Senator Victor Umeh is a chieftain of the Labour Party, and represents Anambra Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly. In this interview with CHUKWU DAVID, he speaks on the disclosures of former Military President Ibrahim Babangida on the June 12, 1993 election, defections in the National Assembly and other national issues

Let’s talk about the place of opposition in the present politics of Nigeria. The opposition appears to be sleeping while Nigeria is degenerating to a one-party state, which is going to be dangerous to the nation’s democratic progress. What is your take on this worrisome trend?
That is your own statement. I am here as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and I’m not sleeping. I’m working to meet the demands of my office as a representative of my people. There’s nothing that has happened in this chamber since I came that I’ve glossed over, if there are things that will affect my people negatively. I’ve been fighting to protect their rights and interests, and that’s the essence of coming here. That’s the major reason for being in the Senate. So, I’m doing my work in the best way possible within the business of the Senate. So, if people say that opposition members are sleeping, it is their own conclusion. But I’m very active here.
After the first session, after the first one year, I was voted as one of the 10 most active senators in this 10th Senate. If I was idle here, I would not get that recognition. I’ve also received an award from the Senate Press Corps that I have done well in representing my people. You cannot represent your people well in the estimation of the Press Corps of the Senate if you have not been doing what you are expected to do. So, to that extent, I discharge my responsibility with every sense of commitment towards addressing the plight of my people in Nigeria.

Let me re-frame the question. A lot of key stakeholders in the opposition have defected to the APC, including some of them in the Senate. Are you not concerned that this development may reduce Nigeria to a one-party state?
I think I stand to be corrected. I think, in this 10 Senate, only three members of the opposition have defected to the APC. The first was Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, who is now late, and then Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi of the Labour Party, and Senator Ned Nwoko, who represents Delta North. Ezenwa Onyewuchi represents Imo East. Ifeanyi Ubah represented Anambra South. Only three Senators, out of about 49 Senators. So, you see that the claim is not right, that everybody is crossing over. If out of 49 Senators in the opposition, and only three people have defected, one is late, you see, politics is dynamic.
What you cannot do is to control people’s personal right to decisions. Those who have defected have cited personal reasons for defecting. Some talk about the crisis in their political party. And the Constitution allows you to move from your party if there’s a clear division in your party. So, you see, issues that prompt these things up are issues that should be addressed. But the political parties, from where people are elected to the parliament, if your party is in crisis and somebody decides to move, maybe because of the internal politics in the party, you don’t need to begin to say that people are defecting to the ruling party. There are some places people leave their own party and join another party that is not a ruling party. Depending on what is playing out in that political party.

Recently, the former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, at his book launch in Abuja, acknowledged that the late Moshood Abiola was the winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. What is your reaction to this?
Well, I think what General Babangida did was a burden of conscience that he discharged. He annulled the election, which all of us knew was won by Abiola. We all knew that the election was free and fair, and that there was no reason to annul the election. But because it was a military administration, for whatever reason, even in his book, he didn’t disclose the reason for annulling the election. He said it was in national interest. So, he didn’t say what happened. But he annulled the election, and you saw the conflagration that followed that annulment. So many crises followed from 1993 until Abiola died in 1998.
The country knew no peace. The country was ungovernable, forcing him to leave and hand it over to Ernest Shonekan, the then Chairman of UAC. And that one was easy to overthrow by General Abacha. Even for the five years Abacha was Head of State, he ruled with maximum force to be able to crack down on pro-democracy groups in Nigeria. So, a lot of lives were lost. Abiola lost his life. His wife, Kudirat, was shot on the head. She died. So many pro-democracy activists lost their lives. Many people went on exile, including the present President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, all in their fights to resist the annulment of June 12th, presidential election, 1993. So, I thank God who spared his life. He has lived for another 32 years. If God hasn’t spared his life for another 32 years since that annulment, the truth may not have come out. So, God gave him a long life to be able to do what is called retrospection; review of life. And now that he’s at the age where he is, at the book launch, he was in a wheelchair.
A very smart military officer at that time, very resplendent in military uniform as General Babangida. And now he appears in a sober mood, presenting this book and his journey of service. So, we thank God that he spared his life. But he spared his life to say some of the critical truths most of us have known over the years. But they have been suppressed. So this June 12th confession is a confession that every Nigerian should commend him for. Even though his conscience is disturbing him, because Abiola was said to be his friend at that time, he needed to let it out so that as people have divergent views and opinions about what he said, he has discharged his burden of conscience. He has said he did this and given the opportunity again, he wouldn’t have done what he did. So, it’s for us to now put the whole thing in proper perspective in history.
Number one is that the election was won by Moshood, M.K. Abiola. That’s an established fact now because they also published the result of the election, showing how he won. So, nobody will ever be speculating again about that election. He has brought us the correct results. And said that Abiola won the election and that he annulled it, you know, whatever pressures that were put on him, which he did not reveal today. He may die with that one, but he has said this is the man who won the election. And it has now become part of our history that Abiola won the presidential election from official sources, from the man who annulled the election. So, it’s a record. Then looking to the flip side of it, the flip side of it is that, yes, we went through so much annihilation following that annulment of that transparent election; we went through a lot of annihilation as a country. And that will be served now as a deterrent to others who may want to go that line. Not even as a military dictatorship. Even in our democratic experience, if somebody wins an election, they should declare the person winner. That’s what he failed to do, you know, and went through that carnage and loss of lives. So, people will learn from it, whether you are a civilian President or civilian authority, and know that it is cheaper to say the truth. What is imperishable is the truth. No matter how you bury the truth. Bob Marley says, oh, time will tell!
The truth must always come out. And it took 32 years for the truth to come out through the special grace of God who preserved General Babangida to this date. So, we should be able to know that when we are in authority, that what God expects us to do is simply what is right. We should not take advantage of our authority to do wrong things because we could get away with it. There’s a time for reckoning. And that time for reckoning comes when you least expect it. So, I commend Babangida for saying the truth, even though people are angry that it took him 32 years to say that. I commend him because there are people who will never say it at all and they will die with it. So, it’s all a mark of a great man, to speak the truth. So, he has spoken the truth, no matter how belated it is. And the nation should now know what happened. And we have known now.

What do you have to say about Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who in spite of all odds, including threat to his life, went ahead to announce the Presidential result even against the orders of President Babangida?
Yes, I am still going to say something about it. The other side of it is that Babangida’s confession puts to the fore what we have always done. When things happen, we are very sycophantic as a people. I remember that the government of Buhari had cause to confer posthumous Grand Commander of the Federal Republic Honor on M.K. Abiola. That honor is reserved for Heads of State. So, they gave him that honor. Then his running mate, who now you could see wanting to be Vice President, was given the same national honor of Grand Commander of Order of the Niger, you know, (GCON). In other words, they’ve been treated as former President and former Vice President. But in this country, the same government could not give honor to the man who conducted that election, Humphrey Nwosu, who was booted out of office and slapped by the agents of the military administration then, when he was busy announcing the results of the election.

Reports had it that he was called to stop announcing the results, and he said he must continue announcing the results, because that’s what the results were before him. They went to his office and bundled him out and beat him up and took him away. Now that the truth has been told, Nigeria owes Professor Humphrey Nwosu an apology for that action following the revelation by President Babangida, that he conducted the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history.
He has just died, so we are waiting to bury him. His people in Anambra State are already circulating invitations for his funeral. But the government, when they acknowledged MKO Abiola as the winner of that election, and gave him posthumous Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria honour, recognised Baba Gana Kingibe as somebody who won the Vice-Presidential election, conferring the Grand Commander of Order of the Niger on him, they left him out. When they were chronicling heroes of June 12, and those who were championing it, they were heroes of June 12, they never mentioned his name. Even in celebrations; June 12 was marked last year by this President’s administration. And they never mentioned his name. Government never mentioned his name. So that’s the disservice of this country. And I call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was there at the book launch by President Babangida, to give Professor Humphrey Nwosu, his right of place in the history of Nigeria. He is the real hero of the June 12 presidential elections, not Abiola as a person. The man who conducted the election and defiantly continued to pronounce the results of that election and was insulted and booted out and humiliated was the hero of the election. Abiola won. Yes, he did very well. But you can’t describe him as the hero of the election because he did not get his mandate. He wasn’t sworn in as a hero in debt. But I commend him because even me voted for MKO Abiola. My state was within the SDP. SDP was in charge of my state.
My father was a ward chairman of SDP. In 1992, 1993, during that election, my father, my own father, Sir Innocent Ofodekwume, of blessed memory, was the ward chairman of SDP in my Ward. Late Pius Ezeife Okwadike Igbukwu, used to come to my house in the village to meet my father as the ward chairman of SDP at that time. But all those things had gone. So, now it’s time to heal the wounds. It should start with the man who had been left out of song, Professor Humphrey Nwosu. He did so many things as chairman of the electoral body. There was a very controversial primary of the PDP to nominate their governorship candidate in Anambra State. He was very firm and ensured that the right person was allowed to emerge through his party. The primary was cancelled two times.

Do you intend to come up with a motion on the floor of the Senate, urging that late Professor Humphrey Nwosu be given a posthumous honour like Abiola?
Well, motion or no motion, it was not motion that was used to do the one of Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. People who are in authority, they know what to do. So, they should in the process of national healing, bring him back to national consciousness and give him his due respect. Now that he died and he has not been buried, maybe at his funeral, further truths will be told by the government.