Judge who pronounced annulment of June 12 election is dead

Dahiru Saleh, the judge who pronounced the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, is dead.

Details of his death are sketchy but Prestige Online understands that he died in Bauchi state and would be buried in his hometown of Azare, still in Bauchi, on Thursday evening.

Until his death, he held the title of “Mutawalle” of Katagum emirate in Bauchi. He was the chief judge of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court.

June 12, 1993 election was adjudged as one of the most credible in the history of the country.

MKO Abiola, the Social Democratic Party candidate, was leading Bashir Tofa, his National Republican Convention rival, by a wide margin but the exercise was cancelled ahead of the final announcement of results.

This threw the country into months of chaos as protesters hit the streets, calling on Ibrahim Babangida, then the military president, to step down.

Babaginda had eventually stepped aside, while Ernest Shonekan took over as interim president but Sani Abacha, the late military dictator, overthrew Shonekan less than three months later.

Abiola was later arrested by the regime of Abacha and he died in detention.