Abiola: Osoba attacks Obasanjo



FORMER governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, has placed the blame for the non-immortalisation of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, by the Federal Government at the doorstep of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Osoba, an Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) chieftain, spoke in Abeokuta at the weekend while delivering the maiden Gbagura Day celebration lecture entitled: “The Man M.K.O Abiola: His ideas and June 12.”

He stated that only Obasanjo could offer explanation on why the Federal Government had failed to immortalise or confer national recognition on the late Abiola.
The former governor, however, pointed out that he tried his best in ensuring a befitting recognition for Abiola, who contested the 1993 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).

“We should ask Ebora Owu (as Obasanjo is often referred). I have never been President of this country. I did my bit and the day I was sworn-in as the Governor of Ogun State in 1993, the first thing I did was to name that stadium in Kuto (Abeokuta) after Abiola. Also, in 1999, I named the Human Resource Centre after Kudirat (Abiola’s late wife). So, we should know where to direct that question to,” Osoba said, while fielding questions from the participants at the lecture.

Going down the memory lane, the former governor refuted claims that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar stepped down for the late Abiola during the SDP convention held in Jos, Plateau State to elect the party’s presidential flag bearer.

“I stand before you today to say that claim was not true. At the convention, Atiku openly campaigned against Abiola that he could not fix the country’s economy in six months if elected. So, the issue of stepping down for Abiola at the last minute does not arise,” he declared.

Speaking further on the political intrigues that played out ahead of the SDP convention, Osoba claimed that the late Major-General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua betrayed the understanding reached between him and Abiola.

The former governor disclosed that Abiola could have lost the presidential primaries but for the last-minute efforts put up to save his ambition.
Osoba, who was Ogun State helmsman under SDP platform between 1992 and 1993, promised to reveal all the politics surrounding the June 12 elections in his memoirs.

He said: “I will tell you today that the late General Musa Yar’Adua, ahead of the primary in Jos, arranged that we should meet and this was only me, Abiola and the General. I personally drove the car with Abiola and we met at Oniru at Lekki, where there is this resort centre. At the meeting, we agreed on how to go about it, but to our surprise, when we got to Jos, nothing was on ground.

“Part of the agreement was to ensure that all the South-West delegates should arrive at Kaduna before heading for Jos. But, when my deputy, Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye, and others arrived Kaduna, there was nothing on ground and we were immediately contacted and we had to start to re-strategise, realising that the arrangement had flopped.

“On that night from 9p.m. to 9a.m. of the convention day, me, Ajanaku and Abiola were going from one state delegates to another in Jos. The truth is that everybody was willing to see Abiola personally. Contrary to our understanding that the PDM would have taken care of the area, nothing was done and he could have lost the primary because delegates would assume that he was playing God.

“I think it was Ajanaku that got across to Yar’Adua to intimate him of the new twist, and he called Abiola, asking that why was he going about campaigning that night. Since I understand that it was Yar’Adua that was speaking, I collected the phone from him and he asked the same question and I told him that we have to re-strategise if we wanted to win the primaries as the understanding we reached with him at the Lekki meeting was not fulfilled.

“He (Yar’Adua) said that there was a committee set up to look into the area and I asked: if there should be such a committee, is it not appropriate to carry Abiola or me along?”

Osoba explained that Abiola went into the convention sure of only three governors on his side.

“Even out of the three, one was shaky. But, all is history now because Abiola emerged winner,” the former governor recalled with nostalgia.
Osoba also revealed that the statement issued by the Supreme Military Council to annul the June 12, 1993 presidential election was not signed by anyone.


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