"The Tale of June 12" written by Prof. Omo Omoruyi 

  by

 Prof. Ropo Sekoni, Lincoln University, USA

"It was only hours to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. "Once inside his office, General Babangida locked the door. He welcomed me with strong appeal to my loyalty which I assured him was constant. He looked very worried; he removed his shoes and cap and confessed that his wife did not know where he was at the time and that he drove himself from Minna to Abuja to see me. For a few minutes he remained speechless and looked morose. 

'I see disaster for myself and my family. Where do I go from here'? The President asked. "Professor, we must find a solution here and now or else I am finished." The annulment of "free, fair and credible" elections anywhere and at anytime has constituted, and still constitutes, a gross betrayal of citizen's right to human dignity. 

Developments in Burma and Algeria had illustrated this so well. Nigeria joined in the ranks of countries denying the right of choice of their citizens when on June 23, 1993, the presidential election held two weeks earlier was nullified by virtue of a statement, unsigned and undated, issued on a piece of paper that bore no seal of government. 

"The Tale of June 12" examines the issues and events surrounding the bizarre and momentous decision. Professor Omo Omoruyi was General Babangida's friend, and closest political confidant, throughout his eight-year stint as military President. Thus, his account of the June 12 presidential election debacle is both authentic and riveting. Once and for all, it puts paid to all the rumours, speculation and outright lies that passed for analyses of one of the most turbulent periods of Nigeria's chequered political history." 

About the Author (from the book): "Professor Omo Omoruyi left Nigeria for the United States in August 1995 to assume the position of Visiting Fellow in the Human Rights Program at Harvard University Law School and worked there on a research project on Democratic Rights in Africa. He was at Lincoln University as a Visiting Professor of Political Science in the Centre for Public Policy and Diplomacy, 1996-7. He was a tenured Professor of Political Science at the University of Benin, Nigeria. Now retired, he is resident in the US. A citizen of Nigeria, Dr. Omoruyi was educated at the University of Ibadan (BSc, 1965), and at the State University of New York at Buffalo (MA, PhD, 1965-70). He was a Foundation Participant in 1979/80 in the Senior Executive Course One at the National Institue for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) with the then Brigadier Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida who in 1985 (as General Ibrahim Babangida) became the military President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Dr. Omoruyi taught at the University of Ibadan for five years, 1970-75, before moving to the University of Benin to found the Department of Political Science. He had research/teaching experience at the Universities of Nairobi, Michigan, Guyana and Istanbul. He also had university administrative experience beyond leadership of the Department of Political Science. He was Director of the Institute of Public Administration, 1985-88, and Deputy Vice Chancellor, 1988-89, of the University of Benin. He had varied public service experiences, the most recent of which was his crucial role as the Director-General, Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), Abuja, 1989-1994. The CDS pioneered a unique political education programme for over 400,000 members of the political class in Nigeria. 

When former US Vice-President Quayle was a guest of the Centre in 1991, he acknowledged it as "clearly an institution making a difference in shaping Nigeria's political future." An acknowledged authority on the Nigerian military, Dr. Omoruyi is also an expert in political education, campaign management and the management of elections. He has extended this expertise to different parts of Africa, including Ethiopia and Kenya, as well as to eight countries in Southern Africa." Prof. Omoruyi was the object of an attempted assassination by "unknown assassins" in February 1994, during which he obtained many gun shot wounds. 

He fled Nigeria soon thereafter.

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