Kingibe: Obasanjo knew about June 12 annulment

June 13, 2019 10:36 am

Pic.15. President Muhammadu Buhari presenting a GCON Award to a former Vice Presidential candidate of the SDP in the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, Amb. Babagana Kingibe, during a Special National Honours Investiture at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday (12/6/18). 03140/12/6/2018/Callistus Ewelike/BJO/NAN

Babagana Kingibe, running mate of MKO Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, says he has a video recording of the events surrounding the election.

Kingibe said this on Wednesday when he featured on a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme.

The former ambassador had been criticised as not been part of the struggle after the election was annulled by former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida.

He once served as foreign minister under Sani Abacha, late head of state, who jailed Abiola in the heat of the struggle.

But speaking during the live programme, Kingibe admitted that he has been silent on the issue. He said though he knew all that transpired during and after the election, telling the stories would diminish other people’s views on it.

“This is the first time that I am addressing the issue. Sometimes, I am bemused (but) I am not surprised about the comments that people were making about June 12; the claims on June 12, those who stood on June 12 and so on,” he said.

“I know every detail of what happened and there is no way that one can tell the truth about June 12 without perhaps diminishing some people’s own; without taking away from the significance and the solemnity of that day.

“I have actually recorded my recollections of those days and those events. I hope that I will have the opportunity to air my recording one day. It is in video recording, not audio recording.”

OBASANJO’S ROLE

Kingibe said Olusegun Obasanjo, former president, was one of the architects of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, though he had made effort to see how issues arising from the annulment would be addressed.

“In the aftermath of the annulment, one of the architects of the annulment, former president Olusegun Obasanjo tried to get some elder statesmen, I think at the African Leadership Forum, to see how the aftermath of the annulment could be addressed or to see how the problems arising from the annulment could be addressed,” he said.

“And I think President Muhammadu Buhari did attend the meeting once, the inaugural meeting. I understood that when he (Buhari) saw the direction of the meeting, he decided not to attend again.

“Every time the issue of the annulment came up over the years, his position was very clear; it was very firm that the election was free, fair and there was a clear winner. And that the annulment was unjustified.”