Nigerian Third Republic

The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1992 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution. In the Third Republic, there were to be state governors, state assemblies, and the National Assembly, a federal legislature, all democratically elected. However, it would not be fully democratic, as there was no democratically elected President. Then-President Ibrahim Babangida's supposed transition turned out to be a ploy to keep executive powers and grant the National Assembly limited legislative powers; all laws passed by the Senate and House of Representatives would have to pass the National Defence and Security Council of Nigeria before finally being approved by the President. While Babangida changed the usual style adopted by preceding military leaders from Head of State to President, he would continue to postpone presidential elections, annulling the one eventually held on 12 June 1993.

Founded (1992)

The constitution of the Third Republic was drafted in 1989 being the climax of the workings of a constituent assembly. General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), the military head of state at the time, promised to end military rule by 1990. This date was subsequently pushed forward to 1993. In the spring of 1989, IBB lifted the ban on political activity, which had been in place since the coup of 1983. The conference established two political parties: the center-right National Republican Convention (NRC) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). The parties were required to draw from a national rather than regional or tribal basis. Gubernatorial and state legislative elections were conducted in December 1991. The civilian governors and parliamentarians elected in this balloting took office in January 1992.

The presidential election was postponed until 12 June 1993 due to political unrest. MKO Abiola, a wealthy Yoruba businessman, won a decisive victory in the presidential elections on the SDP platform, defeating Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention. Abiola won even in his northern opponent's home state. Abiola won in the Federal capital, Abuja, the military polling stations, and in over two-thirds of Nigerian states. Men of northern descent largely dominated Nigeria's political landscape after independence.

IBB said years later that he now regards the decision to annul the election as unfortunate given its consequences. But he still believes he did the right thing, he said, because he had specific information about plans to overthrow the Abiola government and it seemed pointless to turn the country over to civilian rule if there would be a military coup within months. He acknowledged the irony of the Sani Abacha coup in the light of this claim but maintained that the military overthrow of the civilian government that succeeded him was precisely the outcome he had been trying to avoid.

The federal legislators were however luckier as after a series of procrastinations by president Babangida following the 4 July 1992 legislative elections, the Third National Assembly was eventually inaugurated on 5 December 1992. It was the same election that produced president Bola Ahmed Tinubu then a protégé of Abiola as senator for Lagos West senatorial constituency and Chuba Okadigbo a philosopher and a former Senate President in the Fourth Nigerian Republic as senator for Anambra North senatorial constituency. Informal sources alleged that while General Babangida wanted a legislature to give the government the facade of a representative democracy, he never intended to cede power to a democratically elected president and so while he continued to postpone the presidential election, he lobbied the National Assembly to recognise him as the country's legitimate president while keeping their jobs or risk the entire collapse of the Third Republic which was inevitable after all.

Political parties

* National Republican Convention (NRC)
*Social Democratic Party (SDP)

President-elect and Vice President-elect

National Assembly Members

The following is a full list of the democratically elected members of the National Assembly in the Third Nigerian Republic as documented by ace journalist, author and publisher Chris Anyanwu. In her book entitled the 'Law Makers 1992–1996' Federal Republic of Nigeria, Anyanwu provides the basis for the 1989 Nigerian Constitution on which the republic was based. The 1989 Constitution was based on the 1979 Constitution (Second Nigerian Republic) albeit with some amendments. At the peak of the Sani Abacha junta (1 June 1995), she was arrested and tried by a special military tribunal in connection with a coup to overthrow the military government and sentenced to life in solitary confinement (later commuted to 15 years). She was later released in 1998 on Abacha's death. Anyanwu will herself later become a two term Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2007–2015) representing Imo East senatorial constituency. There are 91 Distinguished Senators and 593 Honourable Members of the House of Representatives of the Third Nigerian Republic in the list. 2 senatorial seats and 4 House of Representative seats were declared vacant by the electoral umpire.

The list as consistent with the 1989 constitution, is based on 30 states as was obtainable under the presidency of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. The Sani Abacha junta will go on to create the six more states of Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nassarawa and Zamfara states. Hence the 1989 constitution is different from the 1999 constitution of the Fourth Nigerian Republic largely due to the later appearance of these states. The 3 senators per state rule was sustained while the various House of Representatives constituencies were expanded (many comprising at least 2 local government areas) with the exception of just a few constituencies. The total number of senators was thus upped to 108 plus the FCT making 109 and representatives reduced to 360.

Annulment and dissolution

On 23 June 1993, IBB had the election annulled. This threw the country into chaos. "Many Yoruba have long resented the domination of Nigeria's political life by the mostly northern Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, and were ecstatic when one of their own, Mr. Abiola, appeared to have won the recent balloting", commented the ''New York Times''. The United Kingdom responded to the announcement by freezing aid and withdrawing military assistance. IBB eventually bowed to pressure from his inner circle and resigned from office on 23 August 1993. Ernest Shonekan, a Yoruba businessman and the head of IBB's transition team, assumed the office of the presidency as the head of the interim national government. Shonekan was unable to manage the political turmoil which ensued in the post IBB months.

Shonekan's caretaker government was quietly removed from office by Minister of Defence, General Sani Abacha on 17 November 1993. On 11 June 1994, president-elect Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola declared himself president and went into hiding. The Abacha administration hunted Abiola down and arrested him on charges of treason. Abiola remained in prison until he died in 1998.

Legacy of 12 June 1993

Following the protests and unrest of 12 June 1993 election annulment, the internment of MKO Abiola, and his eventual demise in 1998 (same year of Abacha's death) the political landscape of the Nigerian nation has never been the same. When Abacha suddenly died, General Abdulsalami Abubakar from Niger State in North-Central Nigeria took over the reins of power. He quickly announced that the military government will hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government on 29 May 1999. General Abubakar did good on his word and organised a rapid transition. Politicking began and two major political parties were formed; the People's Democratic Party and the All People's Party. Elections were held the following February between Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP and Olu Falae of the APP in which Obasanjo was declared winner with 63% of the vote. On the 29 of May 1999, former Head of State and President-elect General Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn into office ushering in the Fourth Nigerian Republic. IBB however has remained hugely unpopular since he left the presidency even in the northern part of the nation where he comes from. He tried to take another shot at the presidency but failed to gain popular support. Abdulsalami Abubakar has taken centre stage as a very trustworthy negotiator and arbiter between conflicting parties in the Nigerian polity. In June 2018, president Muhammadu Buhari moved democracy day from 29 May to 12 June in recognition of the gross injustice against MKO Abiola which effectively led to his martyrdom. also the National Stadium Abuja was renamed MKO Abiola Stadium in his honour.

On 29 May 2023 just 14 days short of three decades after 12 June, Bola Ahmed Tinubu a protégé of Abiola took office as the 16th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after a very closely fought election. Tinubu, a former senator in Abiola's days (1992–1993) and a two term Governor of Lagos State in the Fourth Nigerian Republic (1999–2007) is a Yoruba statesman and political mentor whose influence on South-West politics is second only to Chief Obafemi Awolowo's.

See also

* First Nigerian Republic (1963–1966)
* Second Nigerian Republic (1979–1983)
* Fourth Nigerian Republic (1999–present)

References

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Further reading

Nigeria – US State Department Profile



Media Accountability and Democracy in Nigeria

1993 in Nigeria
Republic of Nigeria 03
Political history of Nigeria
1990s in Nigeria