June 12 Crisis: Politicians Played Both Sides, Collected Money from Abiola, Tofa — Abdulsalami

Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has revealed that some politicians who publicly championed the cause of Chief MKO Abiola during the June 12 crisis were secretly working with the government, while others collected money from both Abiola’s camp and his opponent, the late Bashir Tofa, during the 1993 presidential election.

The disclosures are contained in Chapter 16 of Abdulsalami’s 264-page autobiography titled ‘Call of Duty,’ obtained by our correspondent at its public presentation at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

In the chapter which contains Abdulsalami’s assessment of Nigeria’s political class, the former Head of State described Nigerian politicians, irrespective of party affiliation, as “a tribe on their own” who publicly inflame ethnic and religious divisions while privately meeting to wine and dine together.

His revelations involved those of Tofa, the candidate of the National Republican Convention who contested against Abiola in the June 12, 1993, presidential election, which Abubakar said the late politician shared with him personally.He wrote, “The late Alhaji Bashir Tofa told me a story to illustrate this. He said some politicians had visited him requesting for 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.

“He eventually lost Kano and even his own ward to Abiola. Such is the way of politicians.” Punch