Humphrey Nwosu, the boisterous former chairman of the defunct National Electoral Commission, is set to reopen old wounds with the launch of his new book today. The professor of political science is giving his own account since the annulment of the presidential election held on June 12, 1993, by the ruling military junta and his forced resignation as NEC chairman.

In breaking his silence, however, Nwosu would also be breaking a beehive and inviting the bees if he attempted to rewrite history. For June 12, regarded by many as Nigeria's true "Democracy Day", represents a watershed in Nigerian politics. In an election adjudged by local and foreign observers as the freest and fairest in the nation's history, voters set aside ethnic, regional and religious sentiments to elect their president. The military dictators annulled the election and the will of the Nigerian people without the courtesy of apologising even to those who voted for the first time on that day. Apart from the hundreds killed in street protests, many actors of that era have died as a consequence of that annulment: MKO Abiola, Sani Abacha, Shehu Yar'Adua, Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane and others. Indeed, time heals all wounds.