The Republic: Season 1, Episode 6 Transcript

The opening of parliament. Princess Alexandra’s last official engagement in the Federal capital; she is greeted by Sir James Robertson, Governor General. The scene inside is one of splendour as her royal highness moves in procession to the throne. The queen’s representative at the first independence parliament. Dr Nnamdi Azikwe reads the letter patent for the opening of the session: ‘The 22nd day of September, in the 9th year of her reign, by the queen herself, signed with her own hand.’ The Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa hands the queen’s speech to her royal highness. It was widely believed at that time of independence, that Britain’s greatest legacy to its colonies and former colonies was parliamentary government. The brightest jewel in the British crown was no longer British India, it was British democracy.
                                                                 —The Africans: A Triple Heritage, Program 6: In Search of Stability

I often think of Mazrui saying ‘it just didn’t work’ alongside a poem JP Clark published around the same time. JP Clark, the Nigerian poet, called the poem, ‘Here Nothing Works’ and a line in the poem goes:

Many of us asked similar questions after our recent elections. Only this time, we were wondering why it seemed impossible to do something as simple as count and report votes properly. But 30 years ago, in 1993, Nigerians were asking the same question.

IBB had just stepped down from the presidential seat and handed the responsibility over to the technocrat, Ernest Shonekan. Despite being unpopular (at least compared to MKO Abiola), Shonekan promised to serve Nigeria with all his heart and to be faithful, loyal and honest. Unfortunately for him, he was handed a country in turmoil. Nigerians were upset; foreign investors were leaving the country in droves; the economy was suffering from Western sanctions; inflation was rapidly increasing; labour strikes were popping up in different sectors; unions and activists were occupied, campaigning against the Interim National Government.

But skulking behind the chaos of it all was a general who had had a hand in several coups; a dictator at heart who was unconvinced by IBB’s promise of democracy let alone the shaky interim government. Like lightning, General Sani Abacha watched the storm waiting for the right time to strike.

Hello and welcome to The Republic, a podcast about pivotal African figures and historical events. I’m your host, Wale Lawal. Over six episodes, I’m going to walk you through one of the most significant events in Nigeria’s political history. The June 12 1993 presidential election shaped the modern Nigerian state. But, why was it so controversial? Who were the main actors and what roles did they play? Most importantly, can we draw any parallels between then and now?

The Shonekan administration might have been ineffectual, but it gave way to one of Nigeria’s most infamous military administrations and continued the series of unfortunate events that would come to marr the date June 12 1993 for Nigerians. Buckle up as we enter the final stretch of MKO’s presidential campaign. We’ll discuss the assassination of the unsung democratic hero that is Kudirat Abiola. We’ll also consider the meaning of June 12 today, 30 years on.

The point of an Interim National Government was to serve as a placeholder. You know, organize new elections, handle government responsibilities, all that jazz. But, like many things in Nigeria, that’s not what happened. For one, to many Nigerians it soon seemed like Shonekan was very much out of his depth. It seemed as though the military puppet masters had only allowed the Interim National Government so they would have time to put their ducks in a row while planning their re-takeover. The Interim National Government had to deal with strikes, inflation, criticisms from all angles and a growing concern that this new government was very much illegitimate. It was doomed to fail from the jump and while Shonekan was playing president, the real gs were, as they say, moving in silence.

When IBB stepped down from power, he left behind Abacha who took on the role of secretary of defence and vice chairman of the Interim National Government. Essentially the Vice President. IBB’s reason for this was supposedly to show that the military supported the Interim National Government and democracy as a whole. But here’s the thing, leaving behind a guy who was infamously ‘coup happy’ to make sure nothing unsavoury happens to your unstable government was very much a ‘fox guarding the hen house’ type deal. But you don’t become a self-proclaimed evil genius by not having a contingency plan and IBB had one by the name of Lt Joshua Dogonyaro.

IBB’s master plan was to appoint Dongoyaro as the chief of defense staff giving Abacha more of a background policy-making role while the Dongoyaro would be at the forefront of operations, taking charge. IBB would tell you that this was all for the greater good of the country and stability of the Interim National Government but others would say that this was his flailing attempt at grasping some sort of control. He no longer had the backing of the military and could now only rely on shaky alliances. The announcement for the new appointment was made during IBB’s resignation parade along with the announcement of the retirement of a bunch of senior service chiefs, which IBB seemed to do just out of spite. After all, IBB wasn’t planning on going down with the ship all by himself.