Judge who annulled June 12 election is dead

Dahiru Saleh, the judge who annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election, is dead.

A family source disclosed this to TheCable. The source said Saleh was buried at the palace of the emir of Azare around 4:30pm on Thursday.

Until his death, he held the title of “Mutawalle” of Katagum emirate in Bauchi. He was the chief judge of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court.

June 12, 1993 election was adjudged as one of the most credible in the history of the country.

MKO Abiola, the Social Democratic Party candidate, was leading Bashir Tofa, his National Republican Convention rival, by a wide margin but the exercise was cancelled ahead of the final announcement of results.

Saleh had annulled the election based on the order of Ibrahim Babaginda, who was the military president. The decree of Babaginda ousted the jurisdiction of courts so his order was not supposed to have any effect.

The annulment of the election threw the country into chaos as protesters hit the streets, calling on Babangida to step down.

Babaginda had eventually stepped aside, while Ernest Shonekan took over as interim president but Sani Abacha, the late military dictator, overthrew Shonekan less than three months later.

Abiola was later arrested by the regime of Abacha and he died in detention.

Born on August 22, 1939, he attended Azare Primary School between 1948 and 1951; Azare Senior Primary School between 1952 and 1955; and Barewa College, Zaria from 1956 to 1960.

He then proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and later Council of Legal Education London.