In the mid 1990s, following the cancellation of the June 12, 1993 and the coming to power of a new military government, Falae became a prominent member of the National Democratic Coalition during the quest for the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. Falae was jailed by the military government of Sani Abacha, but was released in June 1998 after Abacha's death. He unsuccessfully contested the 1999 Nigerian presidential elections on the joint platform of the Alliance for Democracy and the All People's Party against Olusegun Obasanjo, the presidential candidate for the People's Democratic Party. A Yoruba Christian, he swept the southwest, the Yoruba heartland, but proved unable to attract significant support elsewhere. Since then the Oloye Falae has lived in semi-retirement as a large scale farmer in Ago Abo, Akure. He was given the national honour of Commander of the Federal Republic in 2008.