Celebrating a Hero of June 12, Humphrey Nwosu

By Eric Elezuo

In as much as unnecessary controversy ensued in the Senate when some senators led by the Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, sponsored a motion to honour and immortalise Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the electoral officer in charge of organising and conducting the June 12, 1993 General Elections; the highly freest and fairest elections in the history of Nigeria, many Nigerians have stood stoutly the defend the late electoral officer’s conduct, concluding that he deserved to be honoured for his meritorious service to nation, especially as the substantive Chairman of the then National Electoral Commission (NEC).

The election held, but was truncated by the former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (retd) at the announcement of results stage.

Those, who joined the Abia South Senator to jointly sponsor the motion were Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South), Orji Kalu (APC, Abia North), Austin Akobondu (PDP, Abia), Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central) and Victor Umeh, (LP, Anambra Central).Others are Okechukwu Ezea (LP, Enugu North) Osita Ngwu (PDP, Enugu West), Onyekachi Nwebonyi (APC, Ebonyi North) Anthony Ani, Osita Izunaso (APC, Imo West) Patrick Ndubueze (APC, Imo North).

However, as the motion hit the floor of the senate through a point of order, majority of the members fought against it, and finally had their way after a voice vote as supervised by the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, giving verdict to the ‘nays’.

The Senate threw out prayers contained in the motion as it sought to honour Prof Nwosu by renaming the Independent National Electoral Commission headquarters after him. The rejection was the second time in quick succession, in less than 24 hours.

In the heated debate before the proposal was thrown out, Abaribe, while presenting the proposal, noted that Nwosu stood his ground to conduct the June 12, 1993 elections despite threats from military dictatorship.

“His courageous defense of democratic electoral process during the 1993 presidential elections led to the famous June 12, which ultimately confirmed Alhaji M.K.O Abiola as the winner of the election.“He stood his ground, ensuring that Nigeria’s electoral wishes and aspirations were realised, which culminated in June 12 being marked as the authentic democracy day due to his unwavering stand as an umpire.

“Professor Humphrey Nwosu laid a landmark foundation for the present independent National Electoral Commission today and that Professor Humphrey Mwosu passed away on the 20th of October 2024, aged 83 years old.

“Despite his contributions, Professor Humphrey Mwosu was seemingly neglected until his death, which highlights complaints of unfair treatment of notable public servants,” he added.

In support of the motion, Senator Osita Ngwu that “there was no way he would have announced the results with a gun to his head. That doesn’t change the fact that some of us see him as a hero.”

Senator Austin Akobundu described it as most uncharitable for lawmakers to dismiss Nwosu’s contributions, insisting that he deserved a place in Nigeria’s hall of honour.

On his part, Tony Nwoye representing Anambra North under Labour Party, accused senators of deploying personal, political and ethnic sentiments to judge the motion.“We should not allow our personal sentiments and party affiliation to affect our judgement. I was a presiding officer during the June 12 election. He did his best despite the court order. Despite the threats by the military cabal, he went ahead to announce the election. It is very disappointing that some of us are distorting facts because Nwosu is an Igbo man,” he said.

Among the several senators, who opposed the immortalisation motion, with excuses of Nwosu’s lacking courage to announce final results, were Senator Jimoh Ibrahim from Ondo State, who stated categorically that “nothing should be named after him”, Senator Cyril Fasuyi, who argued that history does not reward efforts, but only results, saying “As long as he did not announce the result, whether under duress or not, I am against naming INEC headquarters after him”, Senator Sunday Karimi, who criticised Nwosu for lacking the courage to speak out; Senator Afolabi Salisu, who said that immortalising him would undermine the memory of MKO Abiola, Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Adeola Olamilekun, who claimed he lost his brother in the aftermath.

But Nigerians have argued in favour of the immortalisation of the former chief electoral officer, admonishing that he did his job very well. Most of them reasoned that if the likes of Babagana Kingibe, the running mate to Abiola, who ditched the struggle to join the government of General Sani Abacha, could be honoured with a GCON honours, the second highest in the land, how much more the proponent of the most viable option to voting, Option A4.

In his accessment, celebrated journalist and Chairman of Ovation Media Group, Chief Dele Momodu, said Nwosu performed his duty to the very best of his abilities, and very well. The well traveled journalist wondered on what pedestal the opposing senators stand to deny him honours.

Also lending his voice to the immortalisation of Prof Nwosu, the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, Iba Gani Adams, said all honours Abiola is enjoying today is credited to Nwosu’s honesty.

“It is very important that Prof. Humphrey Nwosu should be recognized, the genesis of having a free and fair or the foundation of having a free and fair June 12, 1993 elections was through having a sincere NEC chairman like Humphrey Nwosu.

“Humphrey Nwosu conducted free and fair election that gave Aare MKO Abiola the mandate that the Nigerian government then did not install him as president.

“And the respect and the glory that Aare MKO Abiola is having today is as a result of the honesty displayed by the then NEC chairman and the products that worked with him that made it happen,” he said.

HUMPHREY NWOSU AND JUNE 12 DEBACLE

Nigeria’s electoral umpire during the period leading to the June 12 debacle, Prof Humphrey Nwosu, appears to be one of the few democracy apostles, who have been neglected, when heroes of June 12 struggle are mentioned. This is no longer a case of ‘either by commission or omission’, but a typical example of by “commission and omission”, going by feelers coming out from members of the upper chamber. Nwosu was a man who had nothing to gain or lose by doing the right thing; and he went ahead to do the right thing.

Professor Humphrey Nwosu, who was born on October 2, 1941, and died on October24, 2024, was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), as it was then called. He was appointed by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1989, and held the office till 1993, when the election was annulled. He replaced Prof Eme Awa, who was said to have resigned due to a disagreement with Babangida.

Prof Nwosu is remembered for his administrative and organizational prowess, inventing the popular Option A4 system that ensured optimum transparency during the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election between MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Uthman Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC). He persevered in announcing of the results even as tension from unknown quarters were rife. He abandoned the results after his life was threatened, according to reports.

Prof Nwosu became a Professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and served in the government of Samson Omeruah, who was governor of old Anambra State. Among his highs in office were assisting traditional rulers to gain staffs of office, receive salaries and settled intra and inter community land disputes. He also served as chairman of a Federal Technical Committee on the application of Civil Service Reforms in the local government service.

Nwosu conducted the June 12, 1993 election which was seen as the freest and fairest election till date in which Chief Moshood Abiola was presumed to have won. Nwosu’s commission introduced the novel Option A4 voting system and the Open ballot system.

Nwosu had released many of the election results when he was ordered to stop further announcement by the military regime.

In 2008, he 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, and that could explain the reason behind his sudden oblivion in the political and social circle as well as why he has not been recognised as champion of democracy, and June 12 in particular.

Noting that the story of heroism attached to June 12 is not complete without Prof Nwosu, a pro-Igbo youth group, Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), urged President Bola Tinubu to honour the former NEC chairman. They believe that he played a vital role prior, during and after the elections of 1993.

In a press statement by its President General, Mr. Goodluck Ibem, the group said: “A team that wins a match scored by one of the players was not made possible only by the player who scored the goal. The winning came as a result of the input of other players.

“That a free and fair election was conducted by National Electoral Commission, NEC, on June 12, 1993 was made possible because a man who believed in transparency and integrity was at the helm of affairs of the electoral body at that time.“We must tell ourselves the truth that, if not for the impeccable integrity of Professor Humphrey Nwosu who conducted a free and fair election where Nigerians from all works of life, tribe and religion spoke their minds through the ballot box, there won’t be any Democracy Day to celebrate today,” the group noted.Also, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) called for the overdue recognition of Prof Nwosu.The CNPP in a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema, highlighted the pivotal role played by Prof. Nwosu in Nigeria’s democratic journey.

The CNPP lamented the continued exclusion of Prof. Nwosu from the list of heroes celebrated on Democracy Day, despite his significant contribution to the nation’s democracy through the introduction of the Option A4 voting system.

“It is time to transcend petty biases and to embrace the spirit of inclusivity that Professor Nwosu’s legacy warrants,” the association of all registered political parties noted.

An online platform, Businessday.ng once captured Prof Nwosu’s contribution as follows:

In the middle of the night of June 10, 1993, an Abuja High Court presided over by Justice Bassey Ikpeme, in breach of the relevant decree, ordered the electoral body to put on hold the presidential election that was some 36 hours away from happening.

The plaintiff in the case was an unregistered body known as the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) , which consisted of a group of politicians generally believed to have government backing. Nwosu took the risk of his life and found his way in the morning uninvited to a meeting of the MILITARY COUNCIL, ASO VILLA, to explain the grave consequences of Ikpeme’s indiscreet pronouncement. After intimidation and harassment of Prof and other deliberations at the uninvited meeting, it was agreed that NEC could discount Ikpeme’s order and continue with its arrangements and preparations for the elections.

At the end of voting, when it became clear from the majority of the results already collated from the states that the candidate of the then Social Democratic Party (SDP) Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola could not be stopped from winning the contest, the then Chief Judge of Abuja, Justice Dahiru Saleh ordered NEC to halt the process. Again, Nwosu stormed the Aso Villa, but this time, he found that the government had withdrawn their support.

The then Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Clement Akpamgbo, who gave Nwosu legal backing earlier, did not only ditch him but also ensured that a bench warrant to arrest Nwosu issued by the Chief Judge of Abuja was duly served. From then, Nwosu became labelled as the problem, while his Electoral Commission was formally suspended forthwith. The only other option left to Nwosu was to seek judicial cover from the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division, headed by Justice Achike. With no one else behind Nwosu except the Commission’s vibrant Director of Legal Services, Bukhari Bello, with Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN, OFR, one time Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission. NEC drew attention to an earlier judgment by a higher court in which Oguntade JCA as he then was, established two main points.

The first was that where a court makes an order in a case where it lacked jurisdiction, the order was null and void; and second, that it was unnecessary to go on appeal in such circumstance.

This suggested that Nwosu had no business obeying the erroneous decisions of the lower courts. Interestingly, NEC produced in Court the COMPLETE RESULTS OF THE ELECTION, which he had been stopped from announcing and which confirmed the victory of MKO Abiola. The real problem was that some ambitious military fellows aided by a set of compromised politicians wanted to prolong military rule. At this point, the government, sensing that it might lose the case, decided to annul the election a few hours before the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Prof Nwosu is an apostle of democracy, and of June 12, 1993 more especially, and deserves to be honoured and celebrated.

In his tribute at the burial of Prof Nwosu, President Tinubu, though acknowledged that the deceased upheld democratic principles, he was however, silent on any form of honour for the June 12 chief electoral officer. He noted:

“As we mourn the death of Prof Humphrey Nwosu, we are invited to celebrate him for his profound accomplishments and personal fulfilments as a public administrator, political scientist, and academics icon. We are urged to reflect on his democratic ideals and his sense of commitment to a democratic Nigeria. These are the hallmarks of his life and times that will be cherished beyond this generation,” Tinubu said, through his representative, the Minister of Works, Engr. Dave Umahi.

As the south east governors prepare to meet and present their proposition of honoring Nwosu before President Tinubu, Nigerians have said that whatever the situation, Nwosu remains and etched in the hearts and minds of the real heroes of democracy and June 12; the average Nigerians, as democratic force to reckon with, and a man without whose name the story and history of the freest and fairest election in Nigeria cannot be written.

According to Yusuf John Imam, who wrote from Abuja, in an article titled Senate’s failure to immortalize Humphrey Nwosu, disservice to democracy, “if the Senate cannot honour Nwosu, then every state in the Southeast should take it upon themselves to immortalize their son. Build monuments, name streets, and establish scholarships in his name. Push his narrative and celebrate his legacy. The Southeast must rise to the occasion and ensure that their son’s legacy is preserved for generations to come.”

The bottom-line remains that Professor Humphrey Nwosu is a hero of June 12, and deserve to be honoured, immortalised and celebrated.