submitted applications to the NEC following the removal of restrictions on political associations, but only six were deemed by the NEC to meet its requirements. According to the NEC, it could not verify most of the claims of these associations, and they were handicapped by poor organizational structures and finances. However, in October 1989, IBB rejected these selected political parties submitted by the NEC for approval, accusing them of being ethnically and regionally polarized and riddled with factions. He went on to form two new parties in December 1989: the National Republican Convention – with right-leaning politics, and the Social Democratic Party – with left-leaning politics. The government provided the initial funding for these parties, though soon after the parties were funded through private sources. The government also provided the parties with office space, comprising 500 locations at national, state and local levels. The military government spent billions of naira on the transition, with NEC receiving a significant portion of this to conduct the elections. The government was also heavily involved in the formulation of party manifestos and constitutions. The government through the Centre for Democratic Studies trained members of the two parties on electoral techniques. Local government elections were held in 1987 and 1991, while state government elections for houses of assembly and governorship were held in 1991 and 1992. Presidential primaries for the two parties were held in August and September 1992, but these were cancelled by Babangida citing electoral fraud. The candidates who participated in these primaries were barred from contesting again, and this included prominent figures such as Lt General (rtd.) Shehu Yar’Adua and Adamu Ciroma. During this period, IBB restructured the military government – the AFRC replaced by the National Defence and Security Council. A civilian Transitional Council was created to deal with government administrative and economic tasks. The council was led by Chief Ernest Shonekan – a prominent corporate executive from the south-west region. The new nomination process supervised by the NEC involved a knockout contest from the local to the national level, using an open ballot system – Option A4. The nomination process resulted in the emergence of Bashir Tofa, a businessman from the north, and MKO Abiola, a multimillionaire media mogul from the south – both Muslim – as presidential candidates for the NRC and SDP respectively. There was a perception that both candidates had close ties to the military, and therefore