IBB: There would have been coup if June 12 election wasn’t annulled

Former Military President Ibrahim Babangida has again spoken on the annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential election, saying there would have been a bloody coup if that election had not been annulled.

The election was between Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention and MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party.

Although Abiola was leading, according to the result of the election which trickled in, the exercise was cancelled before an official pronouncement was made.

This had triggered a crisis as many took to the streets in protest.

But speaking in an interview with ARISE TV on Friday, IBB said the coup didn’t happen owing to the “engineering and the Maradonic way we handled you guys in the society.”

The June 12 presidential election was adjudged the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history.

The acclaimed winner of the election was honoured by President Muhammadu Buhari who also declared June 12 as Democracy Day.

Asked to comment on the annulment of the election, IBB said, “You want me to be honest with you? If it materialised, there would have been a coup d’etat which would have been violent, that’s all I can confirm.”

“That could have given room for more instability in the country,” he said, adding that the pressure was both from the military and outside.