June 12: Politicians Played Both Sides During Crisis, Abdulsalami Reveals in Memoir

Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has disclosed that several politicians who publicly identified with the struggle for the validation of Chief MKO Abiola’s June 12 mandate were secretly aligned with the government during the crisis that followed the annulment of the 1993 presidential election.

Abdulsalami made the revelations in Chapter 16 of his 264-page autobiography, Call of Duty, unveiled during its public presentation at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.

In the book, the former military ruler offered a candid assessment of Nigeria’s political class, describing politicians across party lines as “a tribe on their own” who often exploit ethnic and religious sentiments in public while maintaining cordial relationships behind closed doors.

He recounted a story shared with him by the late Bashir Tofa, the National Republican Convention (NRC) presidential candidate who contested against Abiola in the historic June 12, 1993 election.

According to Abdulsalami, Tofa narrated how some politicians approached him for financial support, claiming they needed funds to mobilise voters in their respective wards and promising to secure votes in his favour.

“The late Alhaji Bashir Tofa told me that some politicians visited him seeking money for mobilisation. They assured him they would deliver votes to him, and he gave them what they requested,” Abdulsalami wrote.

However, Tofa was reportedly stunned when he later visited the state chairman of Abiola’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) and discovered the same politicians at the meeting.

“He eventually lost Kano and even his own ward to Abiola. Such is the way of politicians,” the former Head of State stated.

Abdulsalami also recalled an earlier experience from the 1980s while serving as Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Defence Academy. During the crisis that split the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) into factions loyal to Mallam Aminu Kano and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, he said he visited a friend’s guest house and found politicians from both camps socialising together.

“I was shocked. These were politicians who, in public, were pretending not to have any point of connection, and the masses were fighting each other because of them. Here, they were hobnobbing, away from public view,” he wrote.

He noted that his perception of politicians hardened further when he later watched one of the same politicians publicly attacking members of the rival camp on national television.

Drawing parallels with the June 12 crisis, Abdulsalami said the same pattern of duplicity played out during the political turmoil that followed the annulment of the election.

“I saw a similar drama during the June 12 crisis. Ordinary Nigerians did not know what was going on behind the scenes. Some of those they thought were for Abiola were actually with the government,” he wrote.

Reflecting on the annulment itself, Abdulsalami said he was serving as Chief of Policy and Plans at Army Headquarters when former military President General Ibrahim Babangida terminated the transition programme.

Although he maintained a close relationship with Babangida dating back to their childhood, he stressed that he was not part of the Armed Forces Ruling Council, the country’s highest decision-making body at the time, and had no direct role in the transition process.

“I was not even a member of the transition programme council (AFRC), the highest ruling body in the Armed Forces,” he said, adding that Babangida was under no obligation to explain the reasons behind the annulment to him.

The former Head of State urged Nigerians to be more discerning and avoid allowing politicians to manipulate them through ethnic and religious divisions.

“I believe Nigerians must no longer allow politicians to fool them and cause division along ethnic and religious lines,” he said.

According to him, despite their public disagreements, politicians often maintain private relationships, while ordinary citizens bear the consequences of political conflicts.

“From my experience of the Nigerian political environment, my conclusion has always been that it is the people, the masses, who really do not understand that they are only pawns in the hands of politicians,” Abdulsalami stated.