Nigeria has Igbo problem. Nigeria will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of the Igbo –Chinua Achebe

   The transition was like others we had seen before only different in terms of motive and transference of power. The other things associated with the programme were different, ranging from the banning of “old breed, decreeing into existence a two-party system, and the process itself with what became known as “Option A” where voters had to line up behind the posters of their preferred candidates, to the collation, court injunctions, interventions by the powers that be, partial release of poll results and finally the annulment of the entire presidential election by the ruling military junta.

   With that the country went into  convulsions and the arrest and eventual death of the supposed winner added new dimensions to the whole absurdity. More than 30 years since the dastardly event happened, the country is yet to recover from the effects and fallouts. 

  Different persons, scholars and some of the participants have written about their roles and what they know about events, yet many among us still believe the full story is yet to be impartially told. We need the stories because activities of the era are still very much at the root of today›s challenges. The question of rotation of the presidential seat and in what order is an issue. Those who don›t think they have a chance, lose the desire to buy into the Nigerian Project

  Many still desire the zonal arrangement made popular by the late elder statesman and onetime vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme. We romance with the idea but lack the consensus spirit to accept the truth that it is very important. Merit in political representation is grown or matured into, it is not by legislation. 

   This is by the way. Babangida’s transition has remained an issue. What do we do about the poll? It is done with. Can it then be consigned to the dustbin of history? The answers have been divergent, many say yes and a lot more feel there are lessons to be learnt, acknowledgments to be made and amendments we must make if we intend to place the country on a path of sustainable progress. 

   The Yoruba from where Abiola hailed from insists every evidence supports that he won, that the unannounced results be validated because the poll has been adjudged the best election ever conducted in the country. They want the winner acknowledged, his place and entitlements given. 

    Others accept the argument but add it is also very important to equally acknowledge, honour and reward the one who defied all odds to conduct the polls generally accepted as the best since our country got her independence. They mention Prof Humphrey Nwosu, the electoral head at the time. 

  Prof Nwosu died a few months ago and was buried March 29, 25.  Prelude to his burial many of us felt it would be far more honourable if the Federal Government took steps to honour him before he was interred. The South East caucus in the Senate took over the matter and sought for a motion. With the move a pandora box was opened.  The Senate President said the matter was a very controversial one and thereafter he got support from a few revisionists in the house. 

   Senators Adams Oshiomole and Simeon Adeola led the pack. Oshiomole said Nwosu wasn’t qualified for honours because he died with the “atrocities” he committed while serving as national electoral chairman. What was the crime? “He didn’t have the courage to announce the results”, Oshiomhole said, adding: “He should have announced the results and damned the consequences.” Senator Adeola’s reason was: “I lost a brother in the riots that followed the annulment and Nwosu was the cause.”

   Oshiomole wanted someone else to play a martyr. But the bigger truth is that in places where people think right and are patriotic, meaningful change is not worth anybody’s blood. No one deserves to spill his or her blood before we can bring progressive change to our country. The starting point of Senator Oshiomole’s treatise on patriotism should have been that military rule itself is not only an aberration but it is a crime against the state.

 The very distinguished Senator would have entered the heroes list if he had called for the arrest and trial of all who staged military coups and are still alive. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) where Senator Oshiomole was a vice president at the time was ambivalent about what to do about the situation at the time. It is on record that the then NLC president, Mr Paschal Bafyau, was encouraged to seek office as vice president before the debacle that eventually befell the nation. So where was the courage compared to that of Nwosu who knew there was a conspiracy over ambition within the hierarchy of those holding power and yet defied the fear of “mysterious death” and deliberate obstacles laid by man. Yet Nwosu went ahead and conducted what turned out to be a very credible election which is still celebrated till today.

  If everyone wanted to be as sarcastic as those who opposed Nwosu then none except Nwosu would come out smelling well. President Babangida from what we heard and can put together wanted Sani Abacha to have his day with history. It was not for nothing that he left him behind while the rest entered retirement. The alibi Abacha was kept to help stabilize the interim government of Ernest Shonekan is the story of hunters from the North traveling with guns to the South for hunting. Incredulous! 

   Babangida who annulled the poll holds the country’s highest honour. Few days ago he launched his book accepting the results. Those who say Nwosu didn’t announce the results were there in good numbers to celebrate the man who had the overall power to insist the results be completely announced but chose rather to give a national broadcast to convey the poll’s annulment. He is in good company. 

   Abacha became Head of State with the country’s highest honour. None has clamoured for the honour’s retrieval. Many names have been mentioned and we know many of them went ahead to occupy strategic public offices at the commanding heights of power. None of those hitting very hard on Prof Nwosu have had anything to say about those people and June 12. 

    There are many things about the Senate session on Prof Nwosu. I believe those who took the matter on didn’t handle their strategy well. I would have rather they requested and got an appointment with the president. I believe strongly the outcome would have been quite different. The President has said Prof Nwosu deserves to be honoured. That it is taking time is also not a good one. It cast a slur on the man and his people. 

   In his own right, Prof Nwosu has done more than enough to merit an honour from the country. Some of us who sat through his classes at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, can attest to his erudition. His works are exemplary. These are some of the points those villifying him should have taken into account but didn’t because it won’t help their aim of running a patriot down. When South East senators took the matter up the other day on the Senate floor, any sensitive and well meaning contributor would have known the unity of the country was at stake. It was wrong to make it appear like one man, another Igbo didn’t want Nigeria to grow. This is not what happened. Legendary Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe said and he was very right: “Only a mad man confronts the man with the gun.” But this is what Prof Nwosu did when he pushed on with the elections against the wishes of those who appointed him. He could have been killed. Thank God he survived to stay till his time was due. He didn’t annul the poll. What is more it wasn’t an Igbo or tribal agenda. It was purely raw ambition running riot. Leaders have the sacred task to put history in perspective; it becomes a tool for unity and progress.

    It is the responsibility of leaders to build and not to destroy. The drive to make the 1993 election look like another Igbo annulment isn›t the right path and to be sure won›t help anybody or group. This is where the President of the Federal Republic has his role cut out very clearly. President Tinubu has a chance to correct the wrong. My expectation is that June 12 offers the president another better opportunity to throw in variables that would help to cement the bonds holding our people together. He should honour Prof Humphrey Nwosu.