgated.
Fellow Nigerians, I wish to
finally acknowledge the tremendous value of your patience and understanding,
especially in the face of national provocation. I urge you to keep faith with
the commitment of this administration. I enjoin you to keep faith with the
unity, peace and stability of our country for this is the only country that you
and I can call our own. Nowhere in the world, no matter the prompting and
inducements of foreign countries, can Nigerians ever be regarded as first class
citizens. Nigeria is the only country that we have. We must therefore renew our
hope in Nigeria, and faith and confidence in ourselves for continued growth,
development and progress.
Thank you all, and God bless
you.”
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