20 YEARS AFTER JUNE 12; Heroes and villains of June 12

[Mirror]

The June 12 debacle threw up several characters that helped shaped the struggle for the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria positively and otherwise. Some of the characters, through their roles in the struggle were the heroes and heroines of the June 12 struggle while others were villains. As the nation marks the 20th anniversary of the historic June 12, 1993 presidential election, National Mirror looks at the heroes and villains of the June 12 saga. Many of them have gone to the great beyond while some of them are still alive. OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU writes.

Heroes

MKO Abiola: The symbol of the June 12 election was overwhelmingly voted for across ethnic and religious divides, despite his being a Muslim as well as his running mate. He eventually paid the supreme price for his insistence on reclaiming the mandate that was freely given to him by Nigerians. The business-man cum philanthropist died on July 7, 1998 while still in the custody of the military junta.

Abraham Adesanya: Late Senator Adesanya with notable Nigerians founded the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, which became the vehicle for the agitation for the validation of the June 12, 1993 election and the restoration of the Abiola mandate

He was a thorn in the flesh of the military junta that a failed attempt was made on his life on January 14, 1997, but despite that he remained undaunted in his opposition to the annulment of the election. When the NADECO leader, Anthony Enahoro went on exile, Adesanya became the acting leader and a mouthpiece of the struggle to reclaim Abiola's mandate and condemned in the strongest terms the annulment of the election. He also confronted Gen. Sani Abacha when he attempted to transmute from a military Head of State to a civilian president.

Wole Soyinka: The first and only Nobel Laureate from Nigeria was a consistent voice demanding for the end of the Abacha junta. Soyinka teamed up with democratic forces to ask for the restoration of the Abiola mandate. Operating from exile, after escaping the trap set for him by Abacha goons, his impact in the struggle became a thorn in the flesh of the military junta, as he was traversing the entire globe, drumming up support for the struggle to validate the mandate freely given to Abiola by Nigerians.

Frank Ovie-Kokori: He was the secretary general of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers, NUPENG, during the struggle. He led the NUPENG on nationwide protests which shut down the entire country, as NUPENG members refused to supply petroleum products to filling stations across the country.

The NUPENG protests and its resultant economic effects were part of the reasons leading to the 'stepping aside' of General Ibrahim Babangida from office on August 17, 1993.

Kudirat Abiola: She was the wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12election. A heroine of the June 12 struggle, she became a thorn in the flesh of the Abacha junta with her fiery activism, calling for the release of her husband from the gulag as well as also calling for the validation of the election and the restoration of the mandate freely given to her husband. So daring was she in the struggle to reclaim her husband's mandate that she was killed on June 4, 1996 by the henchmen of the military in Oregun area of Ikeja in Lagos.

Alfred Rewane: The late Pa Rewane was another icon of Nigeria's pro-democracy movement during the regime of Abacha, who tirelessly called and campaigned for democracy and human rights, true federalism, honesty, transparency and accountability in public office, and ethics in business.

An advocate of the actualisation the June 12, 1993 presidential election as well as a financier of NADECO activities at home, Pa Rewane was killed on October 6, 1995 at his house in Ikeja GRA, by a killer squad suspected to be working for the military. Gani Fawehinmi: The late human rights lawyer per excellence was another very vocal and vociferous voice in the opposition to the annulment of the election. He was always in the forefront of the protests against the military regime.

He was involved in many rallies, calling for the actualisation of Abiola's mandate, suffering police brutality and detentions on many occasions. Adekunle Ajasin: The former governor of the old Ondo State was at the forefront of those out to reverse the annulment. Undeterred by the determination of the junta to silence dissention, he is always ready to issue fire-spitting statements that tended to make the junta unhappy.

A foremost leader of NADECO, who in spite of his age and failing health partook in the struggle and suffered arrests severally and was also humiliated by the then military administrator of Ondo State, Navy Captain Anthony Oyearugbulem, for his role in the struggle to actualise the June 12 mandate. Arrested in June 1995 alongside 50 others for holding meeting, he was released 24 hours later, but Ajasin refused to leave detention when he learnt that the others arrested with him were not released.

Bola Ige: The late governor of old Oyo State and Minister of Justice was another solidly supporter of the June 12 struggle, who never wavered at any point in time during the struggle, even when his contemporaries in politics embraced the five political parties created by the military junta, which he termed "the five fingers of a leprous hand," he refused to be part of the jamboree.

He suffered military brutality and detention and was at a time arrested in the dead of the night and moved somewhere in the North in a rickety vehicle. He was one of the famed prisoners of war during the Abacha junta.

Olisa Agbakoba: The fiery lawyer was one of the leading voices against the cancellation of the polls and was one of those who suffered brutality in the hands of the Police. Agbakoba was unrelentless in the struggle for the actualisation of Abiola's mandate and in the process suffered many incarcerations.

Attahiru Jega: The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was the national chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) during the days of the June 12 struggle. Using the instrumentality of ASUU, Jega shut down the nation's university system and frontally confronted the military junta.

Beko Ransome-Kuti: The late Ransome- Kuti was also a thorn in the flesh of the military junta, particularly after the election was annulled. He was always at the head of every demonstration and protest through the Campaign for Democracy (CD), a human rights group he chaired. Bola Tinubu: The former governor of Lagos State was a member of the National Assembly that was sacked by Abacha.

He fled Nigeria and took sojourn in America from where he worked tirelessly against the government, not only financing NADECO activities but also working relentlessly to oust the military junta. Chima Ubani: The late human rights activist was another thorn in the flesh of the junta with his leadership of the prodemocracy and civil society groups to confront the Abacha junta calling for the restoration of the Abiola mandate.

Shehu Sani: Leading the Northern arm of the June 12 struggle, Sani was another human rights activist who was a thorn in the flesh of the Abacha junta. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the military. Fredrick Fasehun: The founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. Fasehun, was also a major actor in the June 12 struggle. In an attempt to break his spirit, he was caged in a cemetery in Ikoyi by the military junta. Several other Nigerians still contributed immensely to the struggles.

Hundreds of Nigerians who were killed during protests or suffered losses by the military agents are also heroes of democracy. Among these are former governor of Oyo State, Lam Adesina, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, General Alani Akinrinde, Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu and others.

Villains

Leading the pack of those who worked against the June 12, 1993 presidential election was the head of the then military junta, Gen. Babangida, who would go down in history as foisting the longest transition programme on the country, his successor, Abacha was also another; he incarcerated the presumed winner of the election, Abiola and tried though unsuccessfully to silence the voice of dissidents and agitators against the annulment of the election.

Senator Arthur Nzeribe and his infamous Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), Babagana Kingibe, the vice presidential candidate to Abiola, who abandoned the mandate and teamed up with Abacha as a minister, Chief Tony Anenih, the chairman of the SDP, who strangely renounced the victory of his party, Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao, an Ibadan-based Islamic scholar and business man, Daniel Kanu, who organised two million- man march for Abacha's presidential ambition, late Ibadan maverick politician, Lamidi Adedibu, who packaged the infamous conditional bail for Abiola, Attorney General and Minister of Justice under Babangida, Clement Akpamgbo, and a host of others were part of the villains of June 12.

National Mirror

[Folami David]

He was a great man, the whole of Nigeria know that already. His death was. A shock to so many people. Very sad.