Since the 15^th anniversary of the landmark June 12, 1993 election just passed, I thought it was an opportune time to publish the full results of the election. On June 15, 1993 the National Electoral Commission (NEC) released the results from 14 states (including the Federal Capital Territory). The following day (June 16, 1993) the Abuja High Court ordered that further announcement of the results should be suspended. Here are the full results of the election:

*States in which results were released. The results were released in 14 states only.

Vote Breakdown and Analysis

Voter turnout was higher in the south than in the north. The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Moshood Abiola received over 8 million votes, and won in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The National Republican Convention (NRC) candidate Alhaji Bashir Tofa received over 6 million votes and won in 10 states only. Over 14 million people voted. Abiola won in Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, and Yobe states, and the Federal Capital Territory. Tofa won in Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Enugu, Imo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Niger, Rivers and Sokoto States.

Abiola’s victory was comprehensive as he won almost 60% of the total votes cast. Only in two states (Kebbi and Sokoto) did Abiola fail to obtain at least one-third of the votes. Abiola even defeated Tofa in Tofa’s home state of Kano.

Voting Patterns

Although the voting pattern has subsequently been cast as unprecedented in cutting across ethnic, religious and geographic patterns, the true picture is a little more subtle. It is true that Christians voted for Muslim candidates. However Christians had little choice in the matter as the Presidential candidates of both parties were Muslim. The SDP was led by two Muslims: Abiola, and his Muslim vice-presidential candidate Babagana Kingibe. The NRC was also led by a Muslim candidate: Alhaji Bashir Tofa. Although Tofa’s running mate was Christian, both Tofa and Kingibe were Kanuri Muslims. Hence the concept of Christians voting for Muslims was an in-built certainty as any vote necessarily had to be for a Muslim since both presidential candidates were Muslim. Additionally, voting patterns in the south-west were solidly ethnic as the overwhelming majority of votes cast were for Abiola. In the south-west mainly Yoruba states of Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo, Abiola scored crushing victories, and received over 80% of the votes in each of those states. He also received over 85% of the votes in Lagos state.