Posts make misleading claim about Nigeria’s annulled 1993 election

“Prof Humphrey Nwosu, the Unsung Hero who declared MKO Abiola winner of the 1993 presidential election despite threats to his life,” reads a tweet published on June 13, 2023.

Image

A screenshot of the misleading tweet, taken on June 14, 2023

The tweet has been shared more than 1,400 times, with some commenters claiming that Nwosu, who was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) during the 1993 election, has not been celebrated because of tribal differences.

Abiola, a Muslim businessman from the Yoruba-dominated southwest, contested that year’s election against Bashir Tofa, a Muslim politician from the Hausa-dominated northwest.

Ibrahim Babangida, the country’s military leader at the time, annulled the election, claiming that there were widespread irregularities.

Nwosu later told a local broadcaster that he cancelled the election to prevent a “bloody” coup (archived here).

But contrary to the claims circulating online, the NEC chairman did not officially declare Abiola the winner in 1993.

Court order

As reported by AFP at the time, the NEC, with Nwosu at its helm, had only declared partial results when the election was annulled.

Human Rights Watch analysed the election and the crisis that followed its annulment. In its report, the rights group said that the NEC had announced results from only 15 states as of June 14, 1994, with Abiola in the lead (archived here).

The following day, a court order blocked the remaining votes from being tallied.

Nwosu did not officially declare any winner.

The vote’s cancellation sparked public outcry and violent protests, forcing Babangida to step down from office. He installed an interim government headed by Ernest Shonekan, who was later ousted by General Sani Abacha (archived here.)

Abiola protested the annulment and declared himself the winner of the election. He was later arrested by Abacha for vowing to set up a parallel government.

‘Abiola was the winner’

Years later, in a 2014 interview with Sahara TV, Nwosu said his commission challenged the 1993 court order and insisted that the election was free and fair.

According to Nwosu, the court hearing the appeal was to deliver its judgement on June 25, 1993. But days before, the military government disbanded the NEC and annulled the election (archived here).

He explained that in 1993, he had declared the election “inconclusive” because the military leaders would not allow the NEC to announce who won. However, he said in the interview that “Abiola was the winner” (archived here).

Although Nwosu told his interviewer that he was not threatened or harmed by anyone at the time, he said he was always monitored close to the anniversaries of the election during Abacha’s regime.

‘Democracy Day’

Abiola died in military detention on July 7, 1998 (archived here).

In 2018, then-president Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged that the 1993 election’s annulment was wrong and awarded Abiola the highest national honour, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), which is exclusively conferred on presidents (archived here).

Buhari also designated June 12 as a national holiday named Democracy Day.

“June 12th, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freest, fairest and most peaceful elections since our Independence,” Buhari said in a statement (archived here).