The founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and Anap Foundation, Atedo Peterside has disclosed that the ghost of June 12 will haunt some people forever.
Peterside was speaking on the backdrop of the recently released autobiography titled, ‘A Journey In Service’ by Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB).
READ ALSO: June 12: 32 Years After, Babangida Makes U-Turn
The book chronicled the events before and after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election
Among many other things, Babangida in the memoir said he was in Katsina when the annulment of the election, won by MKO Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was announced by the press secretary of his second-in-command without his knowledge or permission.
READ ALSO: Igbo Not Responsible For 1966 Coup – IBB
He said he later discovered that the forces against the June 12 election were led by Sani Abacha, his chief of defence staff who later became military head of state.
Reacting to the revelation, Peterside while speaking on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels TV, said the Nigerian elite need to speak the truth always and not treat serious matters with levity.
“When IBB annulled that election on June 12. That was the first time we had mobile phones. I voted on my street in Victoria Island. We saw the results coming from all over the country except Taraba state. I was in my 30s. I knew what happened. I was among the people that came out after the annulment to say we can’t do this.
“Interestingly, one of the articles I wrote then. I have never heard anybody use that expression. I sat in my house and wrote it because there was no internet. I called it the ghost of June 12. What I was writing then was that June 12 would be like a ghost and it would haunt some people forever.”
READ ALSO: Abiola Won June 12, 1993 Election – IBB Finally Admits
That book launch “was the ghost of June 12 hunting some people and it is still hunting them, unfortunately” he added.
Peterside added that Nigeria needs the emergence of elders who will speak the truth and show the younger generation the right path.
“I’m not here to indict anybody but I think if we are not careful, the Nigerian elite would normalise deceit or fraud and things like that. They would normalise all sorts of things. That is why some people have pointed out that enough is enough. Let’s draw the line somewhere. There are some issues you cannot joke with,” Peterside said.
