Abdulsalami Exposes Politicians' Hidden Agenda in June 12 Crisis

Former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, has made some shocking revelations about the country's political class in his recently released autobiography, 'Call of Duty.' According to the retired general, some politicians who publicly supported Chief MKO Abiola during the June 12 crisis were secretly working with the government, while others collected money from both Abiola and his opponent, Bashir Tofa, for mobilisation. Abdulsalami shared a personal experience where Tofa told him that some politicians had approached him for money, promising to deliver votes in their respective wards. However, Tofa was surprised to see the same set of people at the state chairman of Abiola's party, the Social Democratic Party. This duplicity, Abdulsalami noted, is characteristic of Nigerian politicians, who often publicly inflame ethnic and religious divisions while privately meeting to wine and dine together. The former Head of State also recalled an experience from the 1980s, where he witnessed politicians from opposing factions chatting and laughing together at a guest house, despite their public feuds. Abdulsalami stated that this encounter hardened his view of Nigeria's political class, and he applied the lessons learned to the June 12 impasse. He revealed that the duplicity was not incidental but systematic, and that ordinary Nigerians were unaware of what was going on behind the scenes. On the annulment of the June 12 elections, Abdulsalami said he was serving as Chief of Policy and Plans at Army Headquarters when General Ibrahim Babangida halted the transition programme. Although he was personally close to Babangida, Abdulsalami held no position in the transition structure and was not a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council. He believes that Nigerians must no longer allow politicians to fool them and cause division along ethnic and religious lines, and that the masses are often pawns in the hands of politicians.