Fashola: If Rule of Law Had Prevailed, MKO Would Be President Today
Former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said Nigeria’s historic June 12 crisis would never have occurred if the rule of law had been respected. He stated that the late MKO Abiola would have rightfully become president had due process been followed.
Speaking at The Platform, an annual civic dialogue hosted by Covenant Nation in Lagos to mark Democracy Day, Fashola underscored that “the rule of law is central to societal progress.”
“If the rule of law had prevailed, there would have been no crisis on June 12. MKO would have been president, and perhaps all of his promises about a farewell to poverty would have happened,” he said.
Abiola, who ran on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), is widely believed to have won the 1993 election — still hailed as Nigeria’s freest and fairest. However, the election was annulled by the then-military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, throwing the country into political turmoil.
Years later, Babangida himself admitted at a public event that Abiola indeed won.
Fashola described the annulment not just as a political mistake but as a fundamental breach of legal and democratic norms. “I want us to see the rule of law in terms of law and order. That is the perspective that I want to share,” he told the audience.
His comments come as many Nigerians reflect on the unfulfilled promise of June 12 and its implications for the country’s ongoing democratic evolution.
