Delay is not Delilah
Babangida finally admits June 12 was his fault
Good morning, Big Brains. Nigeria reminds me every now and again what a weird country it is. Today’s edition of the newsletter is a mixture of annoying and tiring. Buckle up.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1, 000
Reading time ~ 3 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Babangida takes responsibility for the annulment of June 12 elections
The Senate President clashes with a female Senator
The Big Deal
Babangida takes responsibility for the annulment of June 12 elections
Chronic gaslighting might just be a compulsory course taken by administrations of different Nigerian governments because it can’t be a coincidence that they’re all so good at it. After 32 years of suggestive silence, Nigeria’s former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, has finally admitted that Moshood Abiola actually won the popular June 12 elections of 1993.
Babangida made this revelation on Thursday, February 20, at the launch of his autobiography in Abuja. This gist would be less complicated if his confession had stopped there, but it didn’t— the military leader went on to reveal that forces behind the scene were behind the announcement of the annulment, and by forces, he meant General Sani Abacha of the Abacha loot fame.
Babangida said it went down like this— On June 16, days after the election, the chairman of Nigeria’s National Electoral Commission at the time, Professor Humphrey Nwosu, announced the suspension of the election without any notice to him. Then, on June 23, when he travelled to Katsina on a condolence visit to the Yar’Adua family, he heard that the election had been annulled.
Recalling all of this in his book and at the event launching it, Babangida specifically said that while those actions were taken without his full backing, he is wholly sorry to Nigerians for it because it happened in his administration regardless.
Why is this a big deal?
We’ll count a thousand reasons if you let us, but we’re going to deal with the basics— knowing all that he knew at the time, Babangida never spoke up or hinted that something was not right; instead, he made a national broadcast suggesting that the election had been annulled because there were reports of electoral malpractice.
We’re not sure why he’s making a U-turn after all these years to admit the elections were free and fair and that Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) had won it fair and square, but we’re not handing him any cookies for it.
To this day, June 12 has been praised by both national and international stakeholders as Nigeria’s most transparent election, yet Babangida never admitted it and, in doing that, played into the annulment, a singular decision that dragged Nigeria back by so many years, first, through the civil unrest that ensued due to the obvious injustice, the prolongation of military rule in the country, and other indirect ripple effects.
This whole drama also points to a nagging possibility that the habit of the Nigerian government to hurt and then gaslight its citizens might not be a thing of the past after all. It reminds us, too, of the shootings at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, and how the government has continued to deny wrongdoing, dismissing live footage of the shootings as “doctored footage.”
It’s even crazier when you remember that just like Babangida, the Lagos State governor, Sanwo Olu, alleged that “powers” beyond him ordered the tollgate shootings. In light of Babangida’s confession and apology after three decades, It might actually be time to ask afresh who really ordered the shooting of innocent citizens at the Lekki tollgate and many other things they have lied about.
The Senate President clashes with a female senator
Depending on what corner of the internet you dwelled on yesterday, you may or may not have seen the video of the altercation between Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti. We’ll give you a brief rundown if you haven’t.
So, on Thursday, February 20, a serious drama erupted in the Senate Chamber between Akpoti and Akpabio during a plenary session, and it all started with a seat change.
Akpabio changed the Senator’s seat from her usual position to the last row without her consent or prior information. She refused to get with the new seating arrangement and, as a result, was not allowed to speak during the plenary session. Pissed off that she was being ignored while her hands were up, the Senator raised her voice to call out the Senate President for what she described as a deliberate attempt at silencing her through various tactics.
The Senate Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno, on the other hand, said that her seat had been changed due to opposition Senators' defection to the APC. In response to the abrupt change, he referenced Section 6(1) of the Senate Standing Rules, which empowers the Senate President to change Senators’ sitting positions when he deems it necessary and without prior information.
The gag is that Akpoti still did not buy that explanation because, according to her, it was way more than that. “Mr Senate President, I have taken a whole lot from you. Sir, I don’t want to speak publicly because I will let Nigerians know how you have discriminated against me, how you have maligned me, how you have dehumanised me,” she said partly.
A wise man once said that if it quacks like a duck and sounds like a duck, there’s a heavy chance it’s a duck. This saying would usually apply 100 per cent of the time, but we don’t know what to say here, especially since Senate laws back Akpabio’s move and especially because there was a logical explanation for the seat change. We’ll just drop the facts and let you make the conclusion yourself:
Coincidentally, Natasha Akpoti has recently been removed as the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Local Content and moved to a less attractive Committee.
Also, in July 2024, Akpabio made a nightclub remark after the Senator spoke without recognition.
In a slightly similar incident in December 2024, the Senator representing the FCT, Ireti Kingibe, angrily walked out of the Senate chamber after Akpabio refused to grant her permission to present her motions about demolitions in Abuja.
So what’s your verdict?
This Week’s Big Question
“If you could meet one Nigerian politician (dead or alive), who would it be?”
Nathan’s response - “Nobody. I’m tired, and I’m sure they are too”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting Nathan’s , we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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