A former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, who was the National Secretary of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, has made some shocking revelations on why the 1993 presidential election was annulled.
Lamido, who is also aspiring for the presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 election told Punch that the June 12 1993 election was annulled by the military because the country owed MKO Abiola about N45 billion.
He said that the military feared that Abiola, the adjudged winner of the election, would have taken his money if he assumed office as president and leave the country bankrupt.
Lamido said, “They then told me the reason why they annulled June 12.
“When (General) Murtala (Muhammed) died, Abiola came in with a claim that he was owed, I think, about N 45 bn for contracts executed by International Telephone and Telecommunication for the Ministry of Communications.
“The military high command at that time said no. He went round the Emirs in the North to lobby and the emirs asked that they (military) should please pay the money.
“They (military) said they cancelled the June 12 elections because if they made him President, he would take his money and the country will become bankrupt.
“Those who were close to Abacha should know this, because Abacha was then one of the big shots; they were all aware. There was this Bosnian war going on in Yugoslavia. I said sir ; the Nigerian people are very innocent. This is like the case of a Bosnian woman raped by a Christian Serb who got pregnant.
“Yes, it is true that the pregnancy is a product of rape but this is also my flesh and blood, I cannot kill it. This (election) is my baby, my flesh and blood, I will not kill it.
“I said so. We went through a process and expenditure, the campaign, the Election Day and even the entire government machinery was involved in the election which we won and you are now coming with the excuse that you owed some money. That’s your problem. The baby is my baby.
“Yes, it is a product of rape but I can’t kill it. At that time, the Nigerian mood had been worked to go
against June 12.”
