Much Ado About Immortalising Humphrey Nwosu

Recent calls to immortalise Chairman of defunct National Electoral Commission, Prof Humphrey Nwosu has elicited a lot of reactions. While some believe he deserve a posthumous national honour as one of the heroes of June 12, 1993 presidential poll, others think otherwise. AdedayoAkinwale reports.

While so many things have been written concerning the June 12, 1993 presidential election — as the freest and most transparent in recent history of the country — most stories often center around the presumed winner of the election, late Chief MKO Abiola.

Ironically, Chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission (NEC), late Humphrey Nwosu, whose ingenuity and his adoption of  Open Ballot System popularly referred to as Option A4 in which voters queued up behind the symbol of the party of their choice to vote and to be physically counted,  produced the undisputed election in the country.

Before the 1993 poll, several elections had been held in the country that had been disputed. However, the election conducted by Nwosu has remained the benchmark of what a free and fair election should look like — where electorates are given the chance to choose who rules them.

Surprisingly, in June 2018, former  President Muhammadu BuharihonouredAbiola with the highest national award, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR), posthumously, while his running mate, Ambassador BabaganaKingibe, was awarded Grand Commander of Niger (GCON). The government did not deem it fit to honour the man that made June 12 possible.

It was against this background that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood  at an event last Monday tagged, “Afternoon of Tributes”  called on the federal government to honourNwosu, a Professor of Political Science who died in October, 2024.

Yakubu said Nwosu did his best — which was not always appreciated by many —including those who appointed him under an indefinite transition from military rule to democracy which ended in the annulment of the presidential election held in 1993, resulting in the dissolution of the electoral commission and the emergence of an interim national government.

Yakubu was of the opinion that if it was an oversight on the part of the federal government to honourNwosu when he was alive and Abiola and Kingibe were honoured,  it wasn’t too late to honour him posthumously.

The innocent call by the chairman of the electoral body for Nwosu to be honoured had since generated a lot of controversy in the political space. While some shared the same sentiments with INEC, others thought otherwise.

For instance, former INEC Chairman, Prof. AttaihiruJega believed Nwosu’scontribution  significantly brought integrity to the country’s electoral process. He emphasised that his contribution to the June 12,1993 presidential election was very heroic and deserved to be appropriately appreciated, recognised and honoured.

He pointed out that during the military era, those of them in academia saw evidence of loss of intellectual integrity, courage of conviction and evidence of a lot of pandering to the wishes of the military rulers at that time.

According to Jega: “I must admit, some of us were skeptical that another professor under a transition program of the military regime, piloting elections, which are key aspects of that transition process was again likely to bring us the disrespect, dishonor and shame that we felt for some of those professors that were involved in government at that time.

But I must say, and I think everybody will attest to it that Professor Humphrey Nwosu, did his job with the seriousness that he deserved,  focus, passion and at his heart, very clearly, with the interest of the nation at heart. What he did, no doubt, has contributed very significantly to the effort to bring integrity to elections”.

To the  former Minister of Information, Prof. Jerry Gana,  Nwosu was someone that knew what to do, how to do it and he did it well.

He said: “The elections that he really worked on came to be celebrated. The President was celebrated, the Vice President was celebrated, other people were celebrated, but the person who produced the election was forgotten. That was not right, and therefore I conclude by speaking to the powers that be, Humphrey Nwosu must be recognised”.

Nevertheless, last Wednesday a motion to immortaliseNwosu moved by Senator EnyinnayaAbaribe and several co-sponsors from the minority caucus, largely representing the South-East geopolitical zone led to a heated debate in the Senate.

Presenting the motion, Abaribe argued that Nwosu’s contributions to Nigeria’s democracy remain undeniable, despite the challenges he faced, saying he conducted an election that remains a reference point in the country’s  electoral history. He added that it was only right that the Senate recognised his role and honour his memory.

But, the Deputy Senate President, Senator JibrilBarau remarked that the motion was “controversial,” given the divided opinions of Nigerians on Nwosu’s role during the June 12 election.

 “It is controversial. Some people see him as one of those who truncated June 12, others say he was a hero of democracy,” he posted.

When it was put to a voice vote, Jibrin ruled in favour of the “nays”, effectively rejecting any further action on the motion.

An emotional Abaribe queried, “What is wrong with this motion? What is wrong with a motion to immortalise Prof. Nwosu?”

At this point, South-East Senators, including Patrick Ndubaeze and Victor Umeh, openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the rejection of the motion.

“What is the meaning of this? We can’t continue to do things this way. What is going on?” Umeh exclaimed, hitting his desk in frustration.

In his contribution, Senator YahayaAbdullahi  accusedJibrin of attempting to silence senators.

“We can interject with personal explanations at any time; we have to allow people to speak; otherwise, we are saying that whenever things go wrong, we cannot intervene to correct ourselves,” he argued.

As tensions continued to mount, Senate President GodswillAkpabio was forced to step in to calm the heated debate, urging lawmakers to approach the issue with a sense of national unity.

“We must handle this matter with sensitivity and respect for history. While opinions may differ, we should focus on strengthening our democratic institutions rather than revisiting past divisions,” he advised.

During Thursday’s plenary, Senator AdeolaOlamilekan said he tried as much as possible to avoid contributing to the debate to immortaliseNwosu when the matter came up the previous day at the Senate.

His words: “I have tried as much as possible to avoid yesterday, when my brother, Senator Abaribe, brought this matter up, I look up and said, No, I will not allow this to happen because it’s about to remind me of a very sad memory.

“I’m not speaking along party lines or ethnic or whatsoever. As I’ve watched and listened to the contributions thus far, as a result of the action and inaction of Professor Nwosu, I lost my immediate younger brother. He died right behind me for refusing to do or carry out his duty as NEC chairman.

“Mr. President, many of my colleagues have stood up here and said he conducted the free and fairest election. There are three different meanings and three different interpretations that we should look at. Conducting elections, releasing results and announcing results. Yes, he conducted the election; Yes, he released all the results, but you and I know releasing results is not the same thing as announcing results.

“He failed at the critical moment when he’s supposed to salvage this democracy. Today, we celebrate Abiola, or those people who have contributed to the success story of June 12 because they put their lives on the line. If he cowardly withdrew in doing what is right at the critical moment. I think my brothers here should be fair enough.”

In an interview he granted a TV station while alive, Nwosu while reflecting on the June 12 presidential poll, said he had all the results from the states except for Taraba. 

He added that he was determined to announce all the election results until a court order was served on him by the Commissioner of  Police.

Nwosu stated: “You knew all the problems, all the restrictions, in spite of all that, June 12 came, the election was conducted, It was peaceful. Materials were distributed all over Nigeria. When the results started coming on June 13, 14. In fact, it was to be concluded around June 17, 18. The other party, NRC, had even congratulated SDP for winning.

“Suddenly, there was a letter served on me by the Commissioner of Police that we should cease forthwith.

“I summoned an emergency meeting of the commission on June 16. All the results had come in, with the exception of that of Taraba, which the Resident Electoral Commissioner f was on his way to bring, we would have released the result about June 17. So they said, stop. I was served.

“In fact, I was called into a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council and said, “would you release this result?”  without  knowing, I said, That’s the law. There was no provision of the highest ruling military body to vet the results. The law says results should be announced at each level — the polling station,  local government, state and finally, their conclusion at headquarters.

“My commission met and we decided that we will challenge that ruling by the Abuja High Court, because of the Commissioner of Police that served it.”

Nwosu said after a series of meetings with the committee headed by late General Sani Abacha, he insisted that the commission must be allowed to announce the results and whoever felt aggrieved should approach the tribunal.

He added that he declared the election as incomplete and inconclusive because NEC wasn’t allowed to announce the Taraba results, before the commission was later dissolved by the military.

In 2008, Nwosu published a book in which he claimed that Babangida was not to blame for annulling the election. The book was severely criticized for failing to accurately account for what happened.

Although, South East lawmakers are not resting on their oars, following their call on President Bola Tinubu to immortaliseNwosu. To be or not to be, only my time will tell.