Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has given reasons why former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, yielded to pressure from some military henchmen to annul the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

The former head of state launched his memoir last week, declaring that Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola won the election and taking responsibility for its annulment.

But the move did not sit well with many Nigerians who claimed that Babangida took too long to reveal the truth and exhibited cowardice in waiting for major actors in the crisis to die before releasing his book and blaming the annulment on them.

In a piece he titled A Book that Stirred a Nation, however, Fani-Kayode noted that the decision to yield to the pressure for annulment of the election was the best IBB could have taken for the sake of national piece and safety of many Nigerians, including the winner of the election.

“Had it not been that IBB sheathed his sword, held his peace and conceded to the dark, sinister and evil forces that coordinated, orchestrated, initiated, effected and announced the annulment without his knowledge and behind his back, there would have been a very bloody military coup which would have in turn been violently resisted by the IBB faction and thereby result in a long and protracted civil war,” he said.

He added that if Babangida had resolved to resist the “dark forces” who wanted the election annulled, he had no doubt that Abiola, his wives, children, key supporters, many of the heroes who were later to become the leaders of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), IBB himself and his key loyalists would have been targeted for assassination.

“More likely than not few of the main players on both sides, including Abacha, Abiola and Babangida themselves, would have survived the conflagration and the country would have been at war with itself, brother killing brother, for an indefinite period,” he argued.