Glorious payback for June 12, By Wole Olaoye

Thank you, Mr President. If any seer had predicted in 1993 that a day would come when the heroes of the June 12 struggle would be honoured, such a crystal gazer would have been labelled a fraud. Everything was loaded against the pro-democracy groups. Many of those operating under the radar lived in trepidation. The fear of Colonel Omenka, the dread of every editor and reporter, was the beginning of wisdom. I remember that on one occasion when he sent his boys to scatter Academy Press on the suspicion that the next edition of MONTHLY LIFE was going to carry a story not favourable to the Abacha government, I was simply whisked to Apapa. Some people taken away like that never returned.

The Abacha season was the era the vultures ate.

Restoration

The restoration of June 12 to our national remembrance happened two years ago when President Buhari, on the prodding of his political allies led by Tinubu, kept a date with history by acknowledging the truth about the 1993 elections squarely won by Chief MKO Abiola. He apologised to the pro-democracy groups on behalf of Nigeria and bestowed national honours on the winner and his running mate, Babagana Kingibe. Buhari also changed Nigeria’s Democracy Day from May 29 (the day the military handed over to democratically elected leaders) to June 12, the day the 1993 election that would have ushered in Abiola’s presidency, was conducted.

Last year, President Tinubu hosted some programmes to mark the day, culminating in a dinner well attended by veterans of the democracy struggle. The 2025 edition, however, witnessed the rolling out of a honours list in which various categories of national awards were conferred on many of those who had been in the trenches during the democratic struggle. I congratulate those who made the list. It’s payback time for their sacrifice. But there are many names missing. The presidency has promised to compile a fuller list.

I was particularly delighted by the recognition given to late Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the man who conducted the election. In my advocacy on the matter last year when Nwosu was still alive, I wrote as follows: “Abiola would not have been the hero he turned out to be if Nwosu had not conducted the most transparent election in Nigeria. No election before or after that epochal electoral exercise has come close to Nwosu’s Option A4 in transparency and acceptability!” Better late than never!

Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa

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Another prominent person who is yet to be accorded the recognition due to him is Col Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd) an officer who lost his commission because of his insistence that his bosses do the right thing. In an interview he granted TELL magazine which I quoted in my article titled, “For Abubakar Dangiwa Umar @ 75”, he had made several revelations about the plot to bury the June 12 agitation.

Excerpts: What eventually transported Umar to the pantheon of authentic role models, instructively, wasn’t his soldiering heroics or administrative ingenuity but his loyalty to principles and devil-may-care courage in confronting his bosses at a time when such a posture could have led to a kangaroo court marshal and, possibly, summary execution.

In a rare interview with TELL magazine, he made some startling revelations… In the midst of all the sacrifice and personal risk, there were people who still thought that Umar’s steadfastness was too good to be true:

“Sadly enough, people keep wondering how, for goodness sake, can a Fulani man from the Sokoto royal family really fight for the interest of a Yoruba man (over the June 12 issue). There are people that are skeptical because of my geographical extraction, because of who I am, my personality. They cannot believe that I could support the cause of June 12 if that means swearing in a Yoruba man. What they don’t understand, the point they miss, is that one is not fighting purely for a Yoruba man. One is fighting for justice. One is fighting for truth and truth really has a universal language.”

NADECO

The National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) was, at a time, the main umbrella under whose shade many democratic activists found accommodation. President Tinubu himself sponsored many of NADECO’s activities. Indeed, at last year’s Democracy Day dinner, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi disclosed that several of his trips to promote the democratic cause abroad were sponsored by Asiwaju Tinubu.

There is no reason why ALL the 49 founding signatories at the formation of NADECO would not be on the honours list. The 49 signatories were: Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin (leader), Mallam Lawal Dambazzau, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, Chief Anthony Enahoro (deputy leader), Major General Adeyinka Adebayo (rtd.), Chief Bola Ige, Commodore Dan Suleiman, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Professor Anya O Anya, Colonel Yohanna Madaki, Reverend Father Moses Adasu, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, Reverend Tunji Adebiyi, Chief Ade Ojo, Chief Ralph Obioha, Chief Empire Kanu, Chief Michael Anyiam, Dr Sola Soile, Vice Admiral Akin Aduwo, Chief E Duru, Mr Nick Dazzang, Mr Labaran Maku, Dr AA Akingba and Mr Babas Eko Oyekanmi.

Also on the list were: Mr Alex Ayatolla, Mrs Sarah Jubril, Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu, Mr OP Edodo, Mr A Barber, Otunba Olabiyi Durojaiye, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Alhaji Mohammed Siraj Hamza, Dr Wahab Dosunmu, Otunba Aboyade Cole, Major General Olufemi Olutoye (rtd), Chief Sobo Sowemimo, Dr Steve Achema, Chief Olaniwun Ajayi, Chief Olu Falae, Brigadier-General Jonah Jang, Chief Abraham Adesanya, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Mr Alao Aka-Bashorun, Mr Emmanuel Njiwah, Chief Vincent Nwizugbo and Dr Uma Eleazu.

The list of other prominent NADECO leaders would include Mr Ayo Opadokun, Mr Wale Oshun, General Alani Akinrinade, Femi Falana, Senator Bola Tinubu, Lam Adesina, Chief Segun Adegoke, Chief Adebayo Adefarati, Clement Nwankwo, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu and Senator Kofo Bucknor Akerele, among others (Source: Battle lines: Adventures in Power by Olusegun Osoba).

In my piece last year, I also remembered some of those whose paths crossed mine as we navigated the treacherous minefield of Nigerian journalism and social activism at the time: If I may remember some of those whose paths crossed mine in those days of goggled evil: Nze Mark Odu, BK Ogala, Moshood Fayemiwo, Jimmy Imo, Joe Igbokwe, Eddy Okparaoji, among others.

Bagauda Kaltho

The joy that President Tinubu has put in the hearts of some activists’ families is unquantifiable. Take the case of the family of Bagauda Kaltho, an investigative journalist who was eliminated by agents of the military government while claiming that he wasn’t in their custody. Terrible things happened in those days and it is good to remind ourselves of those things so that we don’t fall back into those traps. Military rule is Golgotha. That aberration ate some of the most productive years of my generation.

Bagauda Kaltho, an investigative journalist as good as they came in those competitive days, was kidnapped and murdered by agents of the military government. Then, they spread all sorts of scandalous stories about him hoping to thereby duck the scent of death hanging over them. That was a couple of days after Ken Saro-Wiwa had been judicially murdered by the same military government. Those were, indeed, the days of the vultures.

Kaltho’s wife was full of praises for the recognition accorded her late husband at last. “My husband disappeared sometime between late 1996 and early 1997 in line of duty. This national honour is not only a validation of my husband’s unwavering commitment to truth, justice, and the defence of democratic ideals, but also a powerful reminder that the sacrifices of those who speak truth to power are never forgotten,” she said. And I say its payback time for goodness.

Wole Olaoye is a Public Relations consultant and veteran journalist. He can be reached on [email protected], Twitter: @wole_olaoye; Instagram: woleola2021