-By Lloyd Ukwu-
The June 12 1993 presidential election won by Moshood Abiola was
adjudicated the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history.
Lamentably, the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida annulled
the election. In place of Abiola, he appointed Ernest Shonekan to head an
interim government. The Shonekan government wobbled under its own weight
of illegitimacy, inherent weakness and lack of moral authority. It finally
collapsed when General Sani Abacha, the Minister for Defense in the
interim government, shoved aside Shonekan and seized power.
The majority of Nigerians, including those in the United States of America
were appalled by the annulment of the June 12 election and the continued
military rule under General Abacha. They were determined to force out the
military and install the winner of the June 12 election, M.K.O. Abiola, as
president. This resulted in the formation of National Democratic Coalition
(NADECO) by a number of prominent Nigerian politicians. Facing swift
persecution inside Nigeria, NADECO Abroad was created.The NADECO Abroad
was led by Chief Anthony Enahoro. Other overseas branches were created.
Chief Ralph Obioha led the NADECO-USA, Chief Raph Uwechue, the NADECO-UK
and retired General Cornelius Adebayo, NADECO-Canada. Washington DC, the
capital of USA, was the hotbed of the NADECO-USA opposition to the Abacha
government.
As the Counsel General of NADECO-USA, I incorporated the NADECO-USA and
donated my law office in downtown (Central Business District) Washington,
DC for five years as the headquarters of NADECO operations in Washington,
DC. Chief Ralph Obioha spearheaded the NADECO-USA drive to oust the Abacha
regime and establish democracy in Nigeria. Among other things, he
addressed the US Congress, traveled extensively and gave series of
speeches. He solicited and garnered recognition and help from different
countries of the world. Other senior members of NADECO, including Bola
Tinubu and John Oyegun lived in the Washington DC area and were also very
active in the campaign to dislodge the Abacha government and install the
winner of the June 12 election as president. The military junta of General
Sani Abacha fought back. It unleashed a wave of terror on NADECO and other
prodemocracy activists. In Nigeria, he hung playwright and environmental
activist, Ken Saro Wiwa, and the Ogoni 9. Abacha was a brutal, murderous
and barbaric dictator. But then Abacha was a product of Babangida’s
scuttling of the June 12 elections. But then it was General Mohammadu
Buhari’s overthrow of a democratically elected government of Alahji
Shehu Shagari that set the stage for Babangidaism.
With the mysterious deaths of both Sani Abacha and Chief MKO Abiola, most
of the members of oversea NADECO ended their exile; they returned home. It
boggles the mind that anyone that fought, under the auspices of NADECO,
against the Abacha military dictatorship can ever support Buhari for the
presidency. After all, Buhari, in some respect, was a more ruthless
dictator than Abacha. By whatever stretch of the imagination, Buhari is
not qualified to lead a democratic Nigeria. His credentials and
antecedents speak against him. His antecedence shows clearly that, for
years, he subverted the ideals NADECO stood for and fought for: democracy,
rule of law, fundamental human rights, freedom of worship, etc. In his
desperation for power, he, in 1984, ousted President Shehu Shagari from
power, thus, brutally truncating the nation nascent but thriving
democracy.
Now, he wants to benefit from democracy; he wants to be a democratically
elected president of Nigeria. The backing of Buhari presidential
ambition by some former NADECO members is tantamount to a pat on the back
for Buhari; he is being rewarded for shooting his way into power and
committing atrocities; jailing, maiming and killing of the innocent. It
sends a dangerous signal to the younger military officers: that it is okay
to plot coups, trample the constitution, and kill, maim and jail Nigerian
citizens, for you will be rewarded for it. So, if Abacha were alive today,
and is running for president of Nigeria, the likes of Tinubu and Oyegun
will have no compunction in sponsoring his presidency. After all, all
Abacha did was to follow in the footsteps of Buhari: seize power, hold
Nigerians in submission to the gun and kill and maim. Buhari in one
respect is worse than Abacha “ he overthrew a democratically elected
government, Abacha did not. In other countries of the world, like the USA,
people honor their war heroes. Lamentably, in Nigeria, we seemed poised to
honor a coup plotters and brutal killer.
The support for Buhari by the likes of the Tinubus and Oyeguns is
inconceivable. It is a betrayal of the NADECO cause. Tinubu and Oyegun are
turncoats. They are making mockery of the post June 12 struggle for
democracy and social justice that led to the establishment of democracy in
Nigeria. They are desecrating the memory MKO Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Ken
Saro Wiwa and many of those that died in the struggle against Abacha
military tyranny and the institution of democracy in Nigeria. But then, it
is obvious that the motivation for their dalliance with Buhari is avarice,
grasping avarice. Tinubu has a personal stake in the Buhari
presidency. He is scheming for the office of the Vice President. His
protégé, Yemi Osinbajo, is Buhari running mate. In the 2011
presidential election, Tinubu did not ally with Buhari because the Buhari
presidential campaign refused to meet his condition. Tinubu demanded that
Buhari running mate, Tunde Bakari, write and sign a post-dated
resignation letter, stating that if Buhari is elected president, he, the
Vice President, will resign and relinquish the office of the Vice
President to Tinubu. There are speculations that Tinubu, this time, is
supporting Buhari because Osinbajo, a Tinubu acolyte, wrote and signed a
post-dated resignation letter, stating that if elected the Vice President,
he will, in three months, resign his post to make way for Tinubu.
Tinubu rode on the coattail of MKO Abiola, Kudirat Abiola, Ken Saro Wiwa
into power. He paid little lip service to NADECO and dumped it for his
selfish ends. Today, the same Tinubu is asking APC voters to disobey
electoral laws with impunity by voting and remaining in the voting unit in
direct contravention of the law. And his cheerleader SANs, Fashola and
Osibanjo instead of calling him to other, are cheering him on. It is a
coded language for violence. Tinubu is telling the youths to stay and
unleash mayhem on fellow Nigerians. He wants to swim in their blood
(again) to power.
Bola Tinubu has shamelessly betrayed the ideals that NADECO stood for by
supporting the very persons that it was meant to fight. Buhari presidency
has nothing to offer Nigerians. His political party, the APC talks about
change. Yes, of course, they will bring about change but it can only be
retrograde, destructive change. Evidently, Nigerians can see through him.
No wonder, they have, in the past, rejected him three consecutive times.
This time around, despite his deliberate and frantic attempt to recast
himself as a democrat with respect for the rule of law and tenets of
democracy, Nigerians will reject him again.
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Lloyd Ukwu, an international lawyer, writes from Port Harcourt, Nigeria
lawgroupinternational@gmail.com