By Eteteonline
In response to Justice Bassey Ikpeme’s June 12, 1993, High Court order to halt the poll, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) declared in a statement that it would disregard the decision and hold the election.
The election was conducted as scheduled by the Electoral Commission. 3,000 journalists were accredited nationwide, and 110,446 polling places were used for the election.
Information and situational updates on events were provided by local monitors and foreign observers who moved about the nation. Any observer who was discovered to be tampering with the election’s conduct was ordered to be arrested immediately by the electoral commission. Mr. Tonnie Iredia, the Director of Public Affairs for the Commission, cautioned that no observer, domestic or foreign, should go beyond simply observing the behavior at the various polling places across the country.
Hundreds of thousands of registered voters turned out at polling places. The election was held using a modified open ballot system, and accreditation and other procedures went according to schedule. Fourteen of the thirty-nine million registered voters have cast ballots by the end of the polling period.
In the event that the June 12 polls were not conclusive, NEC declared that a new election would be held in two weeks. The Commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tonnie Iredia, stated that a supplemental mechanism was already in place to handle such a development should it occur. Mr. Iredia reiterated that a candidate needs to receive one-third of the votes cast in at least 20 states in order to win.
Chief Moshood Abiola, the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate for president, was composed but optimistic as the results of Saturday’s poll began to filter into campaign headquarters on Sunday, June 13. Like triumphant warriors returning from combat, campaign aides who devised election-related plans embraced themselves at the campaign headquarters.
Until he heard the final results, Abiola would not entertain anyone at his home on Moshood Abiola Crescent, Ikeja. Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu from Imo State, Chief Empire Kanu from Abia State, and a number of party leaders from Lagos State were among the first to call. The campaigns’ coordinator, Dr. Jonathan Zwingina, was pleased with the outcome. He was confident that Abiola would receive a majority of votes to avoid a second ballot and earn one-third of the vote in more than 20 states, as needed by law.
The National Republican Convention (NRC) candidate for president, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, spent the early hours of Sunday, June 13, at his home on Zoo Road in Kano, greeting some well-wishers, many of whom joined him in prayer before leaving. Compared to Saturday, when there was a lot of traffic and a lot of excitement in the air, the atmosphere at Tofa’s house was very different.
In addition, Tofa, who seemed worn out from the pressure of the elections, welcomed Alhaji Abba Dabo, a former Kano State Government secretary who was heavily involved in his presidential campaign.
Then, before noon, the NRC candidate secretly left for Abuja. Tofa kept a low profile when he arrived in Abuja and spoke with a select group of close aides about important matters. He pledged to be either gallant in failure or magnanimous in victory.
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