Politicians took money from Abiola, Tofa – Abdulsalami

Former Nigerian Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar has disclosed the duplicity of politicians during Nigeria's tumultuous June 12, 1993, election period. In his autobiography, 'Call to Duty,' Abubakar reveals that some politicians who publicly championed the cause of Chief MKO Abiola were secretly collaborating with the government.

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The late Alhaji Bashir Tofa told me a story to illustrate this. He said some politicians had visited him, requesting some money for the mobilisation of supporters. They assured him that they would deliver the votes in their respective wards to him. He gave them what they demanded. Tofa later visited the state chairman of Abiola’s party, the SDP, and was dumbfounded to see the same set of people there.

Abubakar's account, detailed in Chapter 16, highlights how certain political figures collected funds from both Abiola's Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention candidate, the late Bashir Tofa. The former Head of State described Nigerian politicians as a distinct group, often inflaming ethnic and religious divisions in public while privately engaging in camaraderie across party lines.

He recounted an anecdote shared by Tofa, who was dismayed to find politicians he had paid for campaign mobilization also soliciting funds from Abiola's party. This duplicity, Abubakar noted, contributed to Tofa losing not only Kano but also his own ward to Abiola.

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I was shocked. These were politicians who, in public, were pretending not to have any point of connection, and the masses were fighting each other because of them. Here, they were hobnobbing, away from public view.

Abubakar also drew parallels to the 1980s, recalling an incident during the crisis within the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). He witnessed politicians from opposing factions, publicly denouncing each other, dining and socializing together in private. This experience, he stated, solidified his view of the Nigerian political class as fundamentally self-interested, often manipulating public sentiment for personal gain.

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A politician who was very active in the First Republic told me that regardless of the parties, most politicians of the North belonged to back then, they all used to visit the Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. Occasionally, they would meet, eat and drink, and the Premier would give them some token while charging them to work for