Politics
Re-Enacting June 12
Last Wednesday, pro-democracy and civil society groups in different parts of the country recalled with disgust one of the darkest chapters in the political evolution of the Nigerian state- the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
That election was adjudged the freest and fairest in the history of the country and was widely believed to have been won by the presidential candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), Late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawole Abiola.
Trouble started when a group known as Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) under the leadership of Senator Arthur Nzeribe approached a Federal High Court in Abuja seeking for an injunction to restrain the National Electoral Commission (NEC) from conducting the election on the premise that 25 million Nigerians wanted the military president, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babaginda to continue to rule the country in the next four years.
While most Nigerians dismissed Nzeribe and his co-travellers as political jesters and rabble-rousers, the presiding judge, Justice Bassey Ikpeme was of the view that the matter was justiceable and the litigants must be given fair hearing. After all said and done she delivered a rulling that the election should not hold, thus throwing the nation into fits of delirium.
However, respite came when NEC re-assured Nigerians that the election would hold as scheduled. NEC’s announcement also disabused the minds of those who alluded the happenings to a ploy by the military junta to hold on to power.
To demonstrate their discontent for the prolonged military rule in the country, Nigerians for the first time in the history of the country jettisoned their tribal cleavages religious beliefs and political affiliations and voted for the candidates of their choice.
The following day results from 30 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory were in the public domain. Chief M.K.O Abiola had a clean sweep of the poll, waiting for NEC to formally declare him the winner of the most credible election in the country.
Surprisingly, there was a miserable development as ABN in furtherance of its diabolical plot against the Nigerian state and its people secured injunction from a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Dahiru Saleh ordering NEC to stop further announcement of the results. NEC therefore, was compelled by the federal military government to comply with the court order. Few days later, Gen. Babaginda hit the nail into the coffin by announcing the annulment of the election for spurious reasons.
Angered by the truncation of the democratic process in the country, pro-democracy and civil society groups as well as the Nigerian press decided to wage a bloodless war against anti-democratic forces which the military junta and its hirelings symbolised.
As a renowned military officer and coupist, Gen. Babaginda knew when to beat a retreat to save himself from imminent danger. For a man who had ruled one of the “richest” black nations in the world for eight years, he knew it was time to step aside in the comfort of his personal abode to enable him count his blessings. So, he stepped aside.
But Chief Abiola was not one to be cowed by the military junta to forgo the mandate that was freely given to him by Nigerians to liberate them from the state of hopelessness and helplessness as encapsulated in his campaign slogan “Hope 93.” He fought and paid the supreme price for democracy to be institutionalised in Nigeria.
Regrettably, twenty years after the annulment of June 12 election, Nigeria is returning to the path of insanity and ignominy that led to the painful death of many citizens of self-styled giant of Africa, because of selfish, unpatriotic and mindless actions of our past leaders.
What is happening in the Nigeria Governors Forum is a harbinger of what the world should expect from the so-called leaders in 2015. Since May 24, when the governors conducted election to choose their leaders, the NGF has been polarized, because the preferred candidate of the presidency and the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was defeated by a popular candidate who secured majority of the votes. Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was re-elected, having polled 19 votes against Jonah Jang’s 16 in an election that was acknowledged by many Nigerians who watched the video recording both in social and national media as free and fair.
This was against the backdrop of alleged irregularity by anti-Amaechi governors. The plank of their argument was that Governor Jang was endorsed by 19 governors poior to the election and wondered why his endorsement should not take precedence over electoral process in a democratic setting.
Election is part and pareel of a democratic culture. A situation where some of the political leaders declare a winner in an electoral contest before the election proper bespeak of evil days ahead.
A situation where the actual winner in an electoral contest and his supporters are persecuted by the powers-that-be for exercising their constitutional rights is not healthy for the nation’s democracy.
A situation where flimsy reasons were given to decredit a transparent electoral process that returned Governor Amaechi to power as chairman of NGF reminds one of the spurious reasons adduced by the military junta in the annulment of the June 12 election. Nigeria cannot walk that path again. Our votes must count.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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