By Eteteonline
The process of gradual disengagement of the Military began after all the democratic institutions had been put in place. Before the commencement of elections into public offices in the three (3) tiers of government, the party machinery was set in motion. Elections, using the open ballot system, were conducted in the party congresses comprising the executives and delegates from the wards to the national level. The Social Democratic Party elected Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe as its National Chairman, while Chief Tom Ikimi was elected the National Chairman of the National Republican Convention.
Elections into public offices, on party platforms, commenced with local government Areas. On December 8, 1990, local government elections were held. With the creation of 136 new local government areas, another local government elections were held on November 23, 1991. Thus, the local government councils were fully democratized.
The disengagement process moved to the second tier of government. On December 14, 1991, elections were held in the State Houses of Assembly and State Executive Councils, completing the process of democratization at the state level.
The next was the election into the National Assembly, which was originally scheduled for November 7, 1992. It was, however, brought forward to July 4, 1992, with elections into the Senate and House of Representatives. The newly elected members of the National Assembly received a congratulatory message from President Babangida shortly thereafter:
“On behalf of the Armed Forces Ruling Council and the entire citizens of our nation, I congratulate you all on your recent elections.
“I also congratulate all those who contested against you for the historic sportsman-like way they fought and accepted the verdict of the electorate.”
With elections successfully conducted in the legislative organ of the first tier, the next and final stage was the executive, the presidency. The race began with presidential primaries, which were divided into three (3) segments. All card-carrying members of the parties were eligible to vote in the primaries, which spanned over a period of about three months.
At the end of the exercise in September 1992, there were allegations of rigging and bias by the candidates, the electorate, and some party officials. There were 12 aspirants for the SDP and 11 for the NRC, all of them embroiled in a bitter quarrel. Consequently, the Federal Military Government mandated NEC to investigate the allegation of malpractices during the primaries.
In a 20-page document submitted to the Government, the NEC indicted all the aspirants for one malpractice or the other. NEC and security agents found that “all of them both individually and severally violated provisions of Decree 37 of 1992″, the President said in a nationwide broadcast on November 17, 1992.
Consequently, the AFRC invoked the provisions of Section 101 Decree 19 of 1987. The executives of the two parties at all levels were dissolved, and in their places, Caretaker Committees were set up with Alhaja Lateefat Okunnu as National Chairman of the NRC and Air Vice Marshal Ishaya Shekari (rtd) as National Chairman of the SDP.
In addition to the dissolution of the party executives, the primaries were cancelled, and all the presidential aspirants were disqualified from further participation in elections during the transition period. The aspirants were advised to “see the action as one election lost” and accept the AFRC’s decision “with equanimity”. Future aspirants were also advised to learn some lessons from the fate of those disqualified.
The membership of the Caretaker Committees was drawn from people of high integrity without any previous affiliation with any of the two parties. The Caretaker Committees moved swiftly into action with a complete overhaul of the party membership by calling for fresh registration and issuance of new membership cards. The main tasks before the caretaker committees were to conduct elections to replace the dissolved executives and organize presidential primaries using the newly adopted option.
At that point in time, it became impossible for the transition to be completed within the scheduled time, which was to terminate on January 2, 1993. That date became unrealistic for the final handing over and complete disengagement of the military. Thus, an extension of the timetable became imperative and inevitable. As President Babangida put it, “The actions of the aspirants have undermined, forestalled, distorted and prejudiced the realization of the transition programme within the stipulated time.”
The President added further that “the stability of the nation cannot be sacrificed on the altar of time.” The government, therefore, announced a new transition timetable which would terminate on August 27, 1993.
The periodic intervention by the government in the democratization process had been criticized by some as unnecessary. But the regular intervention was defended by the government. According to President Babangida:
“Those who raise the question about periodic intervention in the transition programmed are not aware of the philosophy and logic implicit in the transition programne. The logic of the transition programme has an in-built learning process that makes room for making critical assessment of the immediate past events and instituting corrective measures where necessary for the greater good of the nation.”
This assertion by the President was proved right by the adoption of a method of electing presidential aspirants during the rescheduled primaries, popularly called “Option A4”. This option, which was praised and admired by all Nigerians, was a product of periodic interventions. An intervention was necessary after the local government election of December 1987, when the secret ballot system was highly abused. This led to the introduction of the open ballot system and its subsequent innovation, the open secret ballot system, which successfully eliminated the past abuses and guaranteed free and fair elections.
In line with the new timetable, elections were conducted in ward, local government, and state congresses as well as the national executives of the two political parties. Dr Hammed Kusamotu emerged as the National Chairman of the NRC, and Chief Tony Anenih was elected the National Chairman of the SDP.
Presidential aspirants were also endorsed and/or eliminated in progression from the ward congresses to the national conventions under the beautiful and widely acclaimed Option A4. This option was one of the 8 non-conventional ways of electing or selecting presidential candidates forwarded to the AFRC by the NEC after the failed primaries.
Following the party conventions in Jos and Port Harcourt, presidential candidates emerged. Chief MKO Abiola was elected as the candidate of the SDP, and Alhaji Bashir Othman Tofa was elected under the platform of the NRC. The two candidates picked their running mates. Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe was chosen as Chief Abiola’s running mate, while Dr Sylvester Ugoh became the running mate to Alhaji Tofa.
The election was held on June 12, 1993, as scheduled. However, on June 23, the Federal Military Government annulled the election for the following reasons:
- To save the judiciary from ridicule for the conflicting decisions of the High Courts.
- The candidates spent over N2 billion on their elections.
- Conflict of business interest with the office of the presidency; and
- Irregularities during the election.
New officers were appointed for the National Electoral Commission (NEC) with Professor Okon Edet Uya as the National Chairman. After a series of consultations and negotiations, an Interim National Government (ING) was formed under the headship of Chief Ernest Shonekan, a renowned businessman from Ogun State. The Babangida administration handed over power to the ING on August 26, 1993. The ING’s mandate was to conduct a fresh presidential election in February 1994 and hand over to a democratically elected president by March 31, 1994, to complete the democratization process.
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