By Patrick Ngwaogu 

Former First Lady, Mrs. Maryam Abacha, has pushed back against long-standing claims that her late husband, General Sani Abacha, was behind the annulment of Nigeria’s historic June 12, 1993, presidential election, widely regarded as the freest and fairest in the country’s history.

 

Speaking in a recent interview, Mrs. Abacha insisted that the decision to annul the election, which was presumed to have been won by business mogul Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, was not taken by the Abacha-led regime.

 

“All I know is that the annulment was not done by my husband,” she said pointedly.

 

Her comments come as Nigeria marks another anniversary of the June 12 election, a date now officially recognized as Democracy Day in honor of Abiola’s mandate and the national outcry that followed its cancellation.

 

Mrs. Abacha appeared to challenge the prevailing narrative that her husband, who later assumed power in a 1993 military coup following the resignation of Interim Head of State Chief Ernest Shonekan, was the mastermind behind the annulment orchestrated under then military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida.

 

“If it was him, that means he was very powerful… even more powerful than the president. If the president was there and somebody else was calling the shots, that means Abacha was the greatest,” she stated, suggesting that blame had been unfairly shifted onto the late general.

 

General Sani Abacha’s rise to power and the events surrounding June 12 remain controversial chapters in Nigeria’s political history. While Babangida officially annulled the election, suspicion and speculation have long lingered over Abacha’s role in the power struggles that followed.

 

Mrs. Abacha’s remarks are likely to reignite debate over the true circumstances surrounding the annulment and the transition that brought her husband to power. She urged Nigerians to “dig deeper” into the events of that period and reconsider the narrative that has persisted for over three decades.

 

Abacha ruled Nigeria from 1993 until his sudden death in 1998, a period marked by human rights abuses, political repression, and economic upheaval. Yet, for some, he remains a complex figure—admired by a few for asserting Nigeria’s sovereignty but condemned by many for the brutal suppression of dissent.

 

As Nigeria continues to reckon with its democratic journey, June 12 remains both a symbol of lost opportunity and a rallying point for those committed to upholding the will of the people.