Edo Senator Adams Oshiomhole has strongly criticized Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, the former Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), for failing to announce the full results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
According to Oshiomhole, this failure was fatal and disqualifies Nwosu from being immortalized.
Persecondnews recalls that Nwosu served as the Chairman of NEC from 1989 to 1993, under the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, which ultimately annulled the election.
He died in US on October 2024 at the age of 83 and will be buried on Saturday in his home state, Anambra.
Oshiomhole’s statement highlights the controversy surrounding Nwosu’s role in the annulled election, which remains a significant event in Nigeria’s history.
Speaking on Thursday during a senate debate on a motion on the Senate’s floor sponsored by Enyinnaya Abaribe, Abia south, Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, argued that Nwosu did not deserve such recognition.
Oshiomhole accused Nwosu and Babangida’s junta of deceiving Nigerians who turned out to vote in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, only for the process to be annulled.
He declared:“Professor Nwosu and President Babangida fooled the 18 million Nigerians who voted. If he was afraid of the gun because we were under a dictatorship, some people might say, ‘Well, there were Nigerians who protested under the gun without minding the consequences.
“After the end of Babangida’s tenure, the death of Abiola, and the birth of the new democracy that produced President Obasanjo, I would have expected Nwosu to say — either on his birthday or on a special occasion — ‘I couldn’t declare these numbers then, but now, on my record, Abiola won this election. I just wasn’t able to announce it.’
“He died without confession; he cannot be rewarded.”
Oshiomhole also said some of the contents of the motion brought to the senate by Abaribe were “manipulative”.
The former governor of Edo state attributed the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election to Nwosu’s “failure” to officially declare the results, adding that the decision ultimately derailed the democratic process.
“We cannot distort history in this senate. If Professor Nwosu had the courage to announce the winner, and dare the consequences, it would have been different. When it matters most, his courage failed him,” Oshiomhole said.
Leave a comment