Dele Farotimi, a lawyer, has spoken about how Uche Chukwumerije was used by the military to influence public opinion after the June 12, 1993, presidential election in Nigeria.
In a video Farotimi shared on his Facebook page, he said Chukwumerije played a key role in creating stories and messages for General Sani Abacha and the military government to undermine MKO Abiola, the election's winner. Farotimi explained that the military wanted to discredit Abiola's victory to maintain their power.
Farotimi said Chukwumerije made it seem like Abiola's mandate was only supported by the Yoruba ethnic group, rather than the whole country and by doing this, he turned Abiola's broad, national support into a narrower ethnic issue. He said this division made it easier for the military to weaken and discredit Abiola's victory.
In Farotimi's words: "You know what else Uche Chukwumerije did? He ethnicized the whole thing, it became a Yoruba mandate instead of the pan Nigerian mandate that it was. Without dividing you as a collective, it was not possible to devalue the mandate that you gave".
Watch the video from 15:15. Link: https://youtu.be/4B0hFzpLTWo?si=Kj-LpIOEJHfI16Oo