NADECO was formed to restore democracy, not fight for June 12

By Chinelo Obogo

Former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba has said that the pro-democracy group, National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), was not originally established to pursue the actualization of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election mandate, but was founded with the goal of restoring democracy to Nigeria.

Osoba made the remarks this week at the NADECO awards ceremony and the launch of a book on the organization’s history, authored by the group’s former General Secretary Ayo Opadokun.

He revealed that late business mogul and winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola was not among the founding members of the coalition. According to Osoba, it was only after Abiola returned from South Africa where he had attended the inauguration of Nelson Mandela that he was introduced to the group and subsequently joined its ranks.

“He was asked whether he was ready to join in the fight for the restoration of democracy, and it was then that he joined NADECO. People later turned it into a struggle solely for the restoration of June 12,” Osoba said

Osoba, who described himself as the youngest signatory of the founding NADECO document, said the coalition had a national structure with 59 founding members drawn from across Nigeria. He spoke about the dangers he faced during the struggle, revealing that he had been marked for assassination by a military operative identified as Sergeant Rogers, a matter, he said, that was later documented in court proceedings. Osoba also paid tribute to Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, who he said regularly visited his wife during that period to conduct BBC interviews and offer moral support.

Osoba said he attended the event on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, who had been expected to send the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun as his representative but was unable to do so due to state assembly primaries. Osoba said the President conveyed deep gratitude to NADECO members, acknowledging that he would not have attained the presidency without their sacrifices.

On the economy, Osoba said the President pointed to a narrowing gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates as evidence of progress, with the naira now trading around ₦1,380 to the dollar. He also said the President said he would not allow the naira to strengthen excessively, so as not to disadvantage investors who entered the market when rates were higher.

On security, Tinubu acknowledged growing instability creeping into the Southwest and attributed it to deliberate destabilization efforts by interests opposed to his removal of fuel subsidies and multiple exchange rates.

“He is determined that, if that is the only thing he achieves, he will make sure he leaves behind a restructured economy no matter what,” Osoba said.