Forgotten Dairies
07/07/98: MKO – Sunset At Dawn -By Richard Odusanya
He won the June 12 presidential election in 1993 fair and square. But it was annulled. In pursuit of his mandate, he paid the supreme sacrifice. The struggle to actualise that mandate, prolonged and sometimes vicious, eventually resulted in the return to democratic dispensation on May 29 1999 with political power ceded to the South West, the home region of Abiola.
Sunset at dawn on a dark day, 7th of July, 1998. Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, Nigerian entrepreneur, philanthropist and politician exit to the great beyond. It was five years and 25 days after the military annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election and incarcerated the acclaimed winner, the charismatic businessman and politician, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. The symbol of Democracy and African version of Martin Luther king Jr (MLK) died in a very controversial circumstances in the hands of the military adventurists.
MKO, was a man of pan-Nigerian vision and ambition, who went into politics to give the people hope, to unite them and lead them out of poverty. His campaign manifesto was instructively titled “Hope 93 — Farewell to Poverty: How to make Nigeria a better place for all.” Bashorun was a Pan-Africanist Par-Excellence not an ethnic champion. The pillar of sport in Africa laid down his life for DEMOCRACY. He was larger than life: Let me mention one aspect of him that makes him standout: in my opinion, his quest to see majority of the black population go from illiterate to literate and from rags to riches hasn’t been matched till date by any Nigerian or African rich man. As a lover of literacy, as at 1993, he had already built 41 libraries across 24 states in Nigeria. Don’t get it twisted, it was unlike the ‘packaged fraud’ Bashorun Abiola was the issue; the real thing about Nigeria is the MKO’s mandate ‘June 12 and the controversial circumstances of that dark day 7th July 1998.
Before, going further, let me share with us part of the revelations or confessions within the corridors of power on that dark day: Zadok returned, he met Major Aliyu, who told him that Abiola fell down after taking a cup of tea.
“I quietly went inside,” said Zadok, “and I saw Chief M.K.O Abiola lying on the floor facing down.
“I called him for the first time; he answered and I lifted him up, and turned him upside, and called him again for the second time; he did not answer.”
Aliyu informed Abdulsalami minutes after Abiola was confirmed dead.
Fifteen years after this chain of events, Akhigbe died on October 28, 2013, without revealing all that he knew about Abiola’s death.
It is on record that Akhigbe was the only highly-placed member of the Abubakar junta that openly admitted that Abiola was indeed murdered. Even though he insisted that his convenient presence in Aso Rock on the day Abiola was murdered was an “unfortunate coincidence.
Unarguably, MKO was richer than a country. He was influential and powerful. Bashorun controlled virtually everything in his lifetime; from business, communications, politics, international affairs, reparation issue and even sports in Africa. MKO had virtually everything he wanted; fame, connection, and influence. He was even elected President of one of Africa’s freest and fairest elections. Although, he was robbed of his mandate under enigmatic circumstances.
Thankfully, June 12, Democracy day celebration, without any iota of doubt, is M.K.O Abiola’s day of glory. It is akin to Martin Luther King’s national holiday in America. Abiola is the single most important architect of the modern democracy. He won the June 12 presidential election in 1993 fair and square. But it was annulled. In pursuit of his mandate, he paid the supreme sacrifice. The struggle to actualise that mandate, prolonged and sometimes vicious, eventually resulted in the return to democratic dispensation on May 29 1999 with political power ceded to the South West, the home region of Abiola.
In conclusion, I like to join our compatriots home and abroad in standing with the family members of the pillar of sport in Africa Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (MKO) in celebration of life and times of the African soldier. And also to salute the demonstration of courage, determination and resilience of our great leaders who stood their grounds for DEMOCRACY. The likes of our current President Asíwájú Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Prof Wole Soyinka (WS), Ayo Opadokun, Femi Falana (FF), Yele Sowore (SOS), Col. Umar Dangiwa RTD, Ebitu Ekiwe, Ndubuisi Kanu, Frank Kokori, Kunle Ajibade, Bagauda Kaltho, Kudirat Abiola, Pa Alfred Rewane Anthony Enahoro, Beko Ramsome-Kuti, Gani Fawehinmi and many others too numerous to mention.
Richard Odusanya a Mind Restructuring Enthusiast.
