JUNE 12: Abiola okayed Kingibe, Jakande, others for Abacha govt – Zwingina

Director-General, Hope 93,’ the Campaign Organisation of Chief MKO Abiola, Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina, has cleared the air on the participation of some members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the government of the Late General Sani Abacha.
He also declared that Alhaji Bashir Tofa, the National Republican Convention candidate in the June 12 1993 election, did not deserve the kind of honour recently bestowed on Abiola, his SDP rival.
The former deputy leader of the Senate in 1999, also said the court’s pronouncement on the illegality of the Earnest Shonekan-led Interim National Government was not sufficient to help the June 12 cause.
Abiola was believed to have coasted home to victory during the poll before the then Military President Ibrahim Babangida annulled the election.
However, 25 years after, President Muhammadu Buhari revisited the issue and conferred a posthumous award of GCFR, the highest national honour, on Abiola, and GCON on his running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe, and late human rights activist, Chief Gani Oyefeso Fawehinmi, SAN.
And speaking yesterday on the circumstances around the annulment as well as the followup development, Zwingina, who headed the campaign organisation, said it was wrong to describe Kingibe, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, Chief Olu Onagoruwa and other SDP elements who participated in the Abacha government as betrayers.
Rather, the ex-lawmaker who featured on Focus on Africa, an AIT breakfast show yesterday, monitored in Ilorin, said Bashorun Abiola was instrumental to their joining the Abacha government.
He said with the pronouncement of the ING as illegal, the military stepped in and invited Abiola and his team.
According to him, upon the annulment, the SDP standard bearer and his team employed various methods such as reaching out to “our international friends, mass action as well as the judiciary, but the dominant tendencies in government then were against us.
“Yes, the court declared the Interim National Government as illegal, but it did not go far to say Abiola was the winner.
If the court had compelled Professor Nwosu(Chairman, National Electoral Commission) to give testimonies in court and consequently declare the result, that would have solved the problem.
But the court’s pronouncement stopped at declaring the interim government illegal, and before we could say Jack Robinson, the military stepped in.
“In all of these, Abiola acted like a true statesman who believed in constitutionality and the rule of law.
We were approached by the military government in a manner that suggested that the government that came in would restore power to Abiola.
This was very explicit. The two principal actors (Abiola and Abacha) met, and the impression we had was that after six months, or at most one year, the mandate would be validated and power handed over to us.” Recalling the scenario playing out then, Zwingina said the proposition by the military regime to have some of the party leaders in the government was tabled before all stakeholders; hence the participation of Kingibe and others in the Abacha government.
“There was this issue that the government wanted some of our leaders to be part of it.
Some people were not comfortable with it, but the majority of us agreed that our leaders should be given positions in government (Abacha’s).
But with the passage of time, it became so clear that things wouldn’t work out that way.
“Like I said, there were people who disagreed, but it was Chief MKO Abiola himself who told them that if you refused to be part of the government, who will speak for me when June 12 is discussed.
At that point, they were disarmed and became convinced.
So, it is wrong to say those who participated in the government were being treacherous.
It was not treachery as some people believed,” explained the former lawmaker.
Speaking on some dissenting views like that coming from Tofa on the award, he said: “You won’t expect the NRC to be happy with the award, but they should know that losers don’t deserve to be given any award, you don’t give trophy to one who is defeated in a contest.
It is only the winner that gets rewarded and awarded.” He also faulted that claim in some quarters that the award was political and Greek Gift by the APC-led government to secure votes in the 2019 elections.
“It is not a Greek Gift and the president is not desperate.
Secondly, he didn’t stop previous presidents from doing same, and thirdly it’s not about getting votes from the South-west because Abiola is not a South-west product, but a national product as he as overwhelmingly voted for in 28 states, and even defeating Tofa in his ward.
I want to also add that even if the award was political, as claimed by some, it was patriotic.” On others deserving similar awards, Zwingina listed the late Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, and the NEC boss, Professor Nwosu, among others