Humphrey Nwosu, who died in October 2024 at 83, chairman of National Electoral Commission [1989-1993] was a chief victim in the greed driven horror and tragedy which still surrounds the ‘freest and fairest’ election. Humphrey Nwosu is finally vindicated. Then, a generation of hope-driven Nigerians were force-fed a new military government term ‘annulment’ of the 1993 election. That devilish act created an aftermath stained with the blood of falsely accused and convicted innocent patriotic Nigerians and which witnessed wrongful imprisonment in terrible conditions, fear, ‘Japa Babangida’ and the terror causing ‘Japa Abacha’. The murder spree under Babangida accelerated under Abacha.
In order to survive, many fled facing mental and monetary problems, destabilised families and businesses and communities with destroyed historical roots. Entire families for years never saw any relations, losing the essential ingredient of African society- the extended family. The consequent changes in life were catastrophic and created unhealable wounds to date. Yes, some wounds heal as evidenced by many who suffered greatly now becoming rather strange comical laughing bedfellows at this autobiography launch.
However, if you died in 1993 or later, as thousands did, from the now known to be a criminal and illegal annulment, you are dead and your family has been in chronic mourning. You were not invited to the autobiography presentation. We cannot open the graves, marked and unmarked, of you and thousands of other tortured victims of the democracy struggle to apologise on behalf of the unapologetic perpetrators even as an unbelievable N17 billion was raised for a Presidential Library Complex for the man who failed to deliver his self-appointed, coup-generated, responsibility to release the peaceful election results and install his legitimately elected successor, Chief MKO Abiola -THE WINNER OF THE 1993 ELECTION.
At last, we can shout that without arrest or editors warning us to say ‘PRESUMED WINNER’ fearing of litigation or military backlash. Yes, Buhari reinstated his legacy. Thanks! We remember the collapse of Abiola’s huge business empire and can only imagine the real suffering of his family. The human and economic cost went beyond the Abiola dynasty. The human and economic losses are incalculable particularly in the Southwest during five months of self-inflicted ‘solidarity’ strikes. Like many, I took to daily walking 43 minutes to a strike-driven reduced workload.
In Ibadan, we got together, meeting secretly, not parking in front of my house, the meeting point, and for six weeks discussed what could be recommended to others to be done across particularly agriculture and education to alleviate the sledgehammer that was the sectional despotic retrogressive military government as the military plummeted from democracy deliverer ‘hero’ to ‘zero’ countrywide.
Following that dialogue, we made some impact and I started Educare Trust in 1994 which with the help of many members and partners created the Educare Trust Exhibition Centre in 1998 in Ibadan. The ETEC has been a springboard impacting millions of youths with social skills, moral and civic volunteer values, health empowerment, school and reading books [mini-libraries], footballs and sports equipment, computer literacy and co-curricular activities etc. All these to fill the gap left by a military and even political leadership which neglected the complete education of Nigeria’s youth. That criminal neglect while the rich got richer, in spite of the efforts of Educare Trust and others, has led directly to most schools falling into decay without even a grant to buy books for the empty or non-existent library, footballs, sports equipment etc.
Note that the one seeking a Presidential Library in his ‘honour’ or ‘dishonour’ was not elected president in a country which, because of his generation of failed leadership, has a huge educational elephant in the autobiography launch room. That elephant is the 18,000,000 out-of-school-children, Nigerian’s unable to go to mostly inadequate schools.
School is compulsory, by the way. It is very likely that seeing the almost N17b raised on the day, latecomer sycophants or previous beneficiaries will still climb on the bandwagon with in their ‘settlement might’ raising the figure to N20,000,000. Applied to the school library system, that is N1,111 for every ‘Out-Of-School-Child’. It is N322,000 for each of the 62,000 government primary schools in Nigeria or N849,256 for each of the 23,550 secondary schools.
Many years ago, as the education system lay in ruins, there was an announcement to set up a Heritage University following a Heritage Secondary School by the recipient of this N17b-?N20b Presidential Library Project Fund. Then I wrote without success that it would have been better restitution for him to award every secondary and primary school in Nigeria just $1,000. This was presumptive on the ‘discovery’ of the location of the ‘disappeared’ $12,500,000,000 First Gulf War windfall referred to by the then expelled Financial Times correspondent.
Once again, the former leader in the midst of lame autobiographical explanations for ‘failure to act’, and even facing accusations from descendants of Abacha, is at a huge moral financial crossroads- to serve ‘MYSELF OR THE MANY’- the Nigerian children with library upgrades in 23,550 secondary schools or 62,000 primary schools or N500,000 to 40,000 schools or N1,000,000 to 20,000 schools.
He risks being the only visitor/reader in his GIANT PROPOSED PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY.
We, the people, will annul this project to help pay Nigeria’s moral national debt to the dead, the deprived and the 18,000,000 out-of-school-children.