their election would not disfavor the military even in a civilian government. In the Second Republic, both presidential candidates were involved with the ruling party – the National Party of Nigeria. Abiola had failed to secure the nomination of the NPN for the 1983 presidential elections against Shehu Shagari, the incumbent president. He had only been part of the SDP for a month when he gained the presidential ticket. Though Abiola was widely known throughout the country, Tofa was relatively unknown except in his home state of Kano. Tofa picked as vice-president Sylvester Ugoh, a Christian from the south-east, thereby creating a regional and religious balance. Abiola also went for regional balance, picking an ex-diplomat and former Chairman of the party from the north-east, Baba Gana Kingibe as his running mate. Abiola's campaign focused on economic issues, and he was a vocal critic of the government's structural adjustment program (SAP). The Babaginda government had commenced the SAP in 1986, and following prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, he imposed austerity measures to ensure fiscal discipline by the state. Tofa, given his party's support of the SAP, was a less vocal critic, and focused on the effective implementation of policies in his campaign. Tofa was perceived to have closer ties with Babangida and the military: he had once suggested Babangida remain president till 2000. Results On 10 June, just two days before the election, an organization with ties to the military, Association for a Better Nigeria – led by Chief Arthur Nzeribe – obtained a high court injunction against the holding of the election on the basis of alleged corruption. The chairman of the NEC, Humphrey Nwosu, dismissed the injunction citing the high court's lack of authority on election-related matters. The NEC went ahead to stage the election, which was deemed to be free and fair by observers. These observers included foreign and local journalists, delegates from the Commonwealth and other international bodies, as well as observers from the Election Monitoring Group (trained by the Centre for Democratic Studies). Voter turnout was low - about 35%. There were administrative and political problems, however no episodes of serious violence were recorded. The NEC began announcing the first batch of election results on 14 June: Abiola won 19 out of 30 states, and the Federal Capital Territory. He won all the states of the south-west; three of the seven states