Remember him? That's Arthur Nzeribe, the man whose action resulted in the cancellation of Nigeria's June 12, 1993 presidential election popularly agreed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola.
On June 10, 1993, Nzeribe tried to stop the election, relying on a court order which his group, Association for Better Nigeria, got from a midnight ruling from late Justice Bassey Ikpeme of Abuja High Court. ABN was known to be pro-Babangida and wanted the election annulled.
The government then relied on the court judgement to annul the election which Abiola rejected, declared himself winner and for which he got incarcerated.
In 1999, however, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, he returned to the Senate representing the Orlu Senatorial district on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He was re-elected in 2003 and was in the Senate till 2007
At a time in the Senate, Nzeribe was suspended indefinitely by the then Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, in November 2002 over an allegation of N22 million frãud.
It is known that while he was in the Senate and as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, he was the brain behind the National Health Insurance Scheme which was born as an Act of the Parliament.
Speaking about the June 22, 1993 saga years later, Nzeribe said: "Those who are making reference to it are very wise men though they have forgotten that our actions were heavily supported across the country. At that time, I was deemed to be a vagabønd. My colleagues and I were abused and insulted everywhere, but all of a sudden, going for election, it’s now a novelty. By the time I formed ABN, there was nothing at all of such nature; you go and burn tyres on the streets; you go and k!ll people and use their heads for juju, but we stood firm to say that we want this done. I believe that we got what we wanted. So, it is for you to assess our actions in your own way.
"For us, I got what we wanted. We said 'cancel the election' and eventually they cancelled the election. We said don’t count the votes, but they counted the votes. So, how do you measure success? In the middle of that, I have run elections, where I adopted five different political parties, and each time I go to any political party, we win. How do you define a good politician other than the man who contests an election and wins?
"I am proud that we cancelled the election. I wanted the election cancelled and it was cancelled."
Arthur Nzeribe was born on November 3, 1938, to Oyimba Nzeribe, a lawyer and state counsel. This means that he would have been 87 today. He left the world on May 8, 2022.
Credit: Ethnic African Stories
Remember him? That's Arthur Nzeribe, the man whose action resulted in the cancellation of Nigeria's June 12, 1993 presidential election popularly agreed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola.
On June 10, 1993, Nzeribe tried to stop the election, relying on a court order which his group, Association for Better Nigeria, got from a midnight ruling from late Justice Bassey Ikpeme of Abuja High Court. ABN was known to be pro-Babangida and wanted the election annulled.
The government then relied on the court judgement to annul the election which Abiola rejected, declared himself winner and for which he got incarcerated.
In 1999, however, when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, he returned to the Senate representing the Orlu Senatorial district on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. He was re-elected in 2003 and was in the Senate till 2007
At a time in the Senate, Nzeribe was suspended indefinitely by the then Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, in November 2002 over an allegation of N22 million frãud.
It is known that while he was in the Senate and as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, he was the brain behind the National Health Insurance Scheme which was born as an Act of the Parliament.
Speaking about the June 22, 1993 saga years later, Nzeribe said: "Those who are making reference to it are very wise men though they have forgotten that our actions were heavily supported across the country. At that time, I was deemed to be a vagabønd. My colleagues and I were abused and insulted everywhere, but all of a sudden, going for election, it’s now a novelty. By the time I formed ABN, there was nothing at all of such nature; you go and burn tyres on the streets; you go and k!ll people and use their heads for juju, but we stood firm to say that we want this done. I believe that we got what we wanted. So, it is for you to assess our actions in your own way.
"For us, I got what we wanted. We said 'cancel the election' and eventually they cancelled the election. We said don’t count the votes, but they counted the votes. So, how do you measure success? In the middle of that, I have run elections, where I adopted five different political parties, and each time I go to any political party, we win. How do you define a good politician other than the man who contests an election and wins?
"I am proud that we cancelled the election. I wanted the election cancelled and it was cancelled."
Arthur Nzeribe was born on November 3, 1938, to Oyimba Nzeribe, a lawyer and state counsel. This means that he would have been 87 today. He left the world on May 8, 2022.
Credit: Ethnic African Stories
