The National Chairman of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Alhaji Yabagi Sani, has described the conduct of June 12, 1993 presidential election as a make-belief arrangement by the then military junta to deceive Nigerians.
Sani, who was the North-Central Coordinator of the then National Republican Convention (NRC) during the presidential election, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
Sani said that given the definition of democracy as government of the people, by the people and for the people, what played out in the country in 1993 wasn’t democracy at all.
“What played out during the 1993 presidential election midwived by the military government at the time was a make-belief arrangement for Nigerians to feel that the country was crossing over to a democratic administration.
“After the military junta had dribbled the country for so long, it dawned on them that they could not fool the people forever, and that led them to a change in style; that was why they decided to arrange the make-believe elections.
“To avoid the catastrophe that would have taken them completely out of the equation, they now came up with this arrangement, whereby even the political parties – the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party – were formed by them and the key players selected by them as well.
“The two presidential candidates were their friends, whom they asked to go and contest, while they bankrolled their electoral expenses.
“But right deep in their minds, the military weren’t ready to hand over power to the civilians and that was the reason for the annulment of June 12 presidential election,’’ he said.
Sani said that what upstaged the military was the unexpected outcome of the presidential election and the dimension which the game they introduced went.
“They (the military) were really surprised that Nigerians bought into the make-belief political arrangement; they were also surprised to have discovered that both the politicians and Nigerians had gotten wiser, trying to turn the system to become theirs,’’ he said.
The ADP national chairman also said that the military had taken Nigerians as their guinea pigs in their laboratory, adding that this was the foundation which eventually brought the country into the type of democracy it is having today.
Sani said that even though the 26 years of the return of democracy in the country had been eventful, the system should be about the inalienable rights of the people.
“Democracy is about freedom to the people and every human being cherishes their freedom and will go all out to have it.
“This is why the 26 years of unbroken democracy, no matter the turbulence and in spite of the challenges and the frustrations, people still want the system.
“But for me, I feel that we are yet to experience democracy; what we are having is civil rule. Hopefully someday, this will give way for the country to experience true democracy and this freedom will be achieved,’’ he said.
Sani said that for true democracy to be achieved, the country must be governed by its constitution.
“For instance, how do you explain a situation where you are going into a contest and only one individual controls the entire process; he dictates the tone and appoints the supervisors.
“This is like a football match, he appoints the referee, the linesmen and all the officiating team and yet, he is an interested party in the match.
“So the fact is that we are not having what is called a level-playing field and our laws are supporting all of these; so something is wrong somewhere,’’ he said.
He said if Nigeria must change its civil rule to a democratic one, it must look its our laws.
“The question then should be: how do we conduct elections? This is to ensure that the conduct of elections meets the letters of our constitution which states that we have freedom of association, freedom of expression,’’ he said.
Sani, who said that people’s votes must count during elections, stressed the need for review of the ground rules, especially the Electoral Act. (NAN)
