My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 195

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q22) June 1994

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q23)

[Aminu Saleh and Omoruyi
discussion]
Can the ballot box change this
[North as “husband” and South
as “wife”] relationship? In fact,
the former Secretary to the
Government of the Federation
[under Abacha], Alhaji Aminu
Saleh, invited me to his office
in June 1994 when I was still the
Director-General of the Centre for
Democratic Studies, to persuade
me to rethink my position, that
one person, one vote should not
be the irreducible minimum for
the installation of a democratic
government in Nigeria.50…
(p. 307)

194

[He] specifically told me to adjust
my views about the minimum
requirement for democracy which
was and still is “one person one
vote”. Alhaji Saleh told me in
his own words his definition of
democracy: “Professor, my vote is
not the same weight as the vote of
the Emir of Bauchi and the vote of
the Emir of Bauchi is not the same
weight as the vote of the Sultan
of Sokoto” He then said “that is
why we are not going to accept the
mandate which Chief Abiola is
claiming”….( p. 34)

{50 [Aminu Saleh’s] was the third
time I was faced with the lack of
faith on the part of the Northern
Leaders in the ballot box. The
first was my meeting with the
former Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji
Ibrahim Dasuki in May 1993,
the second was with General
Babangida on June 21, 1993. On
this third occasion, Alhaji Aminu
Saleh told me his vote was less
than the vote of the Emir of
Bauchi, and the vote of the Emir
of Bauchi was less than the vote
of the Sultan of Sokoto, and by
extension, the vote of the “wife”
would be less than the vote of the
“husband.” Therefore, the June
12 Presidential election should
not have proceeded the way it
did and the results based on the
sum total of the votes scored by
the two candidates should not be
upheld. After all, the example of
1959 Federal election was there for
all to see. How Britain resolved it
in favour of the North was [it] not
there as the model [?] Babangida
committed a heinous crime for
presiding over an election which
was so free and fair. (p. 340, n. 50)}
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What emerged from the fiasco
in 1993 is that a voluntary
handing over from the military
to an elected “autonomous”
Southerner76 would never occur
despite the talk of rotation….(p. 327)
{76 “Autonomous” Southerner, is
distinct from Southerners created
by the Northern leadership.
Chief Abiola was seen as an
“autonomous” Southerner who
would not be amenable to the
North despite the fact that he was
the Vice President of the Supreme
Council for Islamic Affairs.
He was not created by the North.
The Northern leaders believed they
would not be able to manipulate
him; they knew that he was
toorich to be bought and they also
knew that he came from a large
ethnic group that was well-endowed,
the Yoruba (p. 343 n. 76)}
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