Books
A storm is brewing over a newly released memoir by former Nigerian High Commissioner to Namibia, Ambassador Lilian Onoh, after she claimed that the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election actually saved Nigeria from ethnic bloodshed.
In the explosive book, “Diplomatic Bedlam”, Onoh argues that former military ruler General Ibrahim Babangida prevented what she describes as an impending anti-Igbo massacre by cancelling the election widely believed to have been won by MKO Abiola.
Her account directly challenges one of Nigeria’s most entrenched political narratives.
According to Onoh, tensions before the election had reached frightening levels. She recalls being threatened by a colleague at the Foreign Service Academy in Lagos who allegedly boasted about the mass killings of Igbos once Abiola assumed power and the seizure of their properties thereafter.
She claims many Igbo residents quietly fled Lagos before the election, fearing a repeat of the 1966 pogroms that triggered the Nigerian Civil War.
The former envoy insists Babangida and security agencies were fully aware of the looming danger but could never publicly justify the annulment on those grounds because of the backlash that would follow.
She repeatedly asserted that IBB’s action saved lives throughout the chapter.
She questioned the legality of the election, its foundation and even Abiola’s role in what she describes as a charade that went awry.
But the memoir is far from a dry political treatise.
Packed with outrageous diplomatic stories, bizarre personalities and razor-sharp satire, Diplomatic Bedlam pulls readers through what Onoh portrays as the chaotic underworld of Nigeria’s Foreign Service.
In a period where fierce debate has followed the appointment of new envoys by President Tinubu, Diplomatic Bedlam might give the President cause to reflect on his appointments. The antics of the ambassadors in Diplomatic Bedlam, including a rather incredible story about a Nigerian Ambassador in Togo and former US President George Bush, leave the reader scratching their head in disbelief.
It’s a genre defying memoir, sure to cause consternation among the staff and alumni of the Nigerian Foreign Service, especially those whose activities were skewered by Ambassador Onoh’s laser sharp humour. It is a world where fiction is almost redundant.
Whether readers see it as courageous truth-telling or otherwise, one thing is already certain: Ambassador Onoh’s book has reignited the argument over June 12 in a way few expected.
“Diplomatic Bedlam: Interactions With Humans, Mutants, Variants and Quadruple Variants” by Ambassador Lilian Onoh is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Streetlib.com, kobo.com, Magersandquinn.com and other websites.
A.I
May 13, 2026
Tags: Ambassador Lilian Onoh