Flashback 1999: Transition to civil rule

General Abdulsalami Abubakar faced two major challenges when he took over as Nigeria’s head of state in June 1998, following the sudden death of General Sani Abacha.

The first was how to unite his colleagues in the military who were not on common ground about the way forward and secondly, how to meander through the maze the nation found itself caused by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections by military president, Ibrahim Babangida.

Prior to the annulment of the election, Military President Babangida, who replaced General Muhammadu Buhari in a palace coup, had taken Nigerians through tortuous journeys in the name of transition programmes that people began to lose faith about Nigeria returning to civil rule.

There were elections conducted on zero party basis; old breed politicians were barred from participating in the transition programme; a political bureau was set up to recommend a system of government and transition process, a process known as Option A4 was later adopted; the transition programme succeeded in putting in place democratic structures at the state level and national legislature, but ran into hitches when it came to the issue of presidential elections.

At the end, Babangida was forced to step aside and he handed over to a structure he called the Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

General Sani Abacha sacked the ING and assumed position as head of state on November 17, 1993.

Abacha started his own transition programme that favoured his transmuting from a military head of state to a democratically elected president until he died.

As at the time General Abdulsalami Abubakar took over, the South West was restive based on perceived injustice over the annulment and the entire citizenry was sceptical about having another military regime.

Former Director in the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Nick Dazang, told our correspondent that as at 1998 when General Abdulsalami Abubakar assumed power as Head of State, the country had been galvanised, inexorably, towards transiting from protracted military rule to democratic governance.

“He came against the background of agitations, first against the annulment of the Presidential election of June 12, 1993 and what most Nigerians saw as a usurpation of Chief Moshood Abiola’s mandate by General Abacha.”

He said the annulment was preceded by a convoluted political transition programme by General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha’s shambolic attempt to transmute himself into the presidency using the then five political parties that fronted for him.

“The country thus had no stomach for continued military rule. Pro-democracy activists, particularly the Campaign for Democracy(CD) Civil Liberties Organisation(CLO), the National Democratic Coalition(NADECO) fought against continued military rule. NADECO, especially, with some of its members in exile, piled considerable pressure on the international community, which in turn, insisted on a speedy transition to democracy,” he recalled.

There were also talks about Chief Moshood Abiola, the man believed to have won the June 12, 1993 elections reclaiming his ‘mandate.’

But the following month after Abdulsalami took over, Chief Abiola also passed away.

This came with its own problems as many questions were raised over the circumstances of the death. Calm however returned after a while and Abdulsalami was able to address the nation.

Realising the delicate state Nigeria was in, the then head of state described the situation the nation found itself as the “last chance to get our act together” and announced the establishment of a committee to review the 1995 draft Constitution and made a commitment towards returning the country to civil rule.

During the Abacha era, there were five registered political parties namely: United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP); Congress for National Consensus (CNC); National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN); Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM).

But they were not allowed to continue as all of them had stained their reputation with the bid to adopt Abacha as their presidential candidate.

The head of state dissolved the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON) in August 1998 and established the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) while appointing Justice Ephraim Akpata as the pioneer chairman.

By December of the same year, INEC successfully conducted local government council elections across the country. Performance in the LG elections was used as one of the criteria for registering new political parties and three political parties: People’s Democratic Party (PDP); All People’s Party (APP); and Alliance for Democracy (AD) were registered to contest the 1999 general elections.

Dazang recalls that relatively, the local government elections conducted by INEC under the military were smooth.

“They were a departure from the unedifying coronations we now witness by State Independent Electoral Commissions(SIECs).

He said following the government’s attempt to meddle in the conduct in one of the South East States, the then INEC chairman, Professor Eme Awa, resigned and the government, to save face, framed the resignation in terms of having “irreconcilable differences” with the Professor.

The primaries of the three major political parties to present their presidential candidates also came with high drama.

The Alliance for Democracy (AD) has to go into an alliance with APP to produce a presidential candidate. After the alliance Olu Falae was presented as the candidate of the APP while Olusegun Obasanjo, who was fresh from prison, emerged as the candidate of the PDP.

The APP paired Falae with Umaru Shinkafi as running mate while Obasanjo picked Atiku Abubakar who had just won the governorship election in his state as his running mate.

Elections held on February 1999 and the APP won 20 out of 109 Senate seats and 68 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives while in the presidential election which held on February 29, 1999, PDP candidate Olusegun Obasanjo won with 62.78 per cent of the votes cast.

Falae contested the outcome of the elections in court but was not successful in getting judgement in his favour.

Obasanjo was sworn in on May 29, 1999 leading to the current democratic dispensation, an unbroken 26 years which is the longest period of civil rule Nigeria has experienced since independence.

Mohammed Haruna, who served as the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to General Abdulsalami Abubakar, recalled that the handover date was brought forward from the traditional October I to May 29 because the then head of state wanted to conclude the transition programme and hand over to a civilian administration as quickly as possible.

General Abdulsalami Abubakar became head of state on June 9, 1998 and spent 11 months in office.

Haruna recalled that there was  pressure on the General to extend the transition programme beyond the timeline but that he stood his ground and worked by the clock.

“Initially he even wanted to conclude the transition within six months but had to stay for 11 months,” he explained.

Highlighting the role of INEC, Dazang believes a lot has to be done to earn the trust and confidence of Nigerians.

“In the 1999 presidential election, voter turn out was 52.26 per cent. In the 2023 presidential election, voter turn out plunged to 26.72 per cent. Why are Nigerians, in their millions, keeping away from the polls? Certainly, not all the challenges are caused by INEC.

“The politicians, who have failed to deliver good governance, and on whose watch insecurity and poverty have worsened, are largely to blame. But the Commission must address the issue of voter apathy. It must conduct elections that meet the best standards of credibility and transparency.”

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