Amaechi compares ADC court battle to Abiola’s June 12 ordeal

File: Former Rivers State Governor and ex-Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi

The African Democratic Congress vice-presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, has likened the legal battle over the party’s presidential candidacy to the events surrounding the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

Amaechi expressed concern that judicial interventions could frustrate opposition parties whenever they make political progress, warning that Nigeria must avoid a repeat of the events that followed the annulment of the 1993 election.

The June 12 election, widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s freest and fairest polls, was won by Abiola, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party.

However, the military government of former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the election on June 23, 1993, triggering widespread protests and a prolonged pro-democracy struggle.

Abiola later declared himself president and was arrested and detained by the military government of General Sani Abacha in 1994.

He died in detention on July 7, 1998, shortly after Abacha’s death, without being sworn in as president.

Amaechi spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, while reacting to the Federal High Court judgment voiding the emergence of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the ADC presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.

“One thing that one should be careful about is that every time you have the opposition making any progress in Nigerian politics, there’s always somebody in the judiciary who would want to know the order.

“It happened to Abiola, which led to the death of Abiola. It’s happening again. None of them cares to know that the interest of the country is important,” he said.

The former Rivers State governor, however, clarified that the ADC was not opposed to judicial intervention or the administration of justice, but insisted that court decisions must be impartial.

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“We’re not saying don’t do justice. But we’re saying in doing justice, make sure that it’s justice. Don’t pretend to be a member of the other party,” he added.

Amaechi said the party would challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal, expressing confidence that the appellate court would overturn the decision.

“We’re going on appeal. We think the Court of Appeal, like all judges of the court of first instance, would naturally tell you that the reason why they are allowed to make mistakes is that there is always a superior court above them.

“Whether Lifu is right or wrong, we’ll know when we go to the Court of Appeal,” he said.

He urged ADC supporters to remain calm and continue their political activities, assuring them that the party was confident of getting justice at the appellate court.

“What we have done is continue to let our supporters know that everybody should be calm and continue with your campaign. We think that the Court of Appeal will do the right thing,” he stated.

Amaechi also questioned the handling of the case by the party’s legal team, arguing that the trial court should have determined the issue of jurisdiction before considering other aspects of the matter.

“The issue before Lifu was the issue of jurisdiction. I don’t know why they proceeded with that. Jurisdiction is the live wire of every case,” he said.

He further wondered why the party’s lawyers did not challenge the procedure adopted by the judge, maintaining that jurisdiction was fundamental to the determination of any case.