By Grace Udofia
Former Military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has spoken up on the reason why he decided to annull the June 12, 1993 election that Nigerians, till date, believed was the fairest election ever held in the country.
According to Babangida, the election was annulled in the best in interest of the country, as he at the time was trying to avoid another coup.
Babangida who explained this while speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Newsnight on Monday, said he drew up a plan for national elections to hold in five to six months and that his intention was for the poll to hold in November 1993, after the Interim Government headed by Ernest Shonekan.
He explained that the agreement reached by politicians and groups was for the same set of contestants to recontest in the scheduled polls.
However, the citizens complained that they were tired of elections, thus paving the way for Sani Abacha who ruled the nation for five years.
He said, “It is a decision we took. I had to take that decision, I did that to the best of my knowledge, in the interest of the country.
“I did the right thing. I can sit back and say some of the things I said manifested after I had left. We had the coup and that coup lasted for five years,” he added.
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