Today, Friday 12th of June 2026, marks the 33rd anniversary of the historic “June 12” phenomenon of Nigerian democracy. On that day in 1993, Nigerians elected a new president under General Ibrahim Babangida’s decreed two-party system. The parties on the presidential ballot were the Social Democratic Party (SDP), with Chief Moshood Abiola as the candidate, and the National Republican Convention (NRC), which had Alhaji Bashir Tofa, as its flagbearer. The Electoral Umpire then was the National Electoral Commission (NEC) with Prof Humphrey Nwosu, as the Chairman.
The NEC had rolled out its “Option A4” open ballot strategy, whereby voters queued in front of the photos/parties of their preferred candidates and were counted. It was a transparent system that left very little room for rancour, ballot snatching and result falsification during collation. What made June 12 a milestone was that for the first time, Nigerians forgot their ethnic, religious and regional biases and voted for the Muslim/Muslim ticket of Abiola and his running mate, Ambassador Babagana Kingibe. It was a power shift that ended regional dominance and witnessed the first ever emergence of a Southerner as president of Nigeria.
Unfortunately, President Babangida annulled the election on 23rd June. Nigeria was plunged into a six-year political impasse, during which we saw the rise and fall of the General Sani Abacha military regime, a Constitutional Conference that enacted compromises for future political cohabitation, the death of Abiola and Abacha and the deliberate shift of power to the South-West through the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo. A major, enduring outcome of the June 12 and its aftermath is the rotation of power between the North and South. Unfortunately, it has only benefited the North-West and South-West, with the South-South inheriting the Umaru Yar’ Adua regime through his erstwhile Deputy, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
Another fallout was the enactment of the Federal Character Principle in Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution to ensure national equity and avoid sectional domination. However, failure to faithfully implement the rotation and federal character principles have contributed to the general weakening of Nigeria, especially in the security and economic fronts. It is a sad irony that the political parties that recently adopted the “direct primaries” system perfected on June 12 1993, shamelessly abused it by roguishly jumping numbers during the counting, thus demonstrating that rigging has become part of their political DNAs. Unlike Prof Nwosu’s fiercely assertive independent NEC which led the crusade for the credible June 12 election, today’s electoral umpire is generally perceived as a “department of the presidency”.
The impetus of June 12 has been lost. Nigeria’s democracy is in need of a new beginning, starting with the total reform of the INEC and the Judiciary to restore their independence from Executive manipulations. Who will bell the cat?
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