…the ‘Ali-Must-Go’ uprising laid the concrete foundation for confronting military rule in Nigeria. The formation of NANS and the various struggles it waged from 1981 to 1993 contributed significantly to demystifying the military, and developing the psychological basis for the opposition to confront and combat the military despots.
Yesterday, Friday, 12 June marked the thirty-third year that the General Babangida military junta annulled Nigeria’s freest, fairest, most transparent and highly credible presidential election.
On 23 June, 1994, business mogul and politician, Chief Moshood Abiola was illegally arrested. He was held in solitary confinement without trial for the next four years by the brutish, blood-thirsty, murderous and kleptomaniac administration of General Sani Abacha. This generated popular sentiments and struggles against military rule.
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The struggle for the actualisation of the June 12 mandate rekindles bitter memories and pain in the hearts of many Nigerians. But, it equally remains a glorious era in the struggle for Nigeria. Any wonder, June 12 has become a public holiday in the country.
Awards have been given to some people who fought for the actualisation of the June 12 election. Others have been declared “Heroes and Heroines” of June 12.
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But questions arise: What criteria were used to determined the “Heroes and Heroines”? Why did these those folks struggle for June 12? Was it really for democracy or because they fell out with the despots? Or simply, could it be because they wanted to replace the military despots with their own despotism?
If government is, therefore, serious about June 12, it must declassify security reports on it, so that emancipatory forces can study and act on them.
However, what is indisputable is that the June 12 struggles did not start with the annulment of the election. The fact is that it predated that 12 June, 1993 presidential election.
Its remotest foundation was laid by the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS), which organised and led the April, 1978 ‘Ali-Must-Go’ students’ uprising.
The uprising, as I have argued elsewhere, “initiated an unprecedented historical consciousness among the rank-and-file of Nigerian students”; marked a turning point in the student-state relationship; and was “a watershed in radical, pro-people, pro-democracy and anti-state students’ unionism in post-colonial Nigeria.”
First, it shattered and demystified the popular belief that military governments are “immune and invulnerable to popular struggles.” Secondly, it gave birth to the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). Thirdly, it changed the students’ motto from “Commendation, Condemnation & Recommendation” to “An Injury to One is An Injury to All”; “Aluta Continua, Victoria Acerta”; and “Everything for the Struggle, Victory for All.”
…in 1989, NANS organised a nationwide ‘Great Anti-SAP Uprising’. It was fierce. One NANS’ pamphlet went: “Nigerian students cannot afford to watch any longer while their lives are being battered. We have appealed and demanded. They have refused to bugle. We have been patient enough. Everywhere the clarion call is for ACTION NOW!”
The “Ango Must Go” protests in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the nationwide uprisings that accompanied it, generated popular sentiments and disdain for military rule.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), supported by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), was in solidarity with NANS on “Ango Must Go” protest by declaring 4 June, 1986 as a day of mourning, to be commemorated by peaceful protest marches by workers nationwide.
The 4 June march was aborted by a naked and crude show of force. This, however, portrayed the Babangida regime in bad light; shattered its propaganda of being a “human rights” and “pro-democracy” entity; and drew the battle line between the military and popular forces.
The junta’s proscription of the NLC angered student leaders and activists. A student was quoted by the Civil Liberty Organisation as saying: “We have to drag these people out of office; if necessary, we must be prepared to die in the process.”
On 10 April, 1988, students led by NANS began a nationwide protest demonstration against the increase in the price of petrol by 2.5 kobo. Some of their placards read: “Babangida, agent of imperialism”; “Restore oil subsidy”; and “No to SAP.”
Joined by the working people, the protesters exasperated the despots. One of them, Colonel David Mark, charged: “Students cannot go on rampage just because of 2.5 kobo increase in fuel prices.” He then asked: “How many students own cars?”
Despite the proscription of NLC, workers seized the opportunity to embark on protests across the country.
Students and other citizens were maimed and killed. Some were arrested, detained and tortured. Nonetheless, the protests showed that the struggle against military authoritarianism cannot be aborted the way the 4 June march was terminated; nor proscribed in the manner that NLC was outlawed.
Then, in 1989, NANS organised a nationwide ‘Great Anti-SAP Uprising’. It was fierce. One NANS’ pamphlet went: “Nigerian students cannot afford to watch any longer while their lives are being battered. We have appealed and demanded. They have refused to bugle. We have been patient enough. Everywhere the clarion call is for ACTION NOW!”
The Protesters sang Peter Tosh songs: “Down pressor man where you gonna run to on that day…” and “Everyone is crying out for peace,/yes, None is crying out for justice,/I don’t want no peace,’I need equal rights and justice.”
…the struggles for June 12 were essentially struggles against military rule, for civil rule, democracy and development. They were also the continuation and culmination of previous struggles against the military, which were spearheaded by students.
When the police threatened to shoot protesters, the latter beckoned on them to: “Join us or shoot us!” When police started shooting, protesters replied: “How many can you kill?” Others sang: “If we die today,/we shall die no more”.
During those protests, students and protesters were killed across the country. In some places, the police simply abandoned their posts to escape from protesters. In others areas, the police tacitly supported the protesters and, urged them to carry on. The military was, subsequently, brought in to suppress the uprising.
The ‘Great Anti-SAP Uprising’ generated huge distrust of the military as a whole. Rank-and-file soldiers were accused of benefitting from the despotism of the regime, and being immune to the sufferings of their civilian brethren.
The African Concord of 17 July, 1989, reported that: “there is no denying the groundswell of cynicism and distrust civilians now harbour against the military, and their mounting readiness to defy military authorities, and confronting soldiers eye-ball-to-eye ball. It appears the military uniform that used to make civilians hold soldiers in awe has lost its mystique. Civilian don’t anymore run scared when they see soldiers or even their emissaries.”
In 1990, students began another protest against the World Bank, which wanted some courses scrapped in the universities. But the protests were suspended following the 22 April, 1990 aborted coup of Major Gideon Orkar, which sought to excise some states from the country.
The NANS posited that: “Successive military regimes in Nigeria have proved to be guilty of the general malaise of power-drunk autocracy, violation of human rights, kleptomaniac corruption and unpatriotic capitulation to imperialism.”
These narratives show that the struggles for June 12 were essentially struggles against military rule, for civil rule, democracy and development. They were also the continuation and culmination of previous struggles against the military, which were spearheaded by students.
Secondly, the ‘Ali-Must-Go’ uprising laid the concrete foundation for confronting military rule in Nigeria. The formation of NANS and the various struggles it waged from 1981 to 1993 contributed significantly to demystifying the military, and developing the psychological basis for the opposition to confront and combat the military despots.
Thirdly, former student leaders and activists were in the forefront of the June 12 struggles. They populated the print media, civil society organisations and law firms. They brought their wealth of experience from the students’ movement to the June 12 struggles.
Most of the journalists who were illegally arrested and detained, were products of the students’ movement. So were those who commanded the June 12 street protests. Hence, the June 12 struggles were part of the trajectory of the war against military rule in the country.
Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: [email protected]
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