Third Nigerian Republic

The constitution of the Third Republic was drafted in 1989, marking the culmination of the work of a constituent assembly. General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), the military Head of State at the time, had initially pledged to end military rule by 1990. However, this timeline was later extended to 1993. In the spring of 1989, IBB lifted the ban on political activities, which had been in place since the 1983 coup. The constitutional conference established two government-created political parties: the centre-right National Republican Convention (NRC) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). Both parties were mandated to have a national outlook, rather than being based on ethnic or regional affiliations. Gubernatorial and state legislative elections were held in December 1991. The elected civilian governors and state legislators assumed office in January 1992. The presidential election, originally scheduled earlier, was postponed until 12 June 1993 due to political instability. Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, a wealthy Yoruba businessman, won a decisive victory under the SDP platform, defeating Bashir Tofa of the NRC. Abiola won in Tofa's home state in the North, the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), military polling units, and in over two-thirds of Nigeria's states. Despite northern dominance in the country's post-independence political landscape, Abiola's appeal was national. Years later, IBB reportedly described the annulment of the 1993 election as unfortunate, though he maintained it was the right decision at the time. He claimed to have received intelligence suggesting that Abiola's government would soon be overthrown in a military coup, which in his view made a transition to civilian rule futile. He acknowledged the irony of General Sani Abacha's subsequent coup, but insisted that the eventual military takeover was precisely what he had hoped to avoid. The federal legislators were, however, more fortunate. After a series of delays following the 4 July 1992 legislative elections, the Third National Assembly was finally inaugurated on 5 December 1992. The same election saw the emergence of notable political figures such as Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then a protégé of Abiola, elected as Senator for Lagos West, and Chuba Okadigbo, a philosopher and later Senate President in the Fourth Nigerian Republic, elected as Senator for Anambra North. Informal sources alleged that General Babangida supported the establishment of a legislature to give the government the appearance of representative democracy, but had no intention of relinquishing executive power to an elected president. While he continued to delay the presidential election, he reportedly lobbied members of the National Assembly to recognise him as the legitimate president, offering them the continuation of their positions as an incentive. The eventual collapse of the Third Republic was seen by many as inevitable. ==Political parties==

• National Republican Convention (NRC) • Social Democratic Party (SDP) ==President-elect and Vice President-elect==

This is a complete list of democratically elected members of the National Assembly during the Third Nigerian Republic, as documented by journalist, author and publisher Chris Anyanwu in her book Law Makers 1992–1996: Federal Republic of Nigeria. Her work also describes the basis of the 1989 Constitution, which borrowed heavily from the 1979 Constitution of the Second Nigerian Republic, with important amendments. During the military regime of General Sani Abacha—for instance on 1 June 1995—Anyanwu was arrested, tried by a special military tribunal in connection with an alleged coup, and sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement, later commuted to 15 years. She was eventually released following Abacha's death in 1998. She subsequently served two terms as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2007–2015), representing Imo East senatorial constituency. In total, the Third Nigerian Republic National Assembly comprised 91 Senators and 593 members of the House of Representatives. However, 2 senatorial seats and 4 seats in the House of Representatives were declared vacant by the electoral umpire. The list, consistent with the 1989 Constitution, is based on the then-existing 30 states, as was the case under the administration of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. The military regime of General Sani Abacha would later create six additional states: Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nassarawa, and Zamfara, bringing the total to 36 states. As a result, the 1989 Constitution differs from the 1999 Constitution of the Fourth Nigerian Republic, primarily due to the later creation of these six states. While the provision of three senators per state was retained in both constitutions, the configuration of House of Representatives constituencies was expanded. Most constituencies were designed to cover at least two Local Government Areas, with only a few exceptions. Consequently, the total number of senators increased to 108 (three per state) plus one for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), making 109 in total. The number of House of Representatives members was later streamlined to 360. ==Annulment and dissolution==

On 23 June 1993, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) annulled the results of the presidential election. The decision triggered widespread unrest and political uncertainty across the country. According to The New York Times, "Many Yoruba have long resented the domination of Nigeria's political life by the mostly northern Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, and were ecstatic when one of their own, Mr. Abiola, appeared to have won the recent balloting." Under increasing domestic and international pressure, IBB resigned from office on 23 August 1993. He handed over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan, a Yoruba businessman and the head of the transitional council, who became the head of the Interim National Government. However, Shonekan's administration struggled to assert authority and was unable to contain the rising political and economic instability that followed Babangida's exit. On 17 November 1993, his government was peacefully overthrown by the then Minister of Defence, General Sani Abacha, who assumed full control as head of state. On 11 June 1994, the presumed winner of the annulled 1993 election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, declared himself President of Nigeria. He subsequently went into hiding, but was later arrested by the Abacha regime on charges of treason. Abiola remained in detention until his death in 1998, under circumstances that remain controversial. ==Legacy of 12 June 1993==

Following the protests and unrest that followed the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, the detention of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, and his eventual death in 1998 (the same year General Sani Abacha died), the Nigerian political landscape was fundamentally altered. After Abacha's sudden death, General Abdulsalami Abubakar from Niger State in North-Central Nigeria, assumed leadership. He promptly announced that the military would hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government on 29 May 1999. True to his word, General Abubakar oversaw a rapid transition to democracy. Two major political parties emerged during this process: the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the All People's Party (APP). Presidential elections were held in February 1999, with Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP defeating Olu Falae of the APP with 63% of the vote. On 29 May 1999, Obasanjo, a former military Head of State and President-elect, was sworn into office, officially marking the beginning of the Fourth Nigerian Republic. Former President Babangida (IBB), however, remained widely unpopular after leaving office, even in his home region in northern Nigeria. Despite efforts to stage a political comeback, he failed to gain widespread support. General Abdulsalami Abubakar, on the other hand, has since played a central role as a respected mediator and elder statesman, often serving as a neutral figure in Nigeria's political disputes. In June 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari officially moved Democracy Day from 29 May to 12 June, in recognition of the injustice suffered by MKO Abiola, acknowledging his role as a symbol of democratic struggle and martyrdom. Additionally, the National Stadium in Abuja was renamed the MKO Abiola Stadium in his honour. On 29 May 2023, nearly three decades after the 12 June election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a long-time political protégé of Abiola, was sworn in as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after a closely contested general election. Tinubu, who had served as a Senator during the aborted Third Republic (1992–1993) and later as a two-term Governor of Lagos State (1999–2007), is widely regarded as a Yoruba political figure of significant influence, second only to Chief Obafemi Awolowo in South-West Nigerian politics. ==See also==