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  • Many sides of MKO

    Many sides of MKO

    Long after his tormentors and co-conspirators may have been forgotten, his name would continue to ring bells. It will not fade from the hearts of the people from generation to generation, particularly among the lovers of democracy.

    It is because his name is permanently associated with a a novelty;  a model of rigorous, problematic, energy sapping and highly demanding electoral process, which the sit-tight soldiers prescribed. So patient were the voters who endured the storm and stress for the sake of anticipated popular rule. Yet, it ended in fiasco because the shady transition programme was designed to fail.

    In the history of the beleaguered nation-state, no election, either before or after, had met the standard or satisfied the wider criteria of sanity, credibility, fairness, justice, integrity and honour more than the June 12, 1993 presidential poll won by the candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.

    Its callous and criminal annulment aborted the dawn of a new era. On that note, the Third Republic collapsed after eight years of dubious experimentation by the hypocritical Evil Genius and military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, architect of the gloom and doom. June 12 paled into an illusion of hope, and it was back to square one, despite the huge mental and financial investment.

    Thirty two years after the colossal setback, elections in Nigeria have remained defective, often trailed by condemnation, disputation and litigations. There is no democratic antecedent to build on. Despite the hues, cries, riots and indignation, the results of the historic poll were never re-validated; the winner was denied and detained, and his corpes were only brought out for burial, five years after languishing in detention. The dream was cut short. It was the end of an era for the business tycoon-turned politician, who was not allowed to reach his potentials.

    But 27 years after his demise, his profile towers above his foes. The charm, grace and magnetism of MKO have endured. He remained an idol of the masses that voted for him against all odds. Up to now, they are bewildered at the truncation of the popular wish. June 12 was the day of victory-turned defeat, a day of triumph that slided into a monumental disaster, a day of valour hijacked by military cowardice, a day of change that transformed into retrogression, a moment of success that ultimately yielded failure, a day of inhumanity of man to man, a day of great betrayal by the gap-toothed General, a day of rage by protesters, and day of war against commonsense by the military cabal.

    The road to June 12 was long and tortuous. Also, the political transformation of the symbol was legendary. In the begining, popular attitude to Abiola in certain quarters was that of ambivalence. But he managed to successfull cross the bridge from the conservative front, where he opposed Awo and reason with his newspapers and other resources at his disposal, to the progressive field, where his previous political sins were surprisingly forgiven by the ‘unforgiving’ Awoists. He was endorsed by all and sundry in his native Yorubaland.

    A household name, his status, wide contact, large heart and philanthropic gestures opened the doors for him in other zones, where he successfully built formidable business and political networks.

    The multi-millionaire attracted envy. Abiola was variously perceived as a self-confident technocrat, a successful accountant who understood the language of money, business mogul, entrepreneur and employer of labour, a socialite who made friends easily without discrimination; a military collaborator and friend of ambitious and power-hungry coup plotters;  a witty and tricky boardroom guru, a smart government contractor.

     A poor lad, he led a band, like a begger, singing in the early morning  during Ramadan, to get coins, and may be, crumbs, to keep body and soul together. He overcame poverty by luck; through manifold academic opportunities that catapulted him to Glasgow University, Scotland where he studied accounting. At work, he was dedicated; full of ideas, ìnitiatives, zest, and vigour. Indeed, a great attribute of his life waa his resolve to succeed.

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    Abiola loved power, and from childhood, he gained political consciousness. However, his false steps in the Second Republic backfired. As the chairman of Ogun State chapter of the banned National Party of Nigeria (NPN), he could not lead the party to governorship victory. The senatorial ambition of his beloved wife, Simbiat, also crumbled. He was later stopped from aspiring to the national chairmanship when he sought to displace the mighty Chief Adisa Akinloye. His presidential ambition also met a brickwall. A top ‘notcher,’ Dr. Umaru Dikko, Transport Minister, said the ticket was not for the highest bidder.

    Abiola retraced his steps and concentrated on his business empire. He made more money and ploughed back to the society. He became the highest donor to homes, churches, mosques, and universities. Monarchs started falling on themselves, scrambling for his attention. Among others, he accepted to be the Basorun of Ibadanland, and the Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland bestowed on him by Alaafin of Oyo. Then, he became a radical or activist of sorts, fighting for reparation. He also turned attention to sports and he became its pillar in Africa.

    A great wowaniser, he could not reject the attention of beautiful ladies. That is typical of those who are extremely driven by such impulses. He married more wives and attracted more concubines from far and near, enjoying life to the fullest. Today, Abiola’s children are too numerous. It is sad that some of them grew up contending with father absence. His Will is still a subject of strife and rancour in the polygamous family.

    As veteran politicians were working hard to establish political associations in the Third Republic, Abiola was only involved in business prospecting. Then, he came back the second time, more fortified, seizing the polity by storm. He saw an opportunity to be on the firing line. As Nigerians yearned for civil rule and competent leadership in those dark days, he offered himself for service.

    Seasoned politicians had been banned. Thus, he became the best aspirant. There was no rival in the real sense of the word. But foes within the party described him as an opportunist, who was watching from sidelines, only to come and reap where he did not sow.

    His involvement brought out the best in him. He was politically sagacious. His economic analysis was superb. The stammerer had much to say. On why he joined the fray, he said “you cannot drive a car from the back seat. The only guy who has any chance of driving a car is the guy who sits by the steering and I want to get that seat. It is then I can drive that car as I want.”

    He deployed his skills of negotiation, rallying behind him influential party leaders and the masses. He was the toast during the presidential debate. Othman Tofa, his colleague in the old NPN, was no match. Nigerians still recall his campaign slogan: ‘Hope 93,’ with the objective of poverty abolition. It was highly captivating. Evidently, the election had been won by MKO before June 12.

    Fear gripped his military friends, the handlers of the transition programme. The election was scheduled for the raining season. But weather was benevolent on poll day. All went smoothly, to the consternation of IBB and his cohorts- the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) of Arthur Nzeribe and Abimbola Davies. The exercise, according to domestic observers and foreign monitors, was free and fair.

    Abiola and his supporters never anticipated the annulment. Therefore, there was no predetermined strategy to confront the challenge. But, he had the masses behind him. They fought. Many sacrificed their lives. The grand battle was coordinated by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) at home and abroad.  Many of the chieftains were targeted for liquidation. Many, including Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of Nigeria, Prof. Wole Soyinka and General Alani Akinrinade, managed to escape abroad. Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, was not lucky. She was assassinated in Lagos.

    Then, a mistake occured after the Interm Government of Ernest Shonekan crumbled. Wise men became novices. They were surprisingly cajoled by Gen. Sani Abacha, a coup plotter, who lied to them that he would handover to the winner of the historic poll. He reneged and tension rose.

    The military was adamant. The spate of bombings increased. As Abiola jetted out to seek global support for his mandate, the loquacious propagandist and Information Minister, Uche Chukwumerije, yelled, saying that Abiola had become the first Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yorubaland to flee from the battlefield.

    He later proved the military junta wrong, returned to the country, resurfaced at Epetedo on Lagos Island and declared himself President-elect. Arrested and detained, he never returned alive.

    But the military also could not enjoy any respite. Apparently, Abiola was underrated by the soldiers as a man who could not dare the guns. He proved them wrong by sustaining the battle. He fired salvos at his friend, saying:”Make no mistake, my opponent was not Tofa in the election. It was President Ibrahim Babangida who is not courageous enough to face me at the ballot.” Later, he added: “I am prepared to face the firing squard of General Babangida.”

    Rejecting the annulment, he said ‘you don’t abort a pregnancy after the baby is born.’

    Abiola had initially rejected the Interm contraption after IBB steped aside. He said: “A sacrifice is necessary only if it will be acceptable to the god.” To those seeking an inexplicable softlanding through negotiation with the military without his consent, he said ‘you can’t shave a man’s head in his absence.’ He insisted on his mandate till the end.

    What killed him? What did he eat or drink? Who killed him? How did he die? Where is the autopsy? The answers remain elusive.

    Conscience is an open wound; an internal verson of punishment. The judgment of history is inevitable. That’s why the ghost of June 12 continues to hunt the deserters and betrayers, including those who arranged the interim malady, the soldiers of fortune who opened fire on protesters, those who said MKO was not the messiah due to ego and envy, and other elements of subversion, who nevertheless, came to power on the ashes of the struggle.

  • MKO: ‘It has been a long night’

    Dear MKO,

    I write to inform you that June 12 has evolved. “From a commemoration observed by scattered bands of devotees, members of the Abiola family, and human rights activists, confined mainly to the Southwest,” as Ayo Olukotun carefully worded it, “June 12 has now mutated into a national observance and symbol of nationhood in the same class with other national holidays, totems and identity markers of statehood.” You already know that you have been awarded the highest national honour the Nigerian state could give. It should be a proud moment. Fists should be up in the air, but they are not. We mark the day with mixed feelings even as we remember the ideals you stood for.

    With deep discomfiture I bring to your notice that Nigeria today is the exact opposite of what you envisioned. You had a vision for this country and you communicated that vision so clearly. You wanted to “make Nigeria a better place for all.” Nigerians agreed with you and overwhelmingly gave you their mandate. That dream was aborted. In its place, Nigeria was turned to be a better place for some, or worse still and more realistically so, a worse place for all.

    You aspired for Nigerians to transition and “bid farewell to poverty.” That aspiration, like the election, was annulled. And poverty was taken to the next level. Nigeria, yes the very Nigeria you bled and died to liberate, is now the poverty capital of the world. During your famous declaration on that fateful day in 1994, you passionately expressed your concerns; “Our factories are crying for machinery, spare parts and raw materials. But each day that passes, instead of these economic diseases being cured, they are rather strengthened as an irrational allocation of foreign exchange based on favouritism and corruption becomes the order of the day.” If it is permissible, you need to come and witness the state of our nation.

    You were “sickened to see people who have shown little or no personal achievement, either in building up private businesses, or making success of any tangible thing, being placed in charge of the management of our nation’s economy, by rulers who are not accountable to anyone.” You know you could have made that exact remark in 2019 and still be right.

    You were worried about the hegemonic few playing “a permanent game of military ‘about turns’.” You cried that “appeals to their honour as officers and gentlemen of the gallant Nigerian Armed Forces, have fallen on deaf ears. Instead, they have resorted to the tactics of divide and rule, bribery and political perfidy, misinformation and (vile) propaganda. They arrest everyone who disagrees with them.” Today, despite the deafening claims of integrity, it is as if Nigeria consistently “ranks high in matters of dubious distinction.”

    You were worried about “the consequences of high inflation, a huge budget deficit and an enormous foreign debt repayment burden, dying industries, high unemployment and a demoralised populace.” The youths gave you the biggest emotional burden. You wept bitterly about our condition; “Our youths, in particular, can see no hope on the horizon, and many can only dream of escaping from our shores.” As it turned out, you were only weeping about the figurative frying pan; we have been pushed off that frying pan into the fire.

    As you saw it in 1994; “A scarcity of books and equipment has rendered our schools into desolate deserts of ignorance.” Well, things have not gotten any better. Several years after, that desert continues to encroach even at a more alarming speed.

    In mourning a Nigeria that was not allowed to be, we are not disillusioned. You wouldn’t have been a perfect president. But, given your worldview, disposition, successes in many areas of life, the little change you wrought through philanthropy, and the meaningful connections you made, you would have been a damn good president of a multi-cultural Nigeria.

    Having received the highest chieftaincy title a commoner could get in Yoruba land, you – the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land – didn’t yield to the temptation of reducing yourself to an ethnic champion. As proud as you were to be a Yoruba warlord, you fought, bled and died for ordinary Nigerians from all parts of the country. And in so doing, became “an unexpected symbol of democracy” and national unity.

    You had people you could trust, and those who could trust you too, from all sides of the ethnic and religious spectra. You surrounded yourself with competent people drawn from all parts of the nation. Little wonder citizens from all parts of the nation felt their interests will be better served with you at the helm of affairs. June 12 should be a crystallization of that national unity you envisioned. But today, we are, for the very first time, marking it as a national holiday even while we observe that since the civil war Nigeria has never been divided as it is presently. The fault lines are there, and very visibly so.

    These are some of the issues we look at and ask; “should we be mourning or celebrating?” In trying to answer that question, we draw from the wisdom of ancient Koreans who admonished their wards to “catch not at the shadow, and lose the substance.”

    Those in government today say you have been honoured and will be forever remembered. We agree, but struggle to reconcile the fact that they are antithetical to your vision for Nigeria, your ethos and the spirit of the struggle. We give it to them; in the transmutation of June 12, Buhari’s government struck a massive emotional chord. They have caught your shadow. We are more interested in the substance.

    Dear MKO, we seek your wisdom, please answer us from the beyond. Should we be pained or joyed that wreathes are today being laid on the tomb of a visionary, on the account of his vision, by people whose actions and utterances are snuffing life out of whatever remained of that vision?

    Perhaps, rather than reaching for the emotions of June 12 as they have done, the Buhari-led government should have asked for a lesson on the ethos you espoused. The cosmetic display nonetheless, we find it in our hearts to give due credits for the thoughtfulness in bringing to the fore the issues of June 12. After all, it is commonly said in Nigerian street parlance that “all die na die.”

    Beloved MKO, as you are celebrated today, we are torn apart by those celestial and immortal words you declared at Epetedo; “It has been a long night.”

    Sadly, 25 years after, Nigeria remains in twilight: but we still can’t say that “the dawn is here.” With hope, we continue to believe; it is well.

     

    • Chima is a research associate at Selonnes Consult, Awka, Anambra State.

  • June 12: How Adedibu won SDP ticket for MKO – Aboderin

    •Says IBB wanted Pascal Bafyau or Maitama Sule as MKO’s vice

    Chief Abimbola Moyosore Aboderin, son of the First Republic politician and businessman, the late Olola Moyosore Aboderin, in this encounter with some journalists, gives an untold account of how the June 12 struggle began, reports Oziegbe Okoeki.

    THE story of June 12 will continue to be told over and over again as the dramatis personae begin to come out of their shell one after the other to give fresh angle and insight into the events immediately preceding and following after the June 12, 1993 election won by the then business mogul, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola but nullified by then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.

    One of such persons who knew and was part of the genesis of the struggle, which he said was later hijacked by National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) was Chief Abimbola Moyosore Aboderin, son of the First Republic politician and businessman, the late Olola Moyosore Aboderin, who founded and financed the Ibadan Peoples Party and also a foundation member of Action Group.

    Aboderin himself has twice contested but lost the senatorial seat of Oyo South Senatorial District, first on the platform of then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), in 2003 and in 2014 under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Aboderin told our correspondent that four of them, the late MKO Abiola, the strong man of Ibadan politics, the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, himself and Abiola’s lawyer then, who is now an Oba in Ibadan, Oba Abimbola Ajibola, were the four people who started the June 12 struggle which was later taken over by NADECO completely sidelining them except Abiola who was the arrowhead of the struggle. According to him the four of them took decisions and executed them and they used to meet regularly in Adedibu’s house. And against the earlier decision they took that Abiola should dialogue with the then powers that be about the nullified June 12 election, NADECO came in with activism and opted for confrontation, shielding Abiola from the remaining three.

    In recognition of his struggle for the actualisation of MKO’s presidential mandate, Aboderin received an award of Champion of Democracy/Personality of the year 2018 at the 12th Nigeria Media Nite-out Award.

    Aboderin’s story on June 12: “I knew Abiola through my father, who was a politician and businessman and we became good and close friends; Adedibu, the then strong man of Ibadan politics, was more or less like the father of politics in the country then; everybody used to come to him to discuss politics, but he was my father’s boy or political son; he learnt from my father and that is how we became close, Chief Abimbola Ajibola was then Abiola’s lawyer.

    “When the Social Democratic Party (SDP), 1993 Jos convention was getting close, as I went to Adedibu’s house which I visit regularly, I met MKO there and he told me he was worried about the convention because the North had more delegates and if that is the case, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who was contesting the position of president with him will definitely win and that is why he has come to see Baba Adedibu. I encouraged him and told him God will do it. From there, Adedibu became his political godfather.”

    Aboderin said he was in Jos for the convention as a special monitor to monitor the election and “to do whatever I can to ensure that MKO wins, but as voting was going on, it was clear that Atiku was winning.

    “Atiku was winning because he was using the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s political structure, remember Yar’Adua had won the first election of SDP, which was cancelled by Babangida. Yar’Adua was Atiku’s boss. Adedibu confessed that we cannot win the election; that we have to do something. Yar’Adua was in Jos waiting for the outcome of the election.

    “So, Adedibu went to see Yar’Adua in the night while voting was still going on but glaring that Atiku was winning. He told the late General that in the last election, which he won, he Adedibu made all the Southwest delegates to vote for Yar’Adua and that this time around the retired General should do something for him that he should ask Atiku to step down for his candidate, MKO.”

    Aboderin said it was a very difficult situation for Yar’Adua but he had no choice than to accept Adedibu’s plea and that was how Atiku stepped down and MKO Abiola emerged as the presidential candidate of SDP.

    “But Atiku’s people were not happy that we won the election; they almost lynched us. We had to sneak out of Jos but before then, I was given a letter of thank you for Yar’Adua which I handed over to him in his house in Jos, thanking him for his support and ensuring MKO’s victory.

    “We came back to Ibadan and campaign started. We put everything in place, even organised a campaign fund raising event at Premier Hotel, Ibadan on 16th May, 1993 with me as secretary of the fund raising committee where together with previous campaign donations we realised N350m in cash, which was kept in my custody over night before we drove down to Lagos and handed the money over to Abiola”.

    All this time, Aboderin said things were still rosy between Babangida and MKO; they were still very good friends and interacting well.

    “All this time, Babangida and MKO were good friends and I don’t think he deliberately wanted to scuttle his election but the issue that started the whole wahala was the issue of who becomes Vice President to MKO Abiola.”

    Aboderin said Abiola told him that IBB gave him two names to choose from but Adedibu changed it saying they were not even politicians. The two names were the former Labour leader, Paschal Bayfiau and the cerebral Maitama Sule “but Adedibu said it should be given to the SDP Chairman, Babagana Kingibe, arguing that as the party chairman, he could mess things up for SDP and that MKO should go and tell IBB. I think IBB was not happy, that was the beginning of the wahala.

    “At this time, IBB was no longer happy with Abiola but he kept his cool.

    “The election came and it was very peaceful; it was in fact the best election in the history of this nation. And we had already started celebrating victory in MKO’s residence at Ikeja when we heard that the election has been annulled and we were shocked.

    “The first reaction was to mobilise Adedibu’s traditional fighters and other groups like Agbekoya in Ibadan into the street and Ibadan people were ready to fight but were prevailed on to hold their peace and MKO didn’t want war.

    “We advised for dialogue with the government so that some concessions can be made and we also advised MKO to go outside the country and declare himself president in exile; if he had done that, he would have become president eventually.

    According to him, it was at this point NADECO came in and hijacked the struggle. “They penetrated MKO and it became difficult for us to even see MKO. They jettisoned all our advise for dialogue and opted for confrontation. I believe if there had been dialogue with IBB, there would have been solution.

    He identified some of the NADECO members as Senator Adesanya, Alfred Rewane, Ekwueme and others.

    On the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day by President Muhammadu Buhari, Aboderin said what Buhari did is good “because it is time for us to get things right but you know you cannot satisfy human beings; there are some who are happy with the development while some others are not happy, but I say ‘well-done’ to Buhari.

    “However, those of us who started the struggle with Abiola have not been compensated while NADECO members who only hijacked the struggle midway have been duly taken care of; we have the real story of June 12.”

    Aboderin, who said he loves Buhari as a person, believes that the president means well for the country and that despite some observable shortcomings of his administration, like insecurity, especially killings by herdsmen, which he believes is the handwork of some people out to sabotage the president, he however said something must be done to stop the killings, general insecurity and poverty in the country.

  • How 9th NASS leaders will emerge, by Tinubu

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Sen. Bola Tinubu, on Friday emphasised leadership of the incoming 9th National Assembly will be decided through party politics.

     He stated that party discipline would be upheld in addressing the leadership tussle of the 9th National Assembly.

    Tinubu spoke with newsmen in Lagos on Friday after a Prayer Programme organised by Islamic and Christian clerics to mark his 67th birthday.

    He said: “Party discipline is key. We must be discipline in the party. We were a little careless in 2015.

    “We created the opportunity for serpents to get into our party and that did not allow Nigeria to make the desired progress.

    “You have seen the result of it and we are not going to allow that to happen again. We are going to respect our party and we are going to apply the whip.

    “It is either you stay with us or you follow us or you leave. You have the freedom to choose but the freedom does not give you as a minority to go and collaborate and protrude our mandate given to you to another party who was our opposition and who is still our opposition.

    “We would not take that this time, no matter who you think you are. That is how it is built. Why do you want to deviate from what has been structured?

    “We look at our reward system equally, zone by zone,” he said.

    Tinubu said that his life as a politician at 67 had been a fulfilling journey.

    “When I joined politics, there were a lot of uncertainties because it was during the military regime. There were lots of struggles but my concern is about people and the future of my country.

    “My mother stood by me when I told her then that I was joining politics. She told me to be ready to take all sorts of insults whenever they cross my way. May her soul rest in peace.

    “The struggle was tough. It created a justice on June 12 election of MKO and some people deserted the camp, the struggle, the spirit.

    “We have stayed with this struggle. We know democracy is not easy but it is the only system of government that we chose.

    “Ever since, it has been a very fulfilling journey. There is always the twist and turns in politics.

    “Today, we endure, we persevere, we think, adjust, collaborate, merged and became single party just like yesterday,” he said.

    Tinubu said that the APC party was in government for the common man.

    Read also: Party discipline will be upheld in 9th NASS leadership, says Tinubu

    “You will think that APC had been on for twenty years but is not up to six years. We went through compromises because we know that if we form a good alliance of progressive thinkers and believers in the ideology of common man, we will be able to serve the people.

    “It is not by criticism alone. You have to have the opportunity to even change the life of the people and quality of their standard of living.

    “So, we stood by it, we persevered persistently, uttered our voice, offered our recommendations, and then we are here.

    And today I am extremely happy that we are in government for the common man.

    “The only way to change Nigeria from penury is to fashion out our own organic economic strategy and plan that will continue to cater for all,” he said. (NAN)

  • A foreign correspondent’s memories of MKO

    The recent declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari of June 12 as the new national Democracy Day in honour of the sacrifice of the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola for the enthronement of democracy in the country brought back memories of my encounters with the Chief Abiola while I was serving as the Washington correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) between 1985 and 1989. Those memories bring nostalgic feelings of what could have been had the chief heeded his own counsel of not playing a dead hero. The first encounter ended in acrimony, with a furious Abiola dismissing the reporter as exceeding himself. He had a tight schedule of engagements in Washington D.C. and it was difficult to pin him down for an interview, so he suggested I take a ride with him to Dulles International airport at the outskirts of D.C. and conduct the interview en-route. The ride was in a Cadillac Limousine of the Ugandan ambassador to the U.S., Princess Toro. The ambassador sat in the middle compartment while Chief Abiola and I were at the roomy back.

    The interview had gone smoothly until I asked him how he expected to become president of Nigeria with his Islamic fanaticism. He flew into a rage, wondering what gave me, an ordinary reporter, the audacity to ask him such an impertinent question. He was literally screaming, in staccato stammering, that I should realize he is my boss. I shot back that he is not my boss because I don’t work for him but for NAN. An alarmed Princess Toro looked back apprehensively at the two of us, apparently wondering what the matter with these Nigerians is. The interview ended on that sour note. But Chief Abiola must have ruminated on that encounter for on his next visit, a now amiable Abiola told me: Bisi, you know, when I returned home, I attended a church ceremony and when I entered, the proceedings stopped. It was like they saw an apparition. But do you know, some Muslim brothers were angry with me. You see, they have put me in a straitjacket.

    Chief Abiola can be very blunt which, in retrospect, might have contributed to the tragic ending of a beautiful life. Perhaps, some soldiers were unforgiving of Abiola for dubbing them mad dogs! There was this occasion when he was being honoured at Howard University, Washington D.C. The university vice president had rendered a mesmerizing tribute about Abiola but when it was his turn to respond, his opening sentence had a jarring note: The vice president spoke very well, he is a teacher but good speech without money is meaningless. In a dialogue with Chief Abiola after the ceremony, I had asked why he had to put down the vice president so publicly. He had replied: Bisi, don’t worry. It is my money they want and anywhere I put my money, I must be able to speak my mind.

    On another occasion, we were in Columbus, Ohio, USA where he was meeting the president of Ohio State University for a collaboration on agriculture. The proud Nigerian in Chief Abiola came to the fore. At the end of formal dialogue, he had told the university president that though America is a great country but that down the road, our (Nigerian) grandchildren will live a better life than your (American) grandchildren. That encapsulated his vision for a great Nigeria.  But, although Abiola invested in America’s political establishment, many resent with such braggadocio from an African, and a Black man to boot!  While he is generally conscious of his high position, he nevertheless exhibits humility in some certain circumstances. During the Ohio visit, in the morning before going for the university appointment, a Nigerian Professor and an elder to Abiola had wanted to carry his briefcase. Chief Abiola had demurred: Ah, egbon, you can’t my briefcase o!

    Abiola’s generosity is legendary and it came from the heart. I witnessed this with the legions who besiege him on his visits to the U.S.

    However, the most poignant of my encounters with Chief Abiola was after Ibrahim Babangida, in one of his interminable electoral dribbles, disqualified another set of presidential aspirants. At his hotel in Washington D.C, Abiola had told me: Bisi, the other aspirants are waiting for Abiola to react angrily, in a confrontational manner. But you know the Yoruba saying, eniti won ba fori e fo agbon ko ni je ninu e (Whoever allows his head to be used in breaking a coconut cannot live to eat in the coconut). I had interpreted this then to mean that he was not ready to play the dead hero. But, sadly, the tragedy still played out.  Abiola paid the supreme price only for some of the beneficiaries to have a macabre dance over his grave.

    I have often wondered about this enigma called Destiny which prompted this poser: How is it that the two most prepared for the presidency produced by Ogun State – Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief M.K.O. Abiola – never got the prize? The same Ogun State produced another two – Chief Earnest Shonekan and Gen.(Chief) Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo – who got the crown thrust on them. Well, the legacy of Awo endures and that of Abiola is in the season of renaissance.  What is the legacy of the other two? Well, in fairness, not much of a legacy could be expected of Shonekan, a good man of circumstance, who ran just a three month Interim National Government.  But what can one say about Obasanjo, who so intensely loathed his fellow Abeokuta townsman on whose sacrifice he ascended the throne – a second time?  Perhaps, PETTINESS?

     

    • Dr. Olawunmi, former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) now teaches at the Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State.

  • MKO and the maze of history

    SIR: On June 12, Nigeria‘s newly appointed Democracy Day, President Buhari acquiescing to the counsel and clamour of Nigerians made redemptive advances at history. In finally giving some official   recognition to Chief Moshood   Kashimawo Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential elections, the president sought to lay the ghost of an extraordinary injustice to rest and propitiate the living and the dead. It would have been a profound appeasement of history and hearts were it not for the fact that it was probably the starkest example of bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted ever seen. MKO‘s family, importuned by counsel   and social convention, graciously accepted the award and even apologized for the supposed failings of  a man denied  fate’s appointment by the malice of a military government some of whose active players are still alive. The first family Nigeria never had also lost its matriarch to the cyclopean injustice – the irrepressible Kudirat Abiola who was finally repressed by a bullet. In rendering a painfully misplaced apology and effusive gratitude for the award, MKO ‘s daughter swapped roles with the killers of her parents who owed her family apology and gratitude. Thankfully, Nobel laureate and world-renowned literary icon, Wole Soyinka had some choice words for the clan of hyenas.

    Nigeria can never pay MKO or his family for what they lost at the hands of a most brutal military government. That it took so long for successive Nigerian governments   to   officially recognize MKO was salt rubbed into festering wounds. That it came with crucial elections on the horizon further impugned the credibility of a recognition frozen for so long by a country too ashamed to clean up its vomit.

    Nigeria has done so little for all those who have made sacrifices for it. Some gave up their lives in defence of its integrity. Some have brought international recognition it has milked for its use. Some others have given up their lives in its service. Yet, it has been a litany of ignored families, unpaid benefits and   unacknowledged pain. Its national awards and other such contrived recognition have been blighted by familiar stains of ethnic and religious politics.

    History has shown itself a proud owner of a long and luminous memory. With coruscating lucidity, It will always remember Abiola as the colourful winner of Nigeria’s 1993 presidential election. It will remember him as the historic choice of historic polls brutally ripped away from Nigerians. History will also reserve its most wretched pages, dripping with opprobrium, for all those who linked leprous hands to annul the 1993 Presidential Election and bludgeon the conscience of an entire country.

     

    • Kene Obiezu, Abuja. 

  • MKO: Beyond Democracy Day declaration

    Some political analysts called it “a masterstroke”. Others compared it to that of a marksman, aiming well at the game in view and scoring the bull’s eye. And his legions of admirers, who have turned him into some demigod that never makes mistakes saw President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent declaration of June 12 as Nigeria’ s new Democracy Day, to replace May 29,  as that of a magic wand  that has cleared all obstacles towards realizing his ambition to stay put in Aso Rock, come 2019!

    Perhaps, they have a point. After all, the deft move, for once, put volatile issues into the back burner of national discourse. These include the killing spree of voiceless, innocent citizens by armed Fulani herdsmen (or, simply herders) and bandits; the nepotistic architecture of 15 out of 17 security chiefs skewed in favour of the north (as recently decried by Yinka Odumakin, the Afenifere spokesperson) and of course, the one-sided anti-graft war that has defectors to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) metamorphosing overnight into adorable saints!

    The flipside of the June 12 Democracy Day declaration for the president is the tall order he has, to convince patriots that he can walk the talk of democratic ethos and principles, far from his generally perceived dictatorial disposition. Not a few believe he cannot.

    Can he for instance, accede to the persisting quest for the enthronement of political restructuring of the country? That is, to devolve the enormous politico-economic powers from the bloated centre to the federating units and bring governance closer to the people? His so called ‘haters’ say his body language waves a different chord far from that perception.

    And would the recent move, change his political predisposition to becoming a grand respecter of the rule of law, with regards to the Sambo Dasuki and Ibrahim El Zakzaky saga? Many watchers of Nigeria’s political space still nurse their doubts.

    It would therefore, do the nation a world of good if we could learn a lesson or two from what has made the June 12  matter such a compelling mandate of history. Reproduced below is an excerpt from my opinion essay titled: ‘M.K.O: That June 12 may not die’ as published in Daily  Independent of June17, 2013 to mark the 20th anniversary of the crude annulment of the acclaimed freest and fairest presidential election ever held in Nigeria.

    ‘It is instructive that two decades after, that brazen and brutal violation of the people’s collective will is still etched firmly in our psyche and souls. And it is all because this is one wound of the dimension of a deep cut that time has failed to heal. The ugly scars still bleeding from the repeated butts from undemocratic elements stare us horrifyingly in the face. Yet, we would be missing the valid lessons by narrowing it to the individual theatrical boxing bout between late Chief Abiola and IBB. It goes far beyond that.

    ‘For that crass injustice to be consigned to the dustbin of history may take eons, for more reasons than one. First, Nigerians are yet to be told the characters and the cogent reasons behind the subversion of their electoral franchise. So far, no form of public apology has been tendered by IBB to Nigerian electorate. No form of compensation has been paid by the federal government to Abiola’s family and those of the victims caught in the cross fire between the riot police and the coalition of civil society groups propelled by NADECO to redress the obvious wrong done to us all.

    ‘More saddening is the recent revelation by Abiola’s children that huge debts owed their late father is yet to be offset despite their call for such. Little wonder that the vast empire one of the richest Africans built from the scratch has since crumbled denying all the dependants the quality life he wanted them to enjoy. Beyond the economic vicissitudes visited on members of the family and others who profited from the late politician’s largeness of heart are the political implications of the annulment.

    ‘For the first time in our electoral history, which were always characterized by violence; including thuggery, the snatching of ballot boxes, stuffing of same with pre-thumb printed ballot papers, maiming and killing of opponents and their supporters, arson, acts of brigandage and intimidation Nigerians held a peaceful election. And a good majority of those who cast their votes for late Abiola did so because in him they could see a true patriot, blind to the colours of religious, ethnic and social differences. He was one man in who they could invest their trust, with the firm belief that his administration (if he was sworn in) would deliver the much touted dividends of democracy.

    ‘The unfortunate political scenario on our hands today, as 2015 inches closer is the vocal expression for Hausa/Fulani, Ibo, Yoruba or Ijaw president instead of a Nigerian president which Abiola epitomized. The ethnic war drums now beating with shameless frenzy are reminiscent of the sad events that defined the 1964 political crises. Perhaps, the elders from the different geo-political zones now urging their misguided youth associations to give threats of violence should their preferred candidates not be fielded or win would learn from the sellable political brand Abiola meant to the common Nigerians.

    ‘In simple terms, Nigerians are now clamouring for a set of selfless politicians who have the capacity to identify their most pressing challenges; those who wear similar shoes and know where they pinch them and would deliver on their campaign promises. Good governance is we want and therefore the paradigm is shifting to the search for such individuals, who would use the desired attributes of vision, diligence, patriotism, passion, courage, consistency and  compassion as the late Abiola amply exhibited.

    ‘The lessons of June 12 would endure only if the people’s votes count; only if the electoral process is transparent, free, fair and credible. Indeed, worse than an armed robber is he who subverts the wishes of the electorate by declaring the wrong candidates as the winners. Such impostors and usurpers of the electorate’s will would have no allegiance whatsoever to the people he is meant to lead but to the corrupt process or godfather that threw him up. That perhaps explains the reason behind the parlous state of the country’s current affairs, from the federal through some states to the local councils generally adjudged as poor governance far below the people’s expectations.

    ‘Beyond the physical efforts to name some notable national monuments (a democratic institution or a sports facility) after him, we would be doing the late politician great honour if we sink our religious and ethnic differences for our collective good’.

  • MKO: Two cities, one honouree

    Looking back at the 2018 June 12 rehabilitation of Basorun MKO Abiola, who won the June 12, 1993 presidential election but was elbowed off his prize by the Ibrahim Babangida military cabal, Hardball’s mind just flashed by to the novel, “A Tale of Two Cities”, by Charles Dickens.

    That book, of the best and worst of times, in London, England, and Paris, France, at the height of revolutionary fervour, could well have been a literary fore-runner to 2018 Nigeria, grabbed with June 12 revolutionary passion!

    The Bible, the Christian spiritual constitution, spoke of rising bones.  That could well be the fate of MKO, cheated of his right 25 years ago, and buried five years later in 1998, after sudden death in detention.  He just rose, like a tsunami, to bury those who thought they had buried him for good!

    What is more?  On that that day of MKO glory, the principal traducers were too shame-faced to show their face:  IBB the “annuller”, was too ill to come; Olusegun Obasanjo, the denier and sustainer, who conjured the May 29 magic, to bury June 12 in the trash of personal ego, fled to far-away Norway to launch a book.

    Even the likes of David Mark, the immediate past Senate president in the present dispensation but who June 12 lores alleged was prominent in the anti-June 12 conspiracy, has pushed forth a funereal quiet from his camp.

    The only honouree-absentee was Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, then chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC, now known as INEC: Independent National Electoral Commission).  In a way, his pains were tantamount to MKO’s.  If MKO was the pregnant woman denied of a healthy child after the pangs of childbirth, Nwosu was the  skilled midwife, whose skills and hard-work delivered the baby, but was denied the concrete joy of his efforts.

    But thank God, those dark days are over!  As MKO was getting his Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) award, and Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, SAM, his Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON) in Abuja, the Alapere, Ojota, Ogudu, Ketu and allied communities were hosting a new giant-size MKO statue, to commemorate June 12 in 2018.

    It is doubtful if the Lagos authorities knew of a possible June 12 tsunami when that new statue was commissioned.  Indeed, there was on old one, put in place by former Governor Babatunde Fashola, just as the neighbouring Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park, just across the 10-lane Ikorodu road, on the Ojota axis.

    That the MKO park stands barely three kilometres after the 7-Up junction, near the Lagos end old toll gate of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, where MKO’s wife, Alhaja Kudirat, was slain, is another glorious symbolism of how the just but dead, tower over the wicked that live.

    But the moral from the MKO saga, the official Federal Government apology to the Abiola family and other Nigerians killed, maimed and traumatised by the crisis; and the IBB-Obasanjo unravelling, is the imperative to ascribe to the high standard of public morality in public policy and governmental actions.

    If that had been the guide for the IBB junta, Nigeria and Nigerians would have been saved this nation-tearing trauma, which has plagued a fractious polity for 25 years.

    Let the June 12 rehabilitation be a fresh opener for everyone.  No country does great things by condoning injustice, even to the most vulnerable of its citizens.

  • The Supreme Price: Hafsat Abiola’s doc puts MKO’s, Kudirat’s struggles in perspective

    Released in recently, a documentary About Hafsat Abiola, daughter of Human Rights Heroine Kudirat Abiola, M.K.O. Abiola tells the story of how, shortly after the 1993 Presidential Election, M.K.O. Abiola’s victory was annulled and he was arrested. How while he was imprisoned, his wife Kudirat took over leadership of the pro-democracy movement. In this riveting political thriller, the Abiola family’s intimate story unfolds against the epic backdrop of Nigeria’s evolution from independence in 1960, through a series of military dictatorships to present day civilian rule as Hafsat continues to face the challenge of transforming a corrupt culture of governance into a democracy capable of serving Nigeria’s most marginalized population: women.

    Directed by American filmmaker, Joanna Lipper, the documentary titled The Supreme Price’ explores how military rule in Nigeria was marked by impunity for grave violations of human rights, and how critics of the military rulers were subject to serious abuses, including long-term arbitrary detention and extrajudicial execution. Human Rights Watch highlighted the deteriorating human rights situation in Nigeria during the bogus “transition program,” which was supposed to restore Nigeria to elected civilian government in the late 1990s

    The documentary has made significant presence at international film festivals, including the Lagos Book and Art Festival at the Freedom Park, Lagos Island, and the Lights, Camera, Africa!!! Film Festival.

    Talking about the film to the New York Film Society in an interview, Lipper said:  “While making this film, I saw the opportunity to tell the story of Nigeria’s political evolution from independence in 1960 to the present with an emphasis on women’s roles, sacrifices and vital contributions.  Two of my absolute favourite films are Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘The Last Emperor’ and ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’, directed by Alain Resnais.  I greatly admire the way those two films situate individual characters against sweeping historical and global contexts at pivotal points of crisis, trauma, political upheaval and transition.  As I made this documentary and studied the archival footage along with my footage of contemporary Nigeria, I saw clearly how the Abiola family’s story connects inextricably to Nigeria’s ongoing struggle for true democracy, transparent and accountable governance and protection of human rights.”

  • MKO and the GCFR award

    The past few days have witnessed choruses of commendations to the ‘converted-democrat’, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) who has decided to honour the ‘presumed winner’ of June 12, 1993 elections, late Moshood Kashimaawo Olawale Abiola with the GCFR title. While pro-democracy activists, the awardees’ families (Gani Fawehinmi and others) and friends have embraced it and are poised to receiving it; ‘awarding’ GCFR has reduced MKO Abiola’s struggles to ‘privilege’ and not constitutional ‘right’ which he would have enjoyed if the election results had not been annulled by ‘Maradona’. While PMB is spinning this to change the narratives of 25 years denial of democratic right to rule (for at least four years), we are replaying the old music of honouring the rich and forgetting the poor—the majority who died long before MKO Abiola tasted death all because they believed in the actualisation of June 12. Some of them became handicapped, widowed, orphaned; while others had to stomach painful destruction of their properties and livelihoods. To these set of people, they have become victims for life as no one blinks an eye in their direction. The hierarchies of reward and punishment have always favoured the rich and against the poor. We should have a systemic rethink in this direction.

    While not against the honorary posthumous award, my probing question is that were MKO to be alive today, will he be happy to receive the medal of GCFR from PMB? My answer is NO. The reasons for this can be found in his Epetedo declaration of June 11, 1994 which positions MKO as someone who had plans to drive change in many sectors of the uninspiring Nigerian economy. He showed understanding of what the situation was across the sectors but needed the platform of an elected GCFR to drive his agenda; he was however denied by those he called ‘soldier-politicians’. Is it therefore not a coincidence of history that another ‘soldier-politician’ now in the saddle is the one awarding the late business mogul the highest honour in the land? Of course, if MKO was not denied the opportunity, Nigerians today would have been opportune to know the difference between the real and imagined presidency of the late business mogul. It is sad that Nigeria, through her leaders have become waters of destinies. We have lost many promising Nigerians to kidnapping, armed robbery, political assassination and persecution, election violence, Gaddafi-fulani herdsmen violence, Boko Haram terrorism, poverty, unemployment, corruption, among others under the watchful eyes of the principalities and powers occupying high places in our polity. Each time this sinister motive is actualised, the entire country moves decades away from dream actualisation. Let us now see why I feel he a living MKO will not take the award.

    Referring to his HOPE’ 93 ‘master plan’, MKO demonstrated how the programme was owned by Nigerians, having presented it nationwide and modified based on the needs articulated by Nigerians. MKO observed that Nigeria was characterised by “about turns;” high inflation, a huge budget deficit and an enormous foreign debt repayment burden, dying industries, high unemployment and a demoralised populace.” Unfortunately MKO didn’t live long enough to see the current state of his worries today. Nigerians are more demoralised today and the unemployment rate witnesses negative improvement. Many industries have since folded up while millions have been sacked even in the last three years.

    MKO had plans for the youths and health of Nigerians in his Epetedo speech. He said: “our youths, in particular, can see no hope on the horizon, and many can only dream of escaping from our shores to join the brain drain. Is this the Nigeria we want? We are plagued also by periodic balance of payments crises, which have led to a perennial shortage of essential drugs that has turned our hospitals and clinics into mortuaries.” Twenty-four years after this speech, Nigerian youths walk through the valley of Libya’s death en route Europe due to the ‘hopelessness’ at home. Worse still, they are described as lazy. They are even begged to delay their ascendancy to the political throne till after 2019 to allow for gerontocracy.

    Looking back, Abiola would see that he understated the conditions of our hospitals. If he were to be alive, he would see how the ‘converted-democrat’ has turned around the fortunes of our clinics and hospitals. Abiola will marvel at the amount voted for Aso rock clinic which the ‘other room’ occupier lamented has no drugs. It will not bother a discerning mind why we have periodic Lassa outbreak.

    MKO ventured into education. He noted that “a scarcity of books and equipment has rendered our schools into desolate deserts of ignorance. Our factories are crying for machinery, spare parts and raw materials. But each day that passes, instead of these economic diseases being cured, they are rather strengthened as an irrational allocation of foreign exchange based on favouritism and corruption becomes the order of the day.” Hmm MKO had not seen anything then! What we have today are business merchants who award contracts to cronies to build model schools while failing to rehabilitate existing ones. We have a government that does not care about the education of the youth. They perfected the deception of the youth calling them ‘leaders of tomorrow’ while failing to empower them with the knowledge, tools, and opportunities needed to serve and lead the nation. Instead, from Aso-rock to the local governments, they train their wards abroad, and share their pictures on the social media as evidence of their failures! Despite the three years of change, we continue to battle new economic rodents in power.

    Abiola will dissociate with anything short of his Hope’ 93 agenda. Why will he be consoled with a GCFR in a country with over 60 percent disarticulated youths? Will the award give him constitutional right to attend Council of State meetings? Will GCFR give him the country he envisioned as having full scale industrialisation, quality education, and health and other social amenities? I think NO.

    With a nationalist outlook and not sectional as we have it today, MKO agonised over Nigeria’s unimpressive conditions to the point of death. He was denied the opportunity to organize a turn-around government. While the GCFR award has taken the conversation to another level, it has not reduced the significance of the unmet needs of Nigerians in health, education, security, and governance which should be the issues for the REAL change beyond 2019. But like his name, Kashimaawo, a name wrapped in a prospect/uncertainty of survival, Nigerians look towards groups formed by or aligned with Abiola CHANGE agenda to raise persons who can realise these HOPE.

     

    • Dr Tade, a sociologist sent this piece via dotad2003@yahoo.com.