Amidst clamour in some quarters for the probe of the annulled June 12, 1993 election and indictment of those involved, as the ultimate justice for the late acclaimed winner, Chief MKO Abiola, the Presidency has disclosed that only President Muhammadu Buhari could order such a probe.
Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity), Garba Shehu, revealed this in a memo he addressed to the media on Sunday.
“Would there be an inquisition into all of the things that happened? I have not been briefed if there is going to be any. Neither have I heard of any discussions on this. I cannot, therefore, speculate.
“On this question, only the President can say “yes” or “no” if there will be a probe as many have begun clamouring for,” Shehu had written in the memo titled “June 12 Tsunami And The Ones Who Won’t Forgive Buhari.”
The presidential aide however described the annulment as an elite conspiracy with complicity of several hundred others who he claimed “joined the sustenance of the injustice done to Abiola and Nigerian voters.”
“It was pretty obvious that the unjust annulment was a huge elite conspiracy, well beyond the schemes and machinations, for which the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida had established a formidable reputation.
“June 12 annulment was inspired and supported in spirit, cash and in kind by high-level citizens who saw an opportunity for themselves and cashed in upon it.
Beyond the coterie of two dozen or so military officials whose names have been documented as literally having had a gun to the head of their Commander-in-Chief in trying to induce the annulment, there were tens, possibly hundreds of co-conspirators who either forced the annulment in one way or the other, or joined the sustenance of the injustice done to Abiola and Nigerian voters which, from then evolved into an industry of a kind, supplying incomes and conferring privileges of state upon those in the plot.”
On whether the alleged conspirators should be afraid given the obvious conviction by Buhari to right the wrongs of that era, Shehu referred to remarks by Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, that “no Nigerian should fear for their rights under President Buhari, unless they are guilty of wrongdoing.”
