Below are the events and facts surrounding the life and death of this great man some people are talking trash about because a federal university he worked in at a time was named after him.
Although questions can be raised about the sudden change of the name of the university of lagos, the accolades and actions of M.K.O Abiola are worthy to be praised, quite frankly most people with their generations alive and dead can't achieve all he did before his death so why talk trash when your family can't do nada aside petty talk and actions. Please let try to work towards nation building not name calling and making stupid comments about a name of one federal university.


Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola
Born August 24, 1937
Abeokuta
Died July 7, 1998 (aged 60)
Nationality Nigerian
Other names M.K.O Abiola
Occupation tycoon
Known for Philanthropy

M. K. O. Abiola, was a popular Nigerian
Yoruba businessman, publisher, politician and
aristocrat of the Egba clan. He ran for the
presidency in 1993, and won, but remained
president-elect till his death in 1998, as he
was denied his mandate when the election
results were annulled by the preceding
military president Ibrahim Babangida because
of evidence that they were corrupt and unfair.

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was
born in Abeokuta, Ogun State. His name,
Kashimawo, means "Let us wait and see".
Moshood Abiola was his father's twenty-third
child but the first of his father's children to
survive infancy, hence the name 'Kashimawo'.
It was not until he was 15 years old that he
was properly named Moshood, by his parents.
MKO showed entrepreneurial talents at a very
young age, at the age of nine he started his
first business selling firewood. He would wake
up at dawn to go to the forest and gather
firewood, which he would then cart back to
town and sell before going to school, in order
to support his old father and his siblings. He
later founded a band at age fifteen where he
would perform at various ceremonies in
exchange for food. He eventually became
famous enough to start demanding payment
for his performances and used the money to
support his family and his secondary education
at the Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta,
where he excelled. He was the editor of the
school magazine The Trumpeter, Olusegun
Obasanjo was deputy editor. At the age of 19
he joined the National Council of Nigeria and
the Cameroons ostensibly because of its
stronger pan-Nigerian origin compared with
the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group.
In 1956 Moshood Abiola started his
professional life as bank clerk with Barclays
Bank plc in Ibadan, South-West Nigeria. After
two years he joined the Western Region
Finance Corporation as an executive accounts
officer before leaving for Glasgow, Scotland to
pursue his higher education. From Glasgow
University he received a first class degree in
accountancy. He also received a distinction
from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
Scotland. On his return to Nigeria, he worked
as a senior accountant at the University of
Lagos Teaching Hospital, then went on to
Pfizer, before joining the ITT Corporation,
where he later rose to the position of Vice
President, Africa and Middle-East of the entire
corporation, which was head-quartered in the
United States. As a result Moshood Abiola
spent a lot of his time and made most of his
money in the United States, whilst retaining
the post of chairman of the corporation's
Nigerian subsidiary. In addition to his duties
throughout the Middle-East and Africa,
Moshood Abiola invested heavily in Nigeria and
West Africa. He set up Abiola Farms, Abiola
bookshops, Radio Communications Nigeria,
Wonder bakeries, Concord Press, Concord
Airlines, Summit oil international ltd, Africa
Ocean lines, Habib Bank, Decca W.A. ltd, and
Abiola football club. In addition to these, he
also managed to perform his duties as
Chairman of the G15 business council,
President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange,
Patron of the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation,
Patron of the WB Du Bois foundation, trustee
of the Martin Luther King foundation and
director of the International Press Institute.

Moshood Abiola sprang to national and
international prominence as a result of his
philanthropic activities. The Congressional
Black Caucus of the United States of America
issued the following tribute to Moshood
Abiola,
Because of this man, there is both cause
for hope and certainty that the agony and
protests of those who suffer injustice shall
give way to peace and human dignity. The
children of the world shall know the great
work of this extraordinary leadeand his
fervenmission to right wrong, to do justice,
and to serve mankind. The enemies which
imperil the future of generations to come:
poverty, ignorance, disease, hunger, and
racism have each seen effects of the
valiant work of Chief Abiola. Through him
and others like him, never again will
freedom rest in the domain of the few. We,
the members of the Congressional Black
Caucus salute him this day as a hero in the
global pursuit to preserve the history and
the legacy of the African diaspora.
From 1972 until his death Moshood Abiola had
been conferred with *197 traditional titles by
*68 different communities in Nigeria, in
response to the fact that his financial
assistance resulted in the construction of *63
secondary schools, *121 mosques and churches,
*41 libraries, *21 water projects in 24 states of
Nigeria, and was grand patron to 149 societies
or associations in Nigeria. In this way Abiola
reached out and won admiration across the
multifarious ethnic and religious divides in
Nigeria. In addition to his work in Nigeria,
Moshood Abiola was a dedicated supporter of
the Southern African Liberation movements
from the 1970s and he sponsored the
campaign to win reparations for slavery and
colonialism in Africa and the diaspora. Chief
Abiola, personally rallied every African head
of state, and every head of state in the black
diaspora to ensure that Africans would speak
with one voice on the issues.
Chief MKO Abiola's memory is celebrated in
Nigeria and internationally. June 12
remains a public holiday in Lagos and Ogun
states. There are also remembrance events
arranged across Nigeria. MKO Abiola was
known for his charisma and for being a man of
the people. As a prominent social activist,
democratic freedom fighter, and successful
business figure, the continuing support for
MKO Abiola is part of his legacy. MKO Abiola
Stadium was named in his honour. There were
also calls for posthumous presidential
recognition.
Despite his popularity or because of it, MKO
Abiola occasionally attracted criticism from
political activists and detractors. Controversy
was caused by a song by Nigerian musician,
Fela Kuti. Kuti was a controversial figure
famed for his unusual lifestyle and apparent
drug use. It is believed that Kuti had
entered into an acrimonious dispute relating
to a contract with MKO Abiola's record label.
He used the abbreviation of International
Telephone & Telegraph (IT&T) in a song
criticising big multinational corporations. The
song, ITT accuses such companies of draining
Africa's resources and makes specific
reference to MKO Abiola ("Like Obasanjo and
Abiola".
Moshood Abiola was twice voted international
businessman of the year, and received
numerous honorary doctorates from
universities all over the world. In 1987 he was
bestowed with the golden key to the city of
Washington D.C., and he was bestowed with
awards from the NAACP and the King center in
the USA, as well as the International
Committee on Education for Teaching in Paris,
amongst many others. In Nigeria, the Oloye
Abiola was made the Aare Ona Kakanfo of
Yorubaland. It is the highest chieftancy title
available to commoners amongst the Yoruba,
and has only been conferred by the tribe 14
times in its history. This in effect rendered
Abiola the ceremonial War Viceroy of all of his
tribespeople. According to the folklore of the
tribe as recounted by the Yoruba elders, the
Aare Ona Kakanfo is expected to die a warrior
in the defense of his nation in order to prove
himself in the eyes of both the divine and the
mortal as having been worthy of his title.
Abiola's involvement in politics started early
on in life when he joined the NCNC at age 19.
In 1979, the military government kept its word
and handed over power to the civilian. As
Abiola was already involved in politics, he
joined the ruling national party of Nigeria in
1980 and he was elected the chairman of his
party. Re- election was done in 1983 and
everything look promising because the
president re elected was from Abiola’s party
and based on the true transition to power in
1979; Abiola was eligible to go for the post of
presidential candidate after the tenure of the
re-elected president. However,his hope to
become the president was shortly dashed
away for the first time in 1983 when a military
coup d'état swept away the re- elected
president of his party and ended civilian rule
in the country. After a decade of military rule,
General Ibrahim Babanginda came under
pressure to return democratic rule to Nigeria.
After an aborted initial primary, Abiola stood
for the presidential nomination of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP) and beat Ambassador
Baba Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
to secure the presidential nomination of the
SDP ahead of the June 12th 1993 presidential
elections. Abiola had managed to work his
way out of poverty through hard work and
symbolised the aspirations of many
downtrodden Nigerians. His commitment to
the plight of ordinary Nigerians included
establishing Abiola bookshops to provide
affordable, locally produced textbooks in the
1980s when imported textbooks became out of
the reach of ordinary Nigerians as the naira
was devalued. He also made available daily
necessities such as rice and soap at affordable
prices in the market.

For the 12 June 1993 presidential elections,
Abiola's running mate was Baba Gana Kingibe.
He overwhelmingly defeated his rival, Bashir
Tofa of the National Republican Convention.
The election was declared Nigeria's freest and
fairest presidential election by national and
international observers, with Abiola even
winning in his Northern opponent's home
state.Abiola won at the national capital,
Abuja, the military polling stations, and over
two-thirds of Nigerian states. The reason why
the election was so historic, was because men
of Northern descent had largely dominated
Nigeria's political landscape since
independence. The fact that Moshood Abiola
(a Southern Muslim) was able to secure a
national mandate freely and fairly remains
unprecedented in Nigeria's history. However,
the election was annulled by Ibrahim
Babangida, a political crisis that ensued which
led to General Sani Abacha seizing power later
that year. Recently as the country begins
preparation for the next election for 2011
there has been calls from several quarters to
remember MKO Abiola 12 . One of the
presidential contestants Atiku Abubakar are
reportedly among those calling for this, as he
tries to stop IBB from getting the nod for his
party.
The famed Nigerian Pastor Tunde Bakare is
said to have predicted the annulment to Abiola
and warned him against contesting.

In 1994 Moshood Abiola declared himself the
lawful president of Nigeria in the Epetedo
area of Lagos island, an area mainly populated
by impoverished Nigerians. He had recently
returned from a trip to win the support of the
international community for his mandate.
After declaring himself president he was
declared wanted and was accused of treason
and arrested on the orders of military
President General Sani Abacha, who sent 200
police vehicles to bring him into custody. MKO
Abiola has been referred to as Nigeria's
greatest statesman
Moshood Abiola was detained for four years,
largely in solitary confinement with a Bible,
Qur'an, and fourteen guards as companions.
During that time, Pope John Paul II,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and human rights
activists from all over the world lobbied the
Nigerian government for his release. The sole
condition attached to the release of Chief
Abiola was that he renounce his mandate,
something that he refused to do, although the
military government offered to compensate
him and refund his extensive election
expenses. For this reason Chief Abiola became
extremely troubled when Kofi Annan and
Emeka Anyaoku reported to the world that he
had agreed to renounce his mandate after they
met with him to tell him that the world would
not recognize a five year old election.
Abiola died under suspicious circumstances
shortly after the death of General Abacha.
Moshood Abiola died on the day that he was
due to be released, on July 7, 1998. While
the official autoposy state that Abiola died of
natural causes, Abacha's Chief Security
Officer, al-Mustapha has alleged that Moshood
Abiola was in fact beaten to death. al-
Mustapha, who is still being detained by the
Nigerian government, claims to have video and
audiotapes showing how Abiola was beaten to
death. The final autopsy report, which was
produced by an a group of international
coroners has never been publicly released.
Irrespective of the exact circumstances of his
death, it is clear that Chief Abiola received
insufficient medical attention for his existing
health conditions.
As recounted at the time in a BBC interview
with special envoy Thomas R. Pickering, an
American delegation, which included Susan
Rice, visited Abiola and during their meeting
with him, Abiola fell ill, with what was
presumed to be a heart attack which caused
his death.