Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and 1999 presidential candidate, Chief Olu Falae, has reignited historical debate by claiming that he, and not former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was the true winner of the 1999 general election that marked Nigeria’s return to democratic rule after years under military regimes.
Appearing on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Thursday, during a special Democracy Day broadcast, Falae alleged that the official results of the election were manipulated to favour Obasanjo, who contested under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Falae contended that credible evidence compiled by his late legal counsel, Chief J.O.K. Ajayi, showed that he had defeated Obasanjo by over one million votes.
“My lawyer, the late Chief J.O.K. Ajayi, carried out a painstaking analysis of the figures declared by the electoral commission. After carefully reviewing the results, he told me I won the election by more than a million votes,” Falae said.
Despite the weight of that evidence, Falae revealed that he chose not to pursue a legal challenge to the election outcome. According to him, the decision not to go to court was driven by a patriotic concern for national stability and the urgent need to support Nigeria’s transition from military to civilian rule.
“There was a great deal of pressure at the time not to rock the boat. We had endured years of military dictatorship, and we believed it was more important for democracy to take root than to pursue personal political vindication. So, we made sacrifices,” he explained. “I accepted the results in good faith, but that doesn’t erase the fact that I won that election.”
Falae’s statements have reopened discussions around the 1999 elections, which were held under the transitional regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, following the sudden death of military ruler General Sani Abacha.
The elections were widely seen as a calculated political balancing act intended to restore civilian governance and address the political wounds inflicted by the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election—an election believed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, another Yoruba leader.
To appease the South-West region, both leading candidates in 1999—Falae and Obasanjo—were of Yoruba descent. Falae ran on a joint ticket supported by a coalition of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All Peoples Party (APP), which many viewed as a symbolic gesture to heal ethnic and political divisions.
Obasanjo, a former military Head of State who had previously handed over power to a civilian government in 1979, emerged as the PDP candidate with the strong backing of the military and Nigeria’s northern political elite.
Falae expressed disappointment not just with the manipulation of that election but also with Nigeria’s ongoing struggle to conduct credible polls, despite over two decades of uninterrupted civilian rule. He argued that since the annulment of the 1993 election, the country has failed to deliver truly free, fair, and transparent electoral processes.
“From 1993 till now, we have continued to witness flawed elections. The democratic system is sustained, yes, but the credibility of our elections remains in doubt. That is the unfortunate reality,” he said.
The elder statesman emphasized that his claims were not an attempt to seek personal validation or reopen old wounds but a call for historical truth and national reflection. “This is not about me. It is about setting the record straight. Nigerians deserve to know what really happened during the so-called rebirth of our democracy,” he declared.