{"id":127687,"date":"2026-06-17T14:25:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=127687"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:25:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:25:27","slug":"1999-transition-ad-failed-registration-test-gen-abdulsalami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/1999-transition-ad-failed-registration-test-gen-abdulsalami\/","title":{"rendered":"1999 Transition: AD Failed Registration Test,\u2014 Gen Abdulsalami"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Oscar Okhifo, Abuja<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has disclosed that the Alliance for Democracy (AD) failed to satisfy the registration requirements for political parties ahead of Nigeria\u2019s return to democratic rule in 1999 but was admitted after his administration bent the rules to foster inclusiveness and national unity.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former military leader made the disclosure in his autobiography, Call of Duty, where he recounted how his administration adjusted the political party registration guidelines to accommodate the AD as part of efforts to ensure an inclusive transition to democratic rule and prevent the political marginalisation of the South-West.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">He explained that the transition programme prescribed stringent conditions for political parties seeking registration, including a national spread, operational offices across the federation and compliance with other constitutional and legal requirements designed to produce truly national parties.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to Abdulsalami, only the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Peoples Party (APP) fully met the stipulated conditions after the screening exercise, while the AD, whose support base was largely confined to the South-West, fell short of the requirements for registration.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cAs projected, the AD eventually didn\u2019t meet the criteria for the registration of political parties. We tinkered with the rules and said any party that came third would be registered.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0That was how AD scaled through,\u201d he wrote.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Abdulsalami explained that the decision was informed by the need to promote inclusiveness and prevent feelings of political alienation in the South-West, which had been at the centre of the agitation for the validation of the June 12 election believed to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe did not want to create a system in which the South-West would feel marginalised. Whatever decision we took was for the peace and progress of the country. If tinkering with the rule we made ourselves would give respite to Nigerians, why not?\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The former Head of State maintained that the regulations guiding the transition programme were not immutable and could be adjusted when circumstances demanded in order to foster justice, equity and national cohesion.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe rules were made by humans and for humans. The idea was to give peace a chance and to ensure that there was equity and justice,\u201d he added.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nigeria returned to civilian rule on May 29, 1999, marking the end of prolonged military rule, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Peoples Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) emerging as the three political platforms that participated in the historic transition elections.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Oscar Okhifo, Abuja Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has disclosed that the Alliance for Democracy (AD) failed to satisfy the registration requirements for political parties ahead&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>1999 Transition: AD Failed Registration Test,\u2014 Gen Abdulsalami - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/1999-transition-ad-failed-registration-test-gen-abdulsalami\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1999 Transition: AD Failed Registration Test,\u2014 Gen Abdulsalami - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Oscar Okhifo, Abuja Former Head of State, Gen. 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