Abdulsalami finally admits what we all suspected about June 12

So General Abdulsalami Abubakar just dropped his autobiography and finally confirmed what many of us have always suspected — his government never actually planned to swear in MKO Abiola as president after Abacha died. In his book Call of Duty, he said they were considering options like a Government of National Unity or a fresh transition programme, but immediate inauguration was not on the table. This is the same man who handed over to Obasanjo in 1999, but somehow Abiola's mandate was still not good enough.

He also narrated how Abiola died during a meeting with a US delegation led by Tom Pickering and Susan Rice in July 1998. Abdulsalami said he was shocked when his CSO called him and said Abiola was dead. He wrote that Abiola suddenly became restless, started coughing and sweating, and later died at the State House Clinic. He dismissed the poisoning theories as uncharitable, but come on — the timing is just too convenient. Abacha dies in June, Abiola dies in July, and suddenly the path is clear for a new military-blessed civilian government.

The man even admitted that allowing the US delegation to see Abiola helped prevent accusations that Abiola had died long before. He said if they had not allowed the visit, it would have been insinuated that he had long died and they were trying to cover it up. So even Abdulsalami knows how bad it looks. But the question remains: if June 12 was the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history, why did the military spend six years finding every reason not to hand over to the winner? Be honest, do you actually believe Abiola would have been president if he had not died that day?