JUNE 12 AND OLUSEGUN ADENIYI’S POWERFUL REMINDER

 ‘The Ghost of June 12’ excavates the buried hopes, betrayals, and unresolved tensions that have shaped Nigeria’s post-colonial democracy, writes ABIODUN ADENIYI

In ‘The Ghost of June 12’, former presidential spokesman and political historian, Olusegun Adeniyi offers a gripping, meticulously documented, and multi-layered account of one of the most defining yet divisive epochs in Nigeria’s post-independence history. Centring on the events surrounding the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, the book goes far beyond the surface narrative of betrayal and suppression. Adeniyi delves into the personalities, institutions, ideologies, and betrayals that sustained Nigeria’s extended dalliance with military rule and political instability.

The work is split into four interconnected anthologies, exploring crucial phases in the June 12 saga. The result is an engaging and sobering exposé of how power is acquired. It is additionally contested and manipulated, and ultimately, it is how the abuse of power can derail a nation’s destiny. ‘Book One’ captures the parade of technocrats, career politicians, military men, and opportunists who shaped the country’s Third Republic. With brief but revealing profiles of actors such as Adamu Ciroma, Jerry Gana, Olu Falae, Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Arthur Nzeribe, Abubakar Olusola Saraki, and many others, Adeniyi captures not just personalities but the ethos of an era.

These mini-biographies, subtitled in dramatic tones-such as ‘The Trust Builder’, ‘The People’s General’, and ‘The Consensus Doctor’, are masterpieces in character study. They showcase how diverse backgrounds and personal ambitions converged (or clashed) in the nation’s experimental political transition under military supervision. By spotlighting these individuals, Adeniyi subtly demonstrates how the fortress of Nigeria’s democracy was erected on a foundation of political quicksand, ambition without vision, and compromise without conscience.

In the second book, the irony of “democracy under dictatorship” is laid bare. Adeniyi documents how the National Assembly functioned in a political atmosphere dictated by khaki-clad rulers. He presents the legislative intrigues, ideological pretensions, manipulated debates, and eventual disillusionment of politicians who had hoped to usher in civilian rule under military oversight.

The current president had functioned under this assembly, where he was distinguished as a budding defiant, exemplified in his pro-democracy ideals, through, first, the fight against a military-orchestrated replacement of Iyorhia Ayu as senate president and second, by his vexed public circumspection on former president Ibrahim Babangida stepping aside narrative.

Chapters like ‘The May Declaration’, ‘The Great Debate’, and ‘Coup in the Senate’ provide insider-level insight into how the democratic experiment of the Third Republic unravelled. The prose is lively and often chilling, reminding the reader that real power remained firmly in military hands, while elected officials served as props in a tragic national play. The betrayal of June 12 becomes not just a single act but the climax of a long-running deception.

Book three is the emotional heart of the compilation. Adeniyi chronicles the courageous and tragic journey of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (M.K.O.) Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12 election. Beginning with IBB’s letter to M.K.O., this section captures the descent from hope to despair.

Chapters like ‘Prelude to Darkness,’ ‘The Night They Came for M.K.O.,’ and ‘Tears on a Lonely Road’ arouse a national ordeal. Abiola’s imprisonment is a metaphor for asphyxiated aspirations for democracy. Adeniyi’s writing is sensitive and unsentimental, avoiding hagiography while conveying the gravity of Abiola’s sacrifice. His emphasis on the intransigence of the military regime and aspects of the civil society underscores the book’s overarching thesis: June 12 is not a date; it is a ghost that continues to haunt the nation’s soul. See!

In the last of the Books, the author shifts gears and delivers a fast-paced, almost day-by-day breakdown of the final chapter in the reign of General Sani Abacha, Nigeria’s most repressive military ruler. Drawing on personal recollections, insider accounts, and press reports, the author reconstructs a season of heightened repression, surreal politics, and dark comedy.

Chapters such as ‘Abacha Campaign as Money Spinner,’ ‘The Conviction of Diya and Co.,’ and ‘The Seminar That Never Was’ illustrate the regime’s descent into paranoia, propaganda, and tragic absurdity.

This section is filled with familiar names, like Daniel Kanu. Do you remember him? He was of the infamous Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA) movement; Gani Fawehinmi, the unrelenting Lagos gadfly, with gigantic legacies in advocacy; Bola Ige, one of Nigeria’s finest orators cum politico-public philosophers; and Wada Nas, a bourgeoisie palace courtier, unrepentantly fanatical about General Abacha; and NADECO stalwarts, a spontaneous transnational movement that peppered the military from across the Nigerian shores, each playing their part in the theatres of support and resistance.

The final days leading up to Abacha’s sudden death are presented not just as the end of a dictator, but as the collapse of a carefully constructed house of cards. In classic Adeniyi fashion, the book ends with ‘The Apple Theory of Power’ and ‘Vanity Upon Vanity’, both of which serve as a powerful commentary on the illusion and transience of authoritarian rule, a rule often exhibiting absolutism, and regularly collapsing at some moments of wind-like push.

One of the most compelling strengths of ‘The Ghost of June 12’ lies in its multi-perspective storytelling. Olusegun Adeniyi avoids a unilineal account. Instead, he weaves together facts, voices, and events from a variety of viewpoints, including those of military personnel and even perpetrators. This approach is productive in balance and fairness, aiding the objective appreciation of woven events. Another notable strength is the book’s solid foundation, built on documentation. This work transcends typical journalism; it reads like a carefully curated institutional memory rendered in accessible and varied prose.

The work is good in its character-centric approach to history. Rather than presenting a sterile recounting of events, Adeniyi anchors the narrative in the lives of key figures. This strategy humanises the political drama and enables readers to better understand the personal dimensions of Nigeria’s national crises. Through these individuals, abstract and mythical historical forces become relatable human stories. To understand the personal dimensions of Nigeria’s national crises.

Overall, the collection is worth commending. Although the book is laden with information, the columnist’s writing stays fluid and journalistic. He inclines to storytelling, imbuing tension and drama into his rendition. Still, he remains precise mainly. The balance between readability and rigour makes it not only informative but also compelling. Surely exhaustive and sometimes overwhelming.

Readers unfamiliar with Nigerian political history may occasionally feel lost in the sea of names and dates. A timeline or list of key players might have helped to orient the casual reader. However, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise outstanding work. ‘The Ghost of June 12’ is not just a book but a national reckoning. It excavates the buried hopes, calculated betrayals, and unresolved tensions that have shaped Nigeria’s post-colonial democracy. It is an urgent reminder that no nation can outrun its past; that democracy is not a gift but a fight, and that the ghost of June 12 will continue to haunt Nigeria until justice, truth, and institutional accountability are fully realised.

The book is also a subtle reminder to all those toiling with the nation’s present democracy to remember, please remember, some dark days that should not be returned to. Olusegun Adeniyi has given Nigeria a gift of truth. For scholars, politicians, students, and citizens alike, The Ghost of June 12 is an essential read, a monument in print to the price of freedom and the cost of forgetting. And this is Olusegun Adeniyi’s final admonition: ‘When in power, please don’t eat apple!’

 So poignant!

Adeniyi is a professor of communication at Baze University, Abuja