FORMER Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has revealed that some prominent politicians who publicly championed the cause of the late Chief MKO Abiola during the June 12 crisis were secretly aligned with the government, while others collected money from both Abiola’s camp and that of his opponent, the late Bashir Tofa, during the historic 1993 presidential election.
News Point Nigeria reports that the startling revelations are contained in Chapter 16 of his 264-page autobiography, Call of Duty, which was unveiled during its public presentation at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. In the chapter, the former military leader offered a candid assessment of Nigeria’s political class, describing politicians across party lines as “a tribe on their own” who publicly fuel ethnic and religious divisions while privately maintaining cordial relationships.
Drawing from conversations he had with the late Bashir Tofa, the candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC) who contested against Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Abdulsalami recounted how some politicians played both sides during the campaign.
“The late Alhaji Bashir Tofa told me a story to illustrate this,” he wrote. “He said some politicians had visited him, requesting some money for the mobilisation of supporters. They assured him that they would deliver the votes in their respective wards to him. He gave them what they demanded.”
According to Abdulsalami, Tofa later visited the state chairman of Abiola’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) and was stunned to discover the same politicians there seeking support from the rival camp.
“Tofa later visited the state chairman of Abiola’s party, the SDP, and was dumbfounded to see the same set of people there. He eventually lost Kano and even his own ward to Abiola. Such is the way of politicians,” the former Head of State wrote.
Abdulsalami also recalled a personal experience from the 1980s that shaped his perception of Nigerian politicians. At the time, he was Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Defence Academy and witnessed first-hand the political intrigues surrounding the split within the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), which divided loyalists of Mallam Aminu Kano and Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and eventually contributed to the impeachment of Kaduna State Governor Balarabe Musa in 1981.
According to him, during the height of the bitter rivalry, he visited a friend’s guest house and was shocked to find politicians from both opposing camps sitting together, chatting, laughing and sharing meals.
“I was shocked. These were politicians who, in public, were pretending not to have any point of connection, and the masses were fighting each other because of them. Here, they were hobnobbing, away from public view,” he wrote.
The encounter, he said, reinforced his views about the political class. He recalled that later the same day, he watched one of the politicians from the Aminu Kano faction on national television fiercely attacking and insulting Rimi, despite having seen him socialising with members of the opposing camp just hours earlier.
Abdulsalami further cited what he described as an older tradition among northern politicians. According to him, a veteran politician from the First Republic once told him that regardless of political affiliation, northern politicians frequently visited the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello.
“A politician who was very active in the First Republic told me that regardless of the parties most politicians of the North belonged to back then, they all used to visit the Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello,” he wrote.
“Occasionally, they would meet, eat and drink, and the Premier would give them some token while charging them to work for the welfare of their people. But this camaraderie did not stop them from going on radio, television or the newspapers to hurl insults and abuses at one another.”
The former Head of State said he applied those lessons directly when observing developments during the June 12 crisis, maintaining that the duplicity displayed by politicians was neither accidental nor isolated.
“I saw a similar drama during the June 12 crisis. Ordinary Nigerians did not know what was going on behind the scenes. Some of those they thought were for Abiola were actually with the government,” he revealed.
Speaking on the annulment of the June 12 election itself, Abdulsalami said he was serving as Chief of Policy and Plans at Army Headquarters when then military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, halted the transition programme.
Although he was personally close to Babangida from childhood, he stressed that he played no role in the transition structure and was not a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), the country’s highest military decision-making body at the time.
“I was not even a member of the transition programme, Council (AFRC), the highest ruling body in the Armed Forces. I was close to General Babangida from our childhood days because I was in the know of everything going on in his government,” he stated.
He explained that while he could have privately asked Babangida about the reasons behind the annulment, the former military ruler was under no obligation to explain his actions to him since he was not a central participant in the political process.
Reflecting on decades of political experience, Abdulsalami urged Nigerians not to allow themselves to be manipulated by politicians who exploit ethnic and religious divisions for personal gain.
“I believe Nigerians must no longer allow politicians to fool them and cause division along ethnic and religious lines,” he said.
“Nigerians must know that even when politicians disagree among themselves in the open, they still meet somewhere to wine and dine. The truth, irrespective of the divisiveness which the politicians promote today, is that they are together.”
He concluded with a sobering assessment of Nigeria’s political culture, arguing that ordinary citizens often bear the consequences of conflicts manufactured by politicians who maintain cordial relationships behind closed doors.
“From my experience of the Nigerian political environment, my conclusion has always been that it is the people, the masses, who really do not understand that they are only pawns in the hands of politicians,” Abdulsalami stated.