June 12: Babangida Should Be Prosecuted, Punished For Coup Against Abiola’s Administration — CDHR

LAGOS – The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has said that former Military President General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, should be prosecuted and punished for staging a coup against the Chief Moshood Abiola administration.

The CDHR, in a statement issued on Friday by its National President, Debo Adeniran, said it was saddened by the recent admission by General Babangingida of annulling the election of Chief Abiola, an offence it stressed amounted to crime against humanity.

The CDHR stressed that Babangida’s belated confession about his role in the annulment was an attempt to hoodwink the unwary Nigerians to believe that the former military ruler, who it described as mischievous the dictator, actually meant well by the brazen socio-political and moral assault he unleashed on the people by his inglorious act.

The CDHR stated: “Although, we had viewed the June 12 election as being an unfair exercise, going by all the shenanigans that preceded the election.

“These included prevention of willing political associations from transmuting to political parties; creating political parties for politicians; banning, unbanning of eligible politicians from contesting in the election; the creation of political structures, programmes and manifestos for politicians and imposition of alien ideological leanings on Nigerians.

“We insisted that despite widely regarded as the most peaceful and freest election in Nigeria’s history it was, like the military dictatorship that orchestrated it, not fair, but could be tolerated.

“The worst of the unfair treatments unleashed on the 14 million citizens who voted in the election by the self-acclaimed Evil Genius was the inexplicable annulment announced on June 23, 1993 when the world expected the announcement of Chief MKO Abiola, the most credible and popular candidate, as winner.

“This reckless, illegal and unconstitutional action remains one of the gravest injustices inflicted upon the Nigerian people, undermining democracy, destabilising the nation, and robbing millions of Nigerians of their fundamental right to freely elect their leader.”

According to the CDHR, General Babangida’s belated admission was not only an affront to the principles of democracy and justice, but also a clear acknowledgment of his direct involvement in an act that plunged Nigeria into years of political turmoil, civil unrest, loss of lives and properties and inestimable economic hardship.

“It should therefore be regarded as a coup d’état to the administration of M.K.O Abiola, who was robbed in broad daylight and denied the opportunity of savouring his well-deserved victory at the polls.

“The annulment of the June 12 election led to severe human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, political assassinations, and the suppression of press freedom. “In light of this, we call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to immediately order the prosecution of General Babangida for crimes against humanity and for orchestrating a coup d’état that subverted the democratic will of the Nigerian people.

“This prosecution should not be difficult since the chief plotter has confessed to these crimes in public and in writing as published in his bloody book that could have been ‘A Journey into Perdition’ mistitled ‘A Journey in Service’.

“The fact that the result of that election was already in public domain and everybody knew that Abiola won the election, before Babangida in his typical deft ‘Maradonic’ maneouvering of people’s sensibilities stopped the official announcement of the remaining results, made the annulment as good as committing a coup d’état against the administration the people voted for.

“His actions meet the threshold of crime against humanity, as they resulted in widespread human rights abuses and the repression of pro-democracy activists and ultimately affected a huge number of people who were affected by the misrule and misgovernance that followed that inglorious annulment.

“We would also like to remind President Tinubu that just as he said that Babangida lost the opportunity to become a hero with the annulment of the June 12 election, he (President Tinubu) should not lose that opportunity of becoming the hero of the June 12 struggle by announcing MKO Abiola as a past Nigerian president with full privileges of the status posthumously granted him and his family.

“We would also like the Government of the day to punish the likes of all beneficiaries of the coup d’état, especially late Chief Ernest Shonekan, and those that served in his kangaroo and illegal cabinet called the ‘Interim National Government.

“His successor, late Gen. Sanni Abacha, Justice Ikpeme, who delivered the midnight verdict to accentuate the journey to perdition, spineless late Humphrey Nwosu, who succumbed to illegal instructions to truncate announcement of the election results and all others who benefitted from the annulment of the election one way or the other.

“We recommend that the national honours conferred on them should be withdrawn and the benefits being paid to the families of the dead ones among them should also be withdrawn.

“All the physical belongings that they may have acquired during their illegal stay in office should also be confiscated even when some of them could no longer be prosecuted because they are no longer alive.

“Furthermore, we urge the Nigerian judiciary, relevant anti-corruption agencies, and international human rights organisations to take decisive action in ensuring that justice is served.

“The culture of impunity must end, and those responsible for Nigeria’s democratic setbacks must be held accountable.

“Justice for June 12 is justice for democracy, and Nigeria must never allow such an egregious crime to go unpunished. The time for accountability is now.”