Olu Falae claims he won 1999 presidential election, not Obasanjo

Former presidential candidate and elder statesman, Chief Olu Falae, has made a stunning revelation, claiming he was the true winner of the 1999 presidential election that marked Nigeria’s return to civilian rule, contrary to the official declaration that handed victory to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Falae made the claim during a special Democracy Day interview on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Thursday, stating that legal assessments carried out by his late lawyer, Chief J.O.K. Ajayi, showed he defeated Obasanjo by over one million votes.

“I was told by my lawyer, the late Chief JOK Ajayi, that I won the election by over a million votes after a meticulous assessment of the figures declared. But we decided not to go to court. We were more concerned about the country returning to democracy peacefully after years of military rule,” Falae said.

Falae, who was the joint candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People’s Party (APP), said he chose not to contest the results in court for the sake of national unity and stability.

He alleged the election outcome was manipulated to favour the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Obasanjo, as part of a political settlement to ease Nigeria out of decades of military dictatorship.

The 1999 election, conducted under the transitional government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, was Nigeria’s first major democratic exercise following the sudden death of General Sani Abacha. It was widely viewed as a product of compromise, designed to pacify the South-West following the annulment of the June 12 1993 election, presumed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola.

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