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LequteMan
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Justice Dahiru Saleh, the Judge who made the judicial pronouncement annulling the June 12, 1993 presidential election, has stated that Ibrahim Babangida had nothing to do with the annulment.
In an interview with The Interview, the former Chief Judge of Nigeria took sole responsibility of the action which plunged Nigeria into a major political crisis.
It's widely assumed that Babangida instructed him to annul the election, which MKO Abiola won. However, Saleh said it isn't so.
"The former president did nothing of the sort. There were so many cases and I cannot remember all the cases off-hand. There was the case against MKO Abiola and it was before one of my judges; she was Igbo but I can’t remember her name. She started the case, then fell sick and was flown out of the country for treatment. Then there was another case against him (MKO Abiola) and I had to transfer the case from the other judge’s court to my court. During that time it turned that Abiola didn’t even finish the case before he disappeared. Later, I learnt he had been arrested by authorities.
He added that people held Babangida responsible for the action because he was close to Abiola.
"I believe one of the reasons must be that Babangida was very close to Abiola in those days. They were very close and there were so many assumptions regarding the relationship between the two of them. But the point is, in those days, the Yorubas wanted Abiola to become president; he was seen as a kind and considerate man to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Unfortunately, he wanted to be the president but he couldn’t be. While the political blame must be on President Babangida, he (Babangida) did nothing of the sort to stop him, using my court.
He also questioned why the decision wasn't appealed by Abiola and his party members.
"If Abiola wasn’t happy with the case, he could have appealed it to the Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court. The judicial system was still open but he chose not to follow it. Why no one followed up the annulment of the election in the higher courts is best known to members of Abiola’s party at that time. If he, as an individual, was not interested, there must have been other people who would be interested to see the end of the story but they didn’t appeal."
In an interview with The Interview, the former Chief Judge of Nigeria took sole responsibility of the action which plunged Nigeria into a major political crisis.
It's widely assumed that Babangida instructed him to annul the election, which MKO Abiola won. However, Saleh said it isn't so.
"The former president did nothing of the sort. There were so many cases and I cannot remember all the cases off-hand. There was the case against MKO Abiola and it was before one of my judges; she was Igbo but I can’t remember her name. She started the case, then fell sick and was flown out of the country for treatment. Then there was another case against him (MKO Abiola) and I had to transfer the case from the other judge’s court to my court. During that time it turned that Abiola didn’t even finish the case before he disappeared. Later, I learnt he had been arrested by authorities.
He added that people held Babangida responsible for the action because he was close to Abiola.
"I believe one of the reasons must be that Babangida was very close to Abiola in those days. They were very close and there were so many assumptions regarding the relationship between the two of them. But the point is, in those days, the Yorubas wanted Abiola to become president; he was seen as a kind and considerate man to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Unfortunately, he wanted to be the president but he couldn’t be. While the political blame must be on President Babangida, he (Babangida) did nothing of the sort to stop him, using my court.
He also questioned why the decision wasn't appealed by Abiola and his party members.
"If Abiola wasn’t happy with the case, he could have appealed it to the Court of Appeal, to the Supreme Court. The judicial system was still open but he chose not to follow it. Why no one followed up the annulment of the election in the higher courts is best known to members of Abiola’s party at that time. If he, as an individual, was not interested, there must have been other people who would be interested to see the end of the story but they didn’t appeal."
