Nigeria’s former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, has admitted that he regrets the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
In his newly released autobiography, A Journey in Service, Babangida reflected on the events that led to the controversial decision, which has remained one of the most debated political actions in Nigeria’s history.
The former leader, who ruled Nigeria from 1985 to 1993, stated that although he officially took responsibility for the annulment, the decision was heavily influenced by his military colleagues, particularly Sani Abacha, who later became the country’s military head of state.
Babangida acknowledged that the 1993 election, won by Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was “credible, free, and fair.”
“Although I’m on record to have admitted after the election that Abiola may have not won the election, upon deeper reflections, and a close examination of all available facts, particularly the detailed election results which I published as an appendix to this book, there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 election.”
“Upon closer examination of the original collated figures from the 110 polling booths in the country, it was clear that he satisfied the two main constitutional requirements for winning the presidential election; mainly the majority votes and the geographical spread, having obtained 8,128,720 votes against Tofa’s 5,84,8247 votes and securing the mandatory one-third of the vote cast in 28 states of the federation, including Abuja,” Mr Babangida said.
