Ambassador Susan Rice is currently the American Ambassador to the United Nations. Her long-standing aspiration of becoming the Secretary of State for her country was dashed when the Republicans in the Senate started sharpening their knives in anticipation of her formal nomination for that position by President Barak Obama.

Sensing that her nomination would not scale through the Senate and that she would not be confirmed as Secretary of State due to the role she played in the cover up of the Benghazi affair in which the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other American citizens were murdered by a group of Islamist terrorists, her nomination was withdrawn.
Instead of Secretary of State, President Obama has now nominated her for the position of National Security Advisor which is a job that does not require Senate approval or confirmation. I wish Susan Rice well in her new assignment but I am constrained to ask the following questions. What did she put in the tea that she served to Chief MKO Abiola on July 8th 1998 just before he died? She was one of the last people that saw him alive, she served him some tea, he coughed violently and one hour later he dropped dead. What was in the tea? Was it Abuja ”green tea”, Darjeeling, Earl Grey, Lipton or some other more exotic brand?
Can someone please ask Susan Rice what her role was in the death of MKO Abiola? Who sent her to do the job and who was she working for? At that time she was Assistant Secretary of State for America in President Bill Clinton’s government. Was she acting on his direct instructions or simply on the instructions of her boss and controller in Langley?

Chief MKO Abiola was the winner of Nigeria’s freest and fairest elections. That election took place on June 12th 1993. The following day it was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida. Shortly after that, as a consequence of the sheer outrage that was generated by the annulment, Babangida was compelled to ”step aside” and hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. In what was clearly a strategic manoeuvre he left General Sani Abacha (his own Chief of Army Staff) behind to be the Minister of Defence for the incoming administration.

As many had predicted a few months later Abacha toppled the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan which he served and seized power for himself. Abiola was eventually arrested and detained and he was never granted his freedom again. Four years later Abacha himself was murdered by forces that are yet to be identified and General Abdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exactly 30 days after Abacha was killed, those same forces that killed him murdered Abiola as well in an attempt to ”balance the equation”.

These are the facts and those are the sequence of events. One thing is self-evident and cannot be denied no matter which side of the divide one may have been on in the June 12th saga- certain questions must be answered. And those questions are as follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Who killed Sani Abacha? What role, if any, did officials of the Abubakar administration play in the murder of both Abacha and Abiola? What role did the CIA play and exactly what transpired in the room when Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice, Ambassador Thomas Pickering and two other faceless and nameless officials from the American Embassy met with Abiola on the very day that he was meant to be released? Instead of being released on that day he dropped dead in what can only be described as mysterious and questionable circumstances. This is all the more so because Abiola’s security officer and the man that was charged with looking after him and protecting him throughout the time that he was incarcerated, one ASP Zadok, told the Oputa panel in 2002 that Abiola was ”hale and hearty” and in ”very high spirits” just before going into the meeting with the Americans.

As Zadok was about to enter the premises where the meeting was scheduled to be held with Abiola he was asked to leave his principal, step outside the premises and to go and pick up another car from somewhere by one of General Abdulsalami’s security officers. He promptly obeyed but half an hour later when he came back he found Abiola in a terrible condition, coughing violently, writhing all over the floor in pain and breathing his last breath. Thirty minutes later he gave up the ghost. I have no doubt that this was murder but the question is whose call was it and why did it have to happen? Was it done in an attempt to pave the way for an Obasanjo Presidency one year later? Could General Olusegun Obasanjo have been elected President if Abiola had lived and if he had insisted on claiming his mandate?
The Nigerian people have a right to know the truth and it is about time that those that have wielded power in this country for the last few decades told them. The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they cannot sweep things under the carpet forever and that one day, no matter how long it takes, they will be held accountable by the Nigerian people for the morbid and oftentimes homicidal choices and secret decisions that they made.

Yet the truth is that the military operates like a cult and we may never get an honest answer from any of them about what really happened. This is because there are very few Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umars in the Nigerian military. Very few of them are prepared to break ranks with the leadership and break the ”omerta’ code of silence like Abubakar Umar did over the June 12th election. Very few of them are prepared to call a spade a spade, speak the truth, expose the lie and damn the consequences. Most of them continue to spin the yarn and tell the dirty lie that Abacha and Abiola’s deaths were both from natural causes and that it was just a coincidence that one dropped dead on July 8th 1998, just 4 days before the 5th anniversary of June 12th, and the other dropped dead exactly one month later on July 8th 1998. As they say ”the secrets are embedded in the sequence of events, the numbers and the dates” and, in this case, the interesting sequence of events, the numbers and the dates really do tell a revealing story.

Yet no matter how hard they try to cover her up and silence her, truth is stubborn and she cannot be drowned. She is like a pack of straws that are held together and pinned down by an all-powerful hand at the bottom of a river. As long as she is held at the bottom of that river she cannot be seen or heard. Yet one day, in the fullness of time, that all-powerful hand that seeks to drown her forever will get tired and let go and at that point Lady Truth will happily float to the top of the water where she will be seen and heard by all. It is in the same way that one day the pernicious lie of “death by natural causes” or “act of God” that the powers that be have claimed are the cause of Abiola and Abacha’s deaths respectively will be exposed for what they are. And those that continue to spin that lie and conspire to hide the truth will pay a heavy price for their murderous deceit either in this world or the next. The truth is that the most filthy and despicable creature under God’s sun is the unrepentant and compulsive liar. The evil of those that that bear false witness, that shed innocent blood and that seek to kill, maim, jail or destroy the innocent in the name of the state knows no bounds. Such people will surely burn in hell. And those that continue to hide the truth and spin the tale that there was nothing untoward or mischievous about the death of Chief MKO Abiola, that great son of Nigeria whose only crime was to win a free and fair election and refuse to renounce it shall fare no better.

The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know peace and she cannot possibly make any meaningful progress. It is a spiritual thing. He gave his life that we may have a better tomorrow yet we refuse to acknowledge it or to bring his killers to justice. We are repaying his good with evil and the consequences of that are set out in the Word of God. The fact remains that had it not been for Abiola’s great sacrifice and his gallant refusal to bow before the Nigerian military and give up his 1993 Presidential mandate we would not have democracy in Nigeria today. We should do our best to ask the relevant questions, demand the appropriate answers and unearth the bitter truth. We owe MKO Abiola, his wife Kudirat (who was also murdered) and all the other June 12th foot soldiers and martyrs that much.

May God give us leaders that have a conscience and that truly respect and fear Him and may Chief MKO Abiola’s beautiful and generous soul continue to rest in perfect peace.




http://thestreetjournal.org/2013/06/m-k-o-abiola-susan-rice-and-a-deadly-cup-of-tea/

justin04: ...The fact of the matter is that until these questions are answered and justice is done Nigeria will not know peace and she cannot possibly make any meaningful progress. It is a spiritual thing...

Tell them Sir, please tell them. He who has ears, let him hear! God bless Nigeria.

stories ,stories
june 12 stories

nigeria is bigger than any single individual
no cost must be spared to maintain her continued unity and existence

I have no respect for Abiola.

The guy it seemed wanted to rule Nigeria at all costs.


Rumour has it that he sponsored the coup to overthrow Shagari, because Shagari did not hand over the presidency to him in 1983; that he sponsored the overthrow of Buhari, when he learnt that Buhari too non-corrupt and would not give him and his newspapers any preferential treatment.

Babangida was meant to hand power to him, but they fell out sometime during June 12th elections and Babangida decided to annul the election, and fearing for his life Abiola quickly left the country, until Babangida was forced by angry public riots to step down and install Ernest Shonekan as an Interim President.

With Babangida in retirement, Abiola returned from exile and urged /sponsored Abacha to overthrow Ernest Shonekan. When Abacha seized power, Abiola met with him and probably agreed a time table for Abacha to handover the presidency to him.

When it became obvious to Abiola that Abacha had no intention of relinquishing power, he became furious and declared himself President and for several weeks went around the country forming his own parrel government.

Not surprisingly Abacha eventually arrested Abiola and the rest is history.

After a few weeks Abacha gave Abiola a chance to be released on bail on condition he does not leave the country, Abiola declined.


Abiola the man fraternised with the military and sponsored many military coups was eventually killed in the hands of military man Babangida after Abacha was secretly poisoned.

There is a saying that goes: "If you ride on the back of a bear, you may eventually end up in its stomach"

.

.

GenBuhari: ...With Babangida in retirement, Abiola returned from exile and urged /sponsored Abacha to overthrow Ernest Shonekan...

So Abiola returned from exile while Shonekan was in power? This appears to be history being rewritten. Thanks for informing Nigerians. God bless Nigeria.

you are welcome!

I consider myself Nairaland's historian (self-proclaimed)

All answers can be found on my thread:

https://www.nairaland.com/693700/pres-obasanjo-introduces-law-banning

mymadam:

So Abiola returned from exile while Shonekan was in power? This appears to be history being rewritten. Thanks for informing Nigerians. God bless Nigeria.

GenBuhari: I consider myself Nairaland's historian (self-proclaimed)

Yes, everybody's aware that Abiola returned from exile during Shonekan's time BUT I just wanted you to re-affirm the bolded above. God bless Nigeria.

consider it done.

mymadam:

Yes, everybody's aware that Abiola returned from exile during Shonekan's time BUT I just wanted you to re-affirm the bolded above. God bless Nigeria.

[size=18pt]8th July 1998 - The New York Times
Abiola Dies During Visit From U.S. Envoys and Nigerian Officials[/size]

WASHINGTON, July 7— Nigeria's most prominent political prisoner, Moshood K. O. Abiola, died today, apparently of a heart attack, further complicating an already turbulent political situation in Africa's most populous country.

Mr. Abiola, who was 60 years old, became ill while meeting with American and Nigerian officials at a government guest house in Abuja, the capital. He died shortly afterward in a hospital, American and Nigerian officials said.

James P. Rubin, the State Department spokesman, said in Washington, ''We do not have any reason to believe this is anything but natural causes.'' But at least one of Mr. Abiola's children said the death was suspicious, and another said the Government that had kept her father imprisoned and denied him medical care was culpable in his death.

The Nigerian Government promised a full, prompt autopsy in cooperation with Mr. Abiola's personal physicians.

Mr. Abiola's death was the second stunning development in Nigeria in less than a month. On June 8, Gen. Sani Abacha, the unrelenting dictator who had thrown Mr. Abiola into jail in 1994, died suddenly of a heart attack.

Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, General Abacha's successor, had been expected to free Mr. Abiola, the apparent victor in Nigeria's aborted 1993 elections, soon. The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, said after meeting Mr. Abiola in Nigeria last week that Mr. Abiola had promised to forswear his claim to the presidency and work toward a smooth transition to democracy.

Mr. Rubin said Mr. Abiola fell ill today while speaking to Thomas R. Pickering, the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, and Susan E. Rice, the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.

''In the first 10 minutes, Abiola starts wheezing and coughing and then collapsing in some form,'' Mr. Rubin told reporters here. ''I don't know if he lost consciousness. They get him in an ambulance or car. They get him to the hospital, where he dies.''

Mr. Pickering told National Public Radio that when Mr. Abiola came into the meeting he appeared to be in good health and good spirits, but that his condition quickly deteriorated and that he began to cough and was ''clearly disturbed.''

Mr. Pickering, speaking by telephone to N.P.R., explained that Mr. Abiola excused himself from the meeting, went to a restroom, then returned in more distress. ''When he came out of the toilet, he asked for painkillers,'' Mr. Pickering said, ''and then sat on a couch and was overheated and asked for the room to be cooled, and removed some of his garments, and then clearly began to suffer.''

Mr. Pickering said he took Mr. Abiola's pulse and said he was ''clearly very cold and very disturbed and in some significant pain.''

Mr. Abiola was taken to a hospital, accompanied by the American officials, who watched as doctors worked to save him, Mr. Pickering told the radio program ''All Things Considered.''

Mr. Pickering's delegation extended its stay until Wednesday.

Hafsat Abiola, the 23-year-old daughter of Mr. Abiola, blamed the Nigerian military for her father's death. In a telephone interview from suburban Maryland, where she lives with 5 of her 18 siblings, Ms. Abiola said: ''My position is simple. My father was in their custody. Anything that happened to him while he was in their custody is their responsibility. I can't believe they did this.''

Her father had not been well lately, Ms. Abiola said, adding that she had repeatedly asked Nigerian authorities to let a doctor see him. An American official involved in African policy said that Mr. Abiola suffered from high blood pressure and swollen limbs.

Another daughter, Wura Abiola, told C.N.N. that the family considered the death ''very suspicious.''

Mr. Annan said today that he had attempted to inquire about Mr. Abiola's health when he met with him last week. ''He was alert and asked questions. But it was obvious from the questions that he was in isolation,'' Mr. Annan said. ''For example, he didn't know who I was. I walked in, shook hands and smiled and started asking about his health. He asked, 'Who are you?' And I explained that I'm the Secretary General of the United Nations. And then he asked: 'What happened to the Egyptian? Is he gone?' '' a reference to Mr. Annan's predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

Mr. Annan, who spoke in an impromptu news conference at the United Nations today, said: ''I'm not in a position to describe the conditions under which he was kept. But he did say that he had been in solitary confinement and was allowed no television, no press, no media except the Bible and the Koran.''

Mr. Annan added, ''I hope the Government of Nigeria will make good on its pledge to release all remaining political prisoners unconditionally and to define a credible process for the transition to civilian rule.''

Mr. Abiola's release had been delayed, in part because Mr. Abiola's followers, mainly members of the Yoruba tribe in southwestern Nigeria, around the old capital of Lagos, insisted that he should be permitted to take office. In Lagos today some rioting and looting was reported after the news of Mr. Abiola's death, Reuters reported.

The Government, which is dominated by Hausa officers from Northern Nigeria, now faces the possibility of severe tribal tensions. In the late 1960's, the Ibo and their allies in southeastern Nigeria precipitated a civil war when they proclaimed the independent state of Biafra. Diplomats have expressed fears in the last few weeks that violence may lie just beneath the surface now.

Any fighting in Nigeria, which with its oil and natural resources has the potential for being the richest country in sub-Saharan Africa, could destabilize the weaker neighboring countries.

Encouraged by Mr. Annan and Western leaders to move his country onto the road to democracy, General Abubakar has already released Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler, and 25 other political prisoners, but 250 or more still remain in Lagos jails, intelligence officials said. Many of them are not nearly as prominent as Mr. Abiola, a wealthy businessman and tribal chief.

Mr. Rubin said Mr. Pickering ''had not received agreement in terms of a firm timetable to let Abiola out, but the Government did make clear that he would be out soon.''

President Clinton, in a written statement released today, said, ''I was deeply saddened to learn of the sudden and untimely death of M. K. O. Abiola, a distinguished citizen and patriot of Nigeria.''

Nigeria remains in economic chaos, ravaged by corruption and incompetence. Despite the country's immense oil reserves -- it is the fifth-largest supplier of petroleum to the United States -- motorists are forced to wait for hours at the small number of functioning filling stations.

Limited sanctions imposed by the United States and others have compounded the country's difficulties. General Abacha ignored the rest of the world but General Abubakar has appeared eager to reach out to friendly nations.

Mr. Annan's mission to Nigeria, which was not announced in advance, followed several telephone conversations with General Abubakar and a secret meeting with the Nigerian Foreign Minister, according to William Shawcross, a British journalist who covered the Annan visit. Mr. Shawcross said General Abubakar told the Secretary General that he wanted to hand power back to a democratically elected government but implied that some other generals were not so sure.

https://www.nairaland.com/693700/gen-babangida-accused-insincerity-corruption