Prominent leaders of the National Democratic Coalition, Col Tony Nyiam (retd.) and Chief Ayo Opadokun, have rejected claims by former Head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), that leaders of the pro-democracy group requested an extension of military rule in 1998.
The duo also challenged Abdulsalami’s assertion that the late winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, was not poisoned, insisting that his account of the events surrounding Abiola’s death was unconvincing.
Abdulsalami, in his recently launched autobiography, “Call of Duty,” claimed that some NADECO leaders privately appealed to him to prolong the military transition after becoming convinced of his commitment to handing over power in 1999.
According to the former military ruler, the request came about two to three months into his administration.
Abdulsalami said he rejected the request, asking the group to acknowledge it if they were serious publicly.
The former Head of State also dismissed the long-standing position that Abiola was poisoned before his death on July 7, 1998, insisting that an autopsy conducted by pathologists from Nigeria, the United States, Britain and Canada concluded that he died of natural causes linked to pre-existing hypertension and heart disease.
Reacting in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Tuesday, Nyiam and Opadokun described Abdulsalami’s account as inaccurate.
Nyiam, a key member of NADECO abroad, said he was unaware of any recognised leader of the coalition who demanded an extension of military rule, stressing that the group’s struggle was aimed at ending military dictatorship, not prolonging it.
Nyiam said, “I am not sure which NADECO Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar is referring to. To the best of my knowledge, the leader of NADECO was Chief Anthony Enahoro, and while he was briefing all of us, he insisted that Gen Abdulsalami should carry out due process by giving Nigeria a people’s constitution to create an enabling environment for genuine democracy,” he said.
According to him, Enahoro’s position was that the transition should produce a Constitution agreed upon by Nigerians through a national conference rather than the 1999 Constitution, which he said was imposed by the military.
Nyiam recalled that Abdulsalami sent a close associate, Olowu, to meet NADECO leaders in exile, including the current President, Bola Tinubu, who was then based in London.
He said Tinubu invited key NADECO figures from across Europe to the meeting, where the coalition unanimously insisted on a credible democratic transition rather than an extension of military rule.
“When Gen Abdulsalami sent an emissary, Olowu, to meet with us, Tinubu invited all the key NADECO people. I travelled from Edinburgh to London for that meeting.
“The man sought our opinion, and what all of us insisted on was that the handover should be properly done to create a system that would bring in democracy.
“There was nobody, to my knowledge, whether Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Chief Anthony Enahoro or any other person from NADECO abroad, who ever asked him to extend military rule. Who would have done that when what we were all fighting for was to end military rule?” Nyiam asked.
He suggested that Abdulsalami was either misinformed or “being economical with the truth.”
He said, “I think the General was either misinformed or deliberately being economical with the truth. There was nothing like that.
“The issue was very clear. We wanted a process that would first produce a people’s constitution through a national conference. That could have been achieved within a few months.
“No one I know from the NADECO chapters in the United Kingdom, the United States or Canada, all led by Chief Anthony Enahoro, made such a request. I was shocked when I heard him say so,” he added.
Nyiam identified Enahoro, Akinrinade and Tinubu as the principal figures of NADECO abroad, noting that Tinubu largely financed the coalition’s activities during the struggle.
He also mentioned former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, who led the National Liberation Council of Nigeria, as key figures who could corroborate his account.
PUNCH
