The Secretary-General of the National Democratic Coalition, Ayo Opadokun, shares his thoughts with IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI on the events of the 1993 pro-democracy struggle and why Nigeria could not get out of the shackles of military dictatorship many years after, among others
It has been over 30 years since the National Democratic Coalition was formed. What were the factors that led to its formation?
First, Nigerians voted in the presidential election on June 12, 1993. From all indications, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola won the election as the results had been virtually concluded at the electoral commission office. They had mounted the declared results in 14 states. The other states were in the business of their final collation when the then Attorney General, Chief Clement Akpamgbo, through the influence of (General Ibrahim) Babangida, prevailed on his former junior counsel in his chamber, who was then a judge, to issue a stop-order that the election results should no more be announced.
In reaction, the National Legal Adviser of the electoral commission then, Buhari Bello, went to court to vacate that order. But before he returned, Babangida’s government announced the disbanding the electoral commission itself. So, on the 23rd of June, Babangida made the broadcast, announcing the annulment of Abiola’s victory. Some of us then considered this to be contemptuous, unreasonable, and a total disregard to the popular will of the Nigerian people, who voted at that election for who they preferred to govern them at that particular period. Based on that, we started consulting. First, the civil societies particularly led by the Campaign for Democracy then and other CSOs went on demonstration and the military was violently reactive.
In what way was the military violently reactive?
They killed several young people along Ikorodu Road. So, we thought that something ought to be done. As the General Secretary and spokesman for Afenifere, I met the leader, Chief Michael Ajasin in Owo, Ondo State. We had an extensive discussion as to what should be our attitude to the development. As of then, the CSOs and other people were thinking of different areas by which they could respond organisationally against the military’s decision.
So, while demonstrations were going on by the CSOs and some other groups, we, on our own, believed that we needed much more formidable Nigerians of various demographics and statuses to participate in the collective reaction of the Nigerian people against the military dictatorship that had total disregard and contempt for the masses. It was on that basis that we held an emergency meeting at Afenifere.
We asked Pa Ajasin to come to Lagos and he did. There was an emergency meeting of Afenifere held at the home of the Aiyegbusis in Yaba, Lagos.
It was at the meeting we considered the annulment of the election and what we should do to it. We concluded at the meeting to take the matter to a larger body that was already in existence called the Council for Unity and Understanding. That council comprised the East, the West, and the Middle Belt. We were already in dialogue sessions with some significant members of the far northern part of the country to join the CUU.
So, a CUU meeting was later held, and we were all in agreement that there was a need to package together a nationwide broad-based platform upon which we could challenge the arbitrariness and contemptuous attitude of the military against the popular will of Nigerians. So, we decided to invite the CSOs and the trade union, including the Nigerian Labour Congress to a meeting, which took place at the home of General Adeyinka Adebayo in Ikeja Lagos.
At the meeting, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti represented the CSOs, and Dr Fredrick Faseun represented the Nigeria Labour Congress. He had run for the position of president on the platform of the Labour Party before that annulment. So, we all met, chaired by Pa Ajasin. The meeting had a variety of Nigerians; about 53 of them, including Chief Anthony Enahoro, who moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence. The list also included many governors and activists of the old order. So, it was a large crowd, and we tabled the matter before the house.
What were your resolutions at the meeting?
At the end of the day, we made some resolutions, because at that time, (General Sani) Abacha had seized power, having staged a coup against (Chief Ernest) Shonekan. He (Abacha) promised that he was going to organise a Sovereign National Conference, but he later reneged and called it an ordinary conference. So, we resolved that we should write a letter to him (Abacha) that it was important for the military government to vacate office and allow the president-elect, Abiola, to form a government of national unity headed by him.
But the first business of such a government will be to convoke a sovereign national conference for the resolution of the national question, which is two in one. The question was: did we all want to belong to Nigeria? Perhaps because of our long-term interconnectivity and interrelationship, the answer may be yes. Then, it will be necessary for us to agree on the terms of such a union, the modus operandi, and the rules of engagement as to how we will relate together in a given geographical entity called Nigeria.
That was the parameter upon which we concluded that meeting and Abiola was out of the country at that time. He was invited to attend the inauguration of the first South African civilian president, Nelson Mandela. So, we wrote to him that he needed to attend our next CUU meeting. When he returned to Nigeria, he was informed, and he attended the meeting.
Did he agree to your resolutions at the meeting?
Yes, he consented to working with the body that we were going to form. It was at that time we concluded again that we needed to form a nationwide, broad-based national organisation for a credible, sustainable, popular campaign against the annulment and the convocation of a sovereign national conference. So, a small committee for the group was set up to look for an appropriate name for the new organisation, and they came back with the concept of NADECO, which is a coalition of several groups, ethnic nationalities, CSOs, labour unions, professional groups, traditional rulers, religion leaders, youths, women organisations, among others. That was all that was contained in the NADECO formation and that was the circumstances upon which the coalition was brought into existence.
Did you inform the Abacha’s government about the coalition?
The communiqué that we issued was first of all sent to Abacha, asking him to do the bidding that we have advised in the statement and that the president-elect, Abiola should be allowed to form a government of national unity headed by him (Abiola), among other resolutions. Then, the movement for national reformation, which was part of the groups that met together with us under Chief Anthony Enahoro, already had some encounters with some people in Abacha’s government. They already had the decree made for the conference that Abacha was going to organise. So many things were objectionable in that decree.
For example, that decree stated that 93 people were to be nominated by Abacha’s government, unelected people, and they were going to be the ones who would be saddled with the responsibility of managing the offices of that conference. That is, the major positions for the conference organising committee will be handled by them.
Another very fundamental objection we had to the decree was that after the conclusion of the conference, the outcome would be sent to the so-called Armed Forces Ruling Council, which would have powers to review, amend, subtract from, and add to the resolutions made at the conference. So, we thought that wouldn’t be the kind of sovereign national conference that Nigerians wanted. We just simply went ahead to present the communiqué to the Nigerian people in May 1994.
Looking back, how far will you say the coalition has fulfilled its objectives?
That is a very tough question to the extent that we succeeded in forcing the military back to the barracks. It was not accidental that Abacha died the way he did, neither was it accidental that they sacrificed Chief MKO Abiola just barely a month after Abacha’s demise. It led to a huge battle. But we succeeded in sending the military back to the barracks.
But I will say they went on their terms because when Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar mounted power and succeeded Abacha, Nigerians were asked to form their political parties and run during a scheduled election under Abdusalami’s transition programme. But rather than allow Nigerians to make their choice, the military oligarchy decided again to foist one of their own, who was a former military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, to be the candidate of a party, which they balloted to win the election. So, they foisted Obasanjo, their former Commander-in-Chief on us.
Are you saying that it was not an election that produced Obasanjo’s emergence as Nigeria’s civilian president?
It was an election in quote in all ramifications. You could remember that Obasanjo was imprisoned by the military. He was alleged to have taken part in a coup against Abacha. So, he was serving his jail terms. But it was the same military who, for their selfish purposes, decided to release him. They knew that releasing him would not be enough for him to contest and win an election having been convicted of treason. So, they officially pardoned him so that he could contest the election. As of the time he came back from prison, he was like a total wreck. They (the military) were the ones who sponsored and financed his election for him to mount the throne as Nigeria’s civilian president.
But what do you think could have made the military do that despite being the one that imprisoned General Obasanjo initially?
Well, the man who imprisoned Obasanjo had died and it was those who were opposed to him (Abacha) that negotiated for Obasanjo to become a civilian ruler. I think they could not trust any civilian to take over the leadership of Nigeria. That shocked people like us because if Chief Olu Falae, a former secretary to a military government and Minister of Finance under the Babangida’s military government, could not be trusted, I wondered who could be, and the military aimed to raise someone who could protect their back.
But when Obasanjo got power as a civilian president, did he truly protect the military’s back?
He did. Did he investigate anything that anybody did, except for the man who put him in jail, who stole everything that could be stolen in the country then? The man, Abacha stashed several of Nigeria’s billions of pounds and dollars in many foreign accounts. He (Obasanjo) initiated the processes to repatriate some of the stolen funds. But even now, the government is still repatriating what Abacha stole. Before Obasanjo left office, he repatriated about $2bn or so. But what else did he do?
It was reported that President Bola Tinubu was involved in the June 12, 1993, struggle. Can you tell us his level of involvement, especially with NADECO?
He (Tinubu) was in the Babagida’s transition, which created a National Assembly comprising the Senate and House of Reps. Tinubu was in the Senate at that time and he was the Chairman of the Senate Appropriation Committee. When it was obvious that Nigerians were not going to tolerate an extension of his government, Babangida went to the National Assembly that time to seek approval to extend his government. But Tinubu and other Senators at that time worked assiduously to ensure that the National Assembly rejected Babagida’s proposition.
Once Babangida failed to secure that endorsement from the National Assembly, he knew his time was up. This was Tinubu’s first involvement. Secondly, when Abacha took over power, the then Senate President, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, was removed and Senator Ameh Ebute took over power. But Senator Bola Tinubu along with Senator Ameh, and others; I can’t remember their names now, had a meeting privately and said that they were going to reopen the Senate, which Abacha had disbanded. They announced it publicly and based on this, Abacha unleashed his terror and sent out his security boys to look out for them (Tinubu and others).
Unfortunately, they were all found, picked up, and brought to Lagos. They were locked up at the Kam Selem building, which was the former headquarters of the Nigeria Police. But it is now the annexe of the national headquarters, which is currently in Abuja. They (the military) then took Tinubu and others to Alagbon. I think they spent some days there. But during that time, every evening, Senator Tinubu would reach out to me to give me classified information that he got through the police connection.
But after some time, they were taken to court because of the outcry of the people. I could remember that when they were not given bail at the initial stage, some market women in Lagos reacted and this caused so much uproar against the Abacha junta. So, when they were taken to court the second time, they were given liberal bail. That was how they were released. Based on this, Tinubu knew that he was no longer safe in the country. So, he found his way out. The rest is left for history.
A report also had it that some other people like him ran out of the country and went into exile during the struggle because the military government was after their lives. Some people were also said to have been arrested, detained, and kept in solitary confinement during the struggle. Can you throw more light on this, especially on those who went into exile and those incarcerated?
But President Tinubu mentioned their names during his national broadcast on Democracy Day. So, I don’t need to repeat myself. Let people go and look at those lists.
Since the 1993 pro-democracy struggle, why is it that we haven’t seen such kind of activism that will bring about a radical shift in the fortune of the country again?
That is a good question. We should not talk about 1993. We should rather be talking about 1998/1999 because the struggle and campaign were still very strong and elaborate up until the transition of General Abdulsalami (Abubakar). For us in NADECO, both at home and abroad, we had long sessions of disagreement as to whether or not we should participate in Gen. Abdusalami’s transition programme. Within the Nigeria chapter of NADECO then, there were quite several people saying that we should not participate, just like those in NADECO abroad.
They insisted that before we could participate in any transition programme, there must be a convocation of a sovereign national conference on whether the Nigerian national question must, first of all, be resolved and that there must be a national restructuring and a return to the federal constitutional governance upon which Nigeria secured its independence. Remember that we secured our independence in 1960 and became a Republic in 1963.
Can you buttress this point?
The Independence Constitution, which was a federal constitution, was negotiated by the ethnic nationalities because Nigeria is composed of heterogeneous people with diverse languages, different religions, cultures, traditions, artifacts, folklores, moles and morals, etc. So, between the Nigerian ethnic nationalities and nationalists who went for the constitutional conference and the British colonial masters, it was an agreed position that the only constitution that could work for us is the federal constitution which permits the component units to function independently and give certain powers to the centre, and not the other way round.
That is, the centre will not be the bulk of the component units. That was the feature. For example, on the matter of funding, there was what we know as fiscal federalism, which says that if there is something that is being produced from your region and you are exporting it to other places, 50 per cent of the proceeds you get will be retained in your region, and 30 per cent of it will be put in what is called a distributable pool, which will be shared equally among the regions.
The remaining 20 per cent is for the working of the Federal Government. Based on this, the regions were able to meet the yearnings and aspirations of their people. They were able to provide services and projects which are still evident today. It was the productivity of the First Republic statesmen and political leaders that still dominates whatever you have today in Nigeria despite all the huge sum that Nigeria had made through petroleum dollars. What is available as infrastructure and services are not commensurate with the huge sum of money that Nigeria had appropriated to itself through petroleum resources. So, something is wrong.
What could that be?
Let me state clearly that since the military captured Nigeria on January 15, 1966, they have not left us. I say this with all sense of responsibility because it is a known fact that anywhere in the world captured by the military, everything within such a geographical entity becomes part of the spoils of war. You and I have become parts of the spoils of war of the Nigerian Army. So, they have not left us. If you are in doubt, let me clear your doubt.
When they (the military) came in 1966, they governed in full military uniform for 13 years (1966 to 1979). But the person whom they drove away from the office, talking of Shehu Shagari, who was a minister under the government of the First Republic, was one of those who were sacked. But the military later returned power to him in 1979. Four years later, they said his government had messed up and that Nigeria’s hospitals had become consulting clinics. So, the army came back again as announced by General Abacha. That was in December 1983.
But they didn’t go back to the barracks again until 1999. That was about 15 years later. That was 28 years altogether. When we again forced them to go back to the barracks, they foisted their former commander-in-chief, Obasanjo, upon us. He tried his best to get a third term, but when he couldn’t get it; we all know what he did.
Obasanjo knew somebody was challenged healthwise. Yet, he propelled the person to take over power from him (Obasanjo). He thought he would be able to govern the person remotely. But that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, the man didn’t survive. In addition, because the man who took over from him, Jonathan, wanted to be a man in his way, Obasanjo became a letter writer. This resulted in a new election that produced another former military commander-in-chief to be Nigeria’s civilian president, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who spent eight years.
So, we had eight years of Obasanjo in Agbada and another eight years of Buhari in Agbada. The military in uniform spent 28 years while the military in Agbada had 16 years, which was 48 years altogether. That is why all public institutions in Nigeria today have been so corrupted, perverted, and strongly influenced by the army. Most of the people who had left and others who succeeded them were under the influence of the military, directly or indirectly.
But how can Nigeria be free and experience true democratic governance?
That is what the occasional intervention of NADECO since President Tinubu came into office has been moving towards. The most important is that Nigeria should return to federal constitutional governance upon which we secured our independence. All other necessary things; for instance, Nigerians are indeed going through harrowing economic misery and an intolerable level of poverty.
I believe that of all the people who had preceded President Tinubu in office, none of them has his level of economic expertise, which he ought to deploy quickly to lift Nigerians out of the current economic deprivations that we are going through. Despite all that he had announced, the results were not fast enough. So, he needs to redouble his efforts because Nigerians need breathing space. He cannot continue this way. He (Tinubu) knows what to do; he had been part of us as we were together in the trenches.
Fortunately, the challenge we are placing before him is not undoable. In his Democracy Day speech, he also alluded to it that he would not disappoint us. He knows what we fought for. But he should not leave that till he has accomplished his economic turnaround, which is a bread-and-butter matter. They are also necessary and important. But the much more fundamental matter is a return to the federal constitutional arrangement upon which we secured our independence.
That is the only thing that will put his name in gold. First, Nigerians did not request a unitarised and centralised form of governance. It was the military that suspended and abrogated the federal constitution when they captured Nigeria in 1966. They then foisted upon us an executive presidential system that was only practised then in the US. They didn’t give enough thought to what they did.
In what way and why was the US presidential system wrong for Nigeria?
America is not Nigeria, and Nigeria is not America. America is a country of immigrants. But Nigeria is composed of many indigenous heterogeneous people who had owned their lands, waters, forests, mountains, and mineral resources for several thousands of years before the invasion of their communities by the British colonialists, who used the superiority of their guns to subdue, oppress, intimidate and ethically cleanse some of our people out of their land. But as things are now, it is possible for us if President Tinubu is mindful of his place in history and that time is not on his side.
For many years, there have been calls for restructuring. Even recently, there were calls for a return to the Republican Constitution. But why have these calls been falling on deaf ears?
It is because a significant chunk of the Nigerian populace is benefitting from the centralised system we run, even though it has occasioned injustice, inequity, discrimination on various parameters, and total disregard and contempt for the rule of law.