Title: Frank Kokori: The Struggle for June
12
Publisher: Safari Books Limited, Ibadan,
2014
Author: Frank Kokori
Reviewer: Bayo Ogunmupe
THIS voluminous book is the
autobiography of Frank Kokori, the iconoclastic labour leader and hero of
democracy. As a memoir, The Struggle for June 12 showcases the gladiators who
helped attain democratic governance in Nigeria but have been neglected in
present day Nigeria. As a ranking member of the campaign for the actualization
of June 12, Kokori named 82 others among whom are Professor Wole Soyinka,
General Alani Akinrinade and Senator Bola Tinubu.
To someone not versed in Nigerian history and
politics, it would be necessary to explain June 12 as the day Moshood Abiola
was elected President of Nigeria in 1993. Unfortunately the election was
annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida, the military president at the time.
Aside of the foreword, which was written by the eminent senior advocate of
Nigeria – Femi Falana, the text comprises 22 chapteres, an epilogue, the index
of 12 pages and spanning 344 pages. It is cleanly printed with beautifully
illustrated paperback pictures of Kokori’s heroes of democracy. The author also
had 16 pages of photographs stacked into it.
Frank Ovie Kokori got into fame as the
General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPEG).
That was in the Babangida era 1985-1993. Then, President Babangida wished to
takeover NUPENG, but Kokori rebuffed him. For his transparency, Kokori became
highly respected as a trade union leader. Unlike other labour leaders, he could
not be compromised by bribery.
Though he was forbidden by law to play
politics as a unionist, he believed that the demand for humane working
conditions under military rule could not be divorced from the struggle for
democracy and justice, so Kokori decided to take part in the political
transition programme of General Ibrahim Babangida. At both the Constitution
Review Committee and the Constituent Assembly where Kokori represented the
Nigeria Labour Congress, he made his mark by representing freedom and
democracy. He was a member of the caucus that established the Nigeria Labour
Party.
But with the refusal of Babangida to register
the Labour Party, the NLP merged with the centre left Social Democratic Party,
which successfully sponsored Chief Abiola who later won the June 12, 1993
presidential election. Unfortunately, Babangida annulled the election, which
was won by his friend and fellow Muslim, an heresy in Islam for which Babangida
ought to have been excommunicated. But no one cared, a decision with horrendous
implications in the future.
The NLC condemned the annulment but did not
act on it. For NUPENG and the Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association of
Nigeria (PENGASSAN) however, going on strike for the rule of law was the norm.
They jointly went on strike. Added to the strikes were mass protests from the
human rights groups. The crisis forced Babantida to relinquish power to Ernest
Shonekan who was hurriedly installed as head of an Interim National Government (ING).
Thereafter, Kokori joined Abiola to fight for
the actualization of the June 12 electoral mandate. Although he was disturbed
to learn that General Sani Abacha was compiling a list of ministers with his
plan to sack the ING for a democratically elected government to be headed by
Abiola. When Abacha ousted Sonekan, he offered Kokori a ministerial post.
However, Kokori rejected the offer, insisting on the inauguration of Abiola as
the winner of the June 12 election. Not long after, Abacha consolidated power
to the chagrin of Abiola’s mandate.
Abacha who had ostensibly seized power to
placate Abiola, eventually ditched him with Abiola’s supporters. Then, Kokori
adjudged Abiola’s declaration of himself as President had come too late in the
day to have effect. But as soon as Abiola declared himself President, NUPENG
and PENGASSAN started an indefinite industrial action. Then both unions and the
NLC were proscribed, but the strike continued. Kokori then went underground. He
was arrested at Yaba, Lagos, brutalized and taken to Abuja.
For four years thereafter, Kokori was
detained in Bama Prison, Borno State. In spite of the poor conditions in
prison, he confronted his assailants audaciously. His enemies were forced to
admire his courageous commitment to principle in adversity. He did not regain
his freedom until June 16, 1998 after the sudden death of the maximum dictator,
Sani Abacha.
This paperback text contains the entire
history of June 12 by an eye witness. He tells of the formation of the two
government parties: Social Democratic Party with Babagana Kingibe as chairman
and Tom Ikimi as Chairman of National Republican Convention (NRC). As the
Natioanl Financial Secretary of the SDP, Kokori knew how money flowed into the
covers of the party. He averred that the parties were well-funded. Each party
was given N500 million at the time in 1990 when it was N10 to the US dollar.
Kokori credited the proper funding of the
parties to wise advice from Professor Omo Omoruyi, chairman of the Centre for
Democratic Studies. He told the story of the parting of the ways between
godfather Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and his son – Babangana Kingibe. Kingibe’s
ascendancy to the chair of SDP was owed to the grace of Yar’Adua, who funded
Kingibe’s election. Though the age difference between Yar’Adua and Kingibe was
not much, Kingibe willingly accepted Yar’Adua’s tutelage.
All the while, Yar’Adua the strategist, used
Kingibe as a front to help work his own crowning as Nigeria’s chief executive.
But in this he underestimated Kingibe. The godfather underestimated human
nature. Since Yar’Adua never expected Kingibe to be nothing more than a puppet,
he failed to understand that Kingibe could have ambition. Then Kingibe’s SDP
executive organized presidential primaries in which Yar’Adua was returned. But
rumour had it that the primaries were cancelled by Babangida based on reports
by Kingibe that Yar’Adua heavily monetized the SDP primary. Besides, Kingibe
and Tom Ikimi of NRC had their own ambitions as well as the channels of
privately meeting Babangida. Moreover, these party executives had access to
Babangida more than Yar’Adua whom Babangida regarded as a threat to his
political future.
Thus, Yar’Adua was bitter for the cancelled
primaries and he held Kingibe responsible for it. Though, Kingibe ranked in the
second primaries as runner-up to Abiola, the repercussions might be the
eventual annulment of June 12 election. This book is the candid memoir of
Kokori, an alumnus of the University of Ibadan and former NUPENG General
Secretary. It exposes the hidden facts about the chilling events before, during
and after the June 12 election and the political brouhaha and the debilitating
experience thereafter. It is a text on the political economy of betrayal and
deprivation. I commend it onto your perusal and enlightenment.
