ALJAZEERA
On February 25, Africa’s largest democracy will hold its sixth election since the return to civilian leadership in 1999. The polls in Nigeria will be held a few months shy of the 30th anniversary of the annulled 1993 presidential elections, widely seen as the “freest and fairest” in the country’s history.
In January 1966, six years after Nigeria’s independence, a coup – the country’s first – ended civilian rule. It was not until 1979 that a military government handed over to a democratic administration but that peace was punctured by a New Year’s Eve coup four years later.
The military regime set up a timeline for return to civilian leadership and established two parties for the 1992/1993 electoral season: the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC).
On June 12, 1993, as incoming results of the presidential vote showed that the SDP’s Mooshood “MKO” Abiola was heading for a landslide victory, the military annulled the election and disbanded both parties. A civilian-led interim government was installed and Abiola was arrested, alongside several opponents of the annulment.
Already, parallels are being drawn between both elections.
Bola Tinubu, leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and a front-line candidate in this election, sits atop a Muslim-Muslim (president-vice president) ticket that is causing controversy.
In a country split almost evenly between the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, an unwritten agreement exists in the major parties, for rotation of the presidency between north and south and both religions.
The incumbent president is Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim, who succeeded Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian. Tinubu, a southern Muslim is the first to jettison that arrangement since 1993 when Abiola – also a southern Muslim – did so.
After the annulment, Tinubu, who had been elected as a senator in Lagos, joined a coalition of politicians and civil society leaders to press for the return to civilian rule.
The APC chieftain is now one of 18 candidates jostling to succeed Buhari, whose second term ends this May.
Except for Labour Party candidate Peter Obi – whose current campaign chief was the NRC spokesman in 1993 – the other leading contestants came to national relevance in the 1992/1993 electoral season, now being called the “class of 1993”.
Atiku Abubakar – who lost in the SDP presidential primaries to Abiola – and Rabiu Kwankwaso – elected into federal parliament in that season – are also contesting the presidency this year on the platforms of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and New Nigeria’s People’s Party (NNPP)…
