RIP Abiola. He died on this day 14 years ago, drop a message.

Fellow Nigerians, exactly 14 years ago Nigeria lost a rare and priceless gem, Chief Moshood Abiola, a proud son of Africa. What you are about to read may appear, momentarily, as being stranger than fiction but trust me, it is absolutely factual. Nigeria has indeed come a long way since that dark season when a handful of influential Nigerians chose to play God by collaborating to annul a process that would definitely have brought our nation closer to its glorious destination. Fourteen years after the symbol of that struggle Chief Moshood Abiola died in mysterious circumstances, it is only pertinent to remind ourselves of the salient stages that we've crossed since then. It is a tale full of twists and turns and one that would keep you spellbound by its superlative revelations.

Source

RIP MKO......................

R.I.P Abiola.He would have been a transformational president

RIP,MKO...

Respect the dead and let the man rest in peace. We know you created this thread for traffic. As the usual town criers will come and cry. Just be ready to clean the thread. . I wonder why Seun is using a non Nigerian to fan the flames of hatred and create funny threads.

Rip abiola,
The strongman of african politics,the Yoruba man that has a hand in every coup in nigeria before he died.the man his people claim to love more than all the diamonds in sierra leone bt went on riot the day he was named after a common university in lagos...just the same way a university was named after Harvard.
A man of timber and calibre,that died so that we will live n enjoy freedom.

If u don't like my post just ignore it,don't quote me.thanks.

2mch: Respect the dead and let the man rest in peace. We know you created this thread for traffic. As the usual town criers will come and cry. Just be ready to clean the thread. . I wonder why Seun is using a non Nigerian to fan the flames of hatred and create funny threads.

And what has her not being nigerian got to do with anything?

Did MKO not die on this date some years back?abeg keep your small racist idea to yourself,mstcheew.

Rip mko........just like yesterday.

tell us what he did! 2mao nau, somebody will write -abacha was an irrepairable loss when almost everybody did pray 4 his death!-. mtchewww!

RIP, the great one... Recent events have taken me aback in thought who the real enemies of MKO were? Or we just in a world where psychophancy is the order? People have clamoured for your immortalisation and due recognition of your philosophy and ideals in a rather imperial state. They went ahead to declare a separate day for you as a democracy day against the dictate of a constitutional government.. Just when this govt at the centre now saw the need to truly immortalise you, these same set of people surreptitiously mobilized and are mobilsing against it.. Oh, the great Bashorun of Africa, these people have only used you to gain political weight and favor before millions who loved you but do they really love you as they claim? How are my sure that Cso from the northern pole was not right in his testament that your kinsmen betrayed you for self aggrandizement? How are my sure they are still not using you to cause sectional politics in a country where unity should be the paramount interest of all and sundry? I just want to say I love you the great Bashorun and may u find peace in eternity

I domt s

freecocoa: And what has her not being nigerian got to do with anything?

Did MKO not die on this date some years back?abeg keep your small racist idea to yourself,mstcheew.

I don't see where I mentioned your name dirty thing. Clear away from here, not interested. You just fly out of no where quoting my post. Try and go cry to the guy that dumped your urgly self. Clear abeg!

2mch: I domt s

I don't see where I mentioned your name dirty thing. Clear away from here, not interested. You just fly out of no where quoting my post. Try and go cry to the guy that dumped your urgly self. Clear abeg!

You see how shallow your mind is?if you had any sense you'd know that you need to mention my name before i can quote you on a public forum.

Leaving the issue at hand and spewing gibberish about yourself doesn't change the fact that you are a m0r0n of the first class order.

If you read this article, you will notice no HAUSA man was involved in the struggle. They were very comfortable with Abacha and Abdulsalam's regime. You can also flash your mind back to the past, you will remember there were a lot of Religious riots in the North during OBJ's regime. Join that to what they are doing with Boko Haram.
This article just confirmed to me that Nigeria is a waste of time. The North and the South cannot mix. It may take us time, but separation is eminent.
NOTE THIS!

freecocoa: You see how shallow your mind is?if you had any sense you'd know that you need to mention my name before i can quote you on a public forum.

Leaving the issue at hand and spewing gibberish about yourself doesn't change the fact that you are a m0r0n of the first class order.

You are completely inconsequential, and make no sense. Who called you into the matter? Are you Mukina? Another town crier, you have not brought out your horn yet? The thing pain you abi? Go find ya guy, I no do! Just leave me abeg! No quote my post again! Waka pass! You shall be ignored henceforth.

Dejiro: If you read this article, you will notice no HAUSA man was involved in the struggle. They were very comfortable with Abacha and Abdulsalam's regime. You can also flash your mind back to the past, you will remember there were a lot of Religious riots in the North during OBJ's regime. Join that to what they are doing with Boko Haram.
This article just confirmed to me that Nigeria is a waste of time. The North and the South cannot mix. It may take us time, but separation is eminent.
NOTE THIS!

Naija for life abeg....No be wetin una fight for? Arawolowo and co fought for one naija and now their descendants and kinsmen are saying break up is eminent. Me i go personally join army to commit human rights abuse in any region wey wan break commot for naija. After una don spill 2 million igbo blood u think u can just come and say u want a divorce from this marriage?

2mch:

You are completely inconsequential, and make no sense. Who called you into the matter? Are you Mukina? Another town crier, you have not brought out your horn yet? The thing pain you abi? Go find ya guy, I no do! Just leave me abeg! No quote my post again! Waka pass! You shall be ignored henceforth.

Hahaha i can't help but laugh at your folly.

Like you are important in the least way possible to me,I still wonder if people like you leave whatever small portion of brain they possess somewhere else before coming online.

I really don't care about whatever trash you type,I just made sure you understand that you just don't open your gutter of a mouth and barf out nonsense expecting not to be put in your place,btw saying i should leave you alone and you no do, wouldn't make you sound cool,I'm sure many people understand the meaning of the word "anonymous forum" so quit making a bigger hediot out of yourself by sounding like you know who you are talking to.

Great Man, I was young when when you passed away. Great Politician, may your struggle never Die. One day what you lived for wil be embraced by Many. Rest In Peace Sir.

Elueme: RIP, the great one... Recent events have taken me aback in thought who the real enemies of MKO were? Or we just in a world where psychophancy is the order? People have clamoured for your immortalisation and due recognition of your philosophy and ideals in a rather imperial state. They went ahead to declare a separate day for you as a democracy day against the dictate of a constitutional government.. Just when this govt at the centre now saw the need to truly immortalise you, these same set of people surreptitiously mobilized and are mobilsing against it.. Oh, the great Bashorun of Africa, these people have only used you to gain political weight and favor before millions who loved you but do they really love you as they claim? How are my sure that Cso from the northern pole was not right in his testament that your kinsmen betrayed you for self aggrandizement? How are my sure they are still not using you to cause sectional politics in a country where unity should be the paramount interest of all and sundry? I just want to say I love you the great Bashorun and may u find peace in eternity

If I were your professor marking ur literature,I ll score u 110%,I thought I was the only one on this...(Referencing my comment above)
Well said my brother,it was a slap on my face when I saw students of the" defunct unilag(of blessed memory)" protesting without any good reason,and I said to myself "were they not taught history in that school"

RIP MKO

Full Story...

The Day Abiola Died
07 Jul 2012




By Dele Momodu


Fellow Nigerians, exactly 14 years ago Nigeria lost a rare and priceless gem, Chief Moshood Abiola, a proud son of Africa. What you are about to read may appear, momentarily, as being stranger than fiction but trust me, it is absolutely factual. Nigeria has indeed come a long way since that dark season when a handful of influential Nigerians chose to play God by collaborating to annul a process that would definitely have brought our nation closer to its glorious destination. Fourteen years after the symbol of that struggle Chief Moshood Abiola died in mysterious circumstances, it is only pertinent to remind ourselves of the salient stages that we’ve crossed since then. It is a tale full of twists and turns and one that would keep you spellbound by its superlative revelations.


In the early hours of July 5, 1998, Tokunbo Afikuyomi and I left Nduka Obaigbena’s apartment on Park Street, by Park Lane, and trekked all the way to Marble Arch, where we boarded a Black Cab. We had spent the whole night virtually discussing the intractable problems of Nigeria. The three of us were united by one thing, exile. We had served our various stints as refugees on the run from the draconian military regime in Nigeria. Nduka was the first to regain freedom after the sudden death of the maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha, and the take-over of power by the gentleman General, Abdulsalami Abubakar. Nduka had always succeeded as a journalist because of the impeccable sources at his beck and call. His position that night was to warn us about the dangers of not getting Abiola out as soon as possible. Even when you disagree with him on issues, Nduka’s one whose opinion must always be considered. He was not a member of NADECO but he was an Abiola sympathiser. Nduka would readily acknowledge his long-standing friendship with the man Nigerians freely handed their mandate despite occasional disagreements. 


There were dozens of freedom fighters scattered around Europe, United States of America and Canada. Most of us operated under the aegis of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) while others hid under different formations and organisations. The principal operatives of the war against the military adventurers included Pa Anthony Enahoro, Commodore Dan Suleman, Lt General Alani Ipoola Akinrinade, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Chief Amos Akingba, Chief Tunde Obadan, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Hon. Wale Osun, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, Chief Ralph Obioha, and so many others forced to flee the land of their birth. Some of those who chose to stay back at home to slug it out with the military were languishing in various improvised gulags and archipelagos all over Nigeria. Chief among the detainees was Basorun Moshood Abiola who had undoubtedly won the Presidential election held on June 12, 1993, and adjudged the best and fairest ever witnessed in our country.


Many other political gladiators who chose to stay back suffered various degrees of punishment including threats, harassments, mass arrests, detention without trial, torture, and outright murder. Such personalities include Pa Alfred Rewane, Prof Wole Soyinka, Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, Rear-Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chief Abdul-Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Olanihun Ajayi, Mr Femi Falana, Mr Beekololari Ransome-Kuti, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, Pa Solanke Onasanya, Chief Ayo Opadokun, Comrade Frank Kokori Dr Kayode Fayemi, Mr Richie Dayo Johnson, Mr George Noah, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Mr Kunle Ajibade, and many of those opposed to military dictatorship in Nigeria.


What started as a poor joke on June 16, 1993, when we got hints that the election might be annulled would, sooner than later, snowball into a major conflagration and haunt Nigeria till this day. For those who reasoned like me, we had assumed that Abiola was coasting home to victory from all accounts available immediately after the elections closed on June 12, 1993. I was in Vienna, Austria, to represent Chief Abiola at the Bruno Kreisky Award presented to Chief Gani Fawehinmi on June 11, 1993 and could not make it back in time for the election. I left Austria on Sunday, June 13 to London where I started monitoring the results that appeared in Abiola’s favour. Unknown to most Nigerians what’s after six is always more than seven.


On Monday June 14, I got through to Nduka Obaigbena in Lagos who had some high-level information that Abiola was going to win the election but that it would be cancelled. In a powerful voice, Nduka told me to get Chief Abiola urgently and persuade him to reach out to General Ibrahim Babangida who was, apparently, under intense pressure, possibly, from some malevolent forces, to truncate the elections and declare them null and void. I argued with Nduka (in utter naiveté, retrospectively) that it was impossible for anyone to attempt such a dastardly act. I later confirmed that Nduka actually passed the same information to Dr Doyinsola Hamidat Abiola who, like me, found such contemplation too cruel and contemptible to be attempted by anyone. Little did we appreciate the sheer determination of those who could not be bothered if Nigeria burnt down to ashes as a result of their most reckless action. They had convinced themselves, like all Nigerian leaders, past and present that Nigerians were too docile and divided to unite and fight for any worthy cause.


They were right and wrong. They were right that they could abort a pregnancy in its ninth month but they were wrong in not calculating the risks involved. The world would later feel the vibrations of such a kamikaze plunge that threw Nigeria from the pinnacle of the temple all the way down the abyss of hell.


The plots and intrigues occurred at different locations and settings at the velocity of wildfire in harmattan. Chief Abiola was kept in solitary confinement, and incommunicado from the society at large. All efforts to liberate him from his kidnappers failed. A fierce but controversial legal battle raged in the courts. Offers of bail with conditions, and were offered to Chief Abiola but studiously rebuffed, willy-nilly, by those who did not realise how far the enemies of June 12 were ready to go. We’ll later realise that Chief Abiola was totally oblivious to the deadly chess game going on outside from the condition in which he found himself. At the height of our frustration and desperation in exile, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and I had surreptitiously met with some Germans who boasted they could enter Nigeria, locate Abiola and set him free but the risks involved were just too gargantuan to undertake, personally or collectively. We soon perished such thoughts.


Abiola’s whereabouts and state of mind remained unknown even to members of his family. What was certain was that the military authorities were working hard on breaking his hard resolve.  This much was later confirmed in a Sunday Times of London publication of July 5, 1998. Tokunbo Afikuyomi and I had picked up the first edition of the famous newspaper at Marble Arch just before we boarded the cab that drove us to our homes in Hampstead Heath and Southgate respectively. A story inside the paper caught our instant attention. A Sunday Times reporter had followed the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan on his peace-mission to Nigeria. According to the news report, Abiola was met in high spirits in detention but he was not aware of many things going on outside. The reporter claimed Abiola was allowed to watch a television but the volume had been disabled. This was contrary to the rosy picture painted by Nigerian media about Abiola’s newfound comfort and cosiness with the Abdulsalami regime. The spin doctors had regaled us with how Abiola was already negotiating his imminent release from detention when he should be at his desk in Aso Rock sorting out the many problems of Nigeria.


Anyway, both Kofi Annan and Chief Emeka Anyaoku (who was the Commonwealth Secretary-General at that time) had met separately with Abiola and neither of them could extract a commitment from him that he would honour agreements worked out for his bail conditions. The detained man had confessed to being in the clouds and did not know what went on outside. His case was actually more miserable than we had imagined. I was deeply troubled by this news report.


A few hours later, I got a call from Wura Abiola to review and exchange latest development. I immediately told her about the report in Sunday Times. She became emotional and started asking, rhetorically, if there was nothing that could be done to get their dad freed. She said she was on her way to Cambridge and would come back to discuss further with me. I became very apprehensive myself and was engulfed by a premonition that Abiola was going to die in detention.


The feeling was so palpable that I decided to call a friend of mine at LTV8 to share my fears on Abiola’s precarious condition. I remember my friend saying it was impossible for Abiola to die in prison. I wished I was that confident.


On Tuesday morning of July 7, 1998, I received a strident call from Mr Yinka Ibidunni, a famous blind broadcaster at Spectrum Radio in London. I had reluctantly picked the call as I barely went to bed a few hours earlier. As soon as he heard my croaky voice, he queried why I was asleep when my adopted father, Abiola, was about to be killed. He was unequivocal and brusquely emphatic. “Who wants to kill my father?” I asked in a manner that suggested incredulity. It was difficult to imagine anyone would want to harm a man as genuinely caring as Abiola.


This encounter happened just after 7a.m that fateful morning. Mr Ibidunnu pursued his argument to its logical conclusion. He asked if I had not listened to the BBC interviews of America’s emissaries, Thomas Pickering and Susan Rice, who were in Abuja ostensibly to persuade Abiola to forget his mandate and give room for political stability in Nigeria. According to Mr Ibidunni, the Americans were asked about their mission after both Annan and Anyaoku (though Chief Anyaoku told me many years later that he never asked Abiola to forget his mandate) who knew the African terrain better could not persuade Abiola to drop his mandate, and their response startled him, when they said if Abiola fails to agree to a deal, he would have become a danger to Nigeria.  This was what started and nurtured the conspiracy theory that the Americans had a hand in his death. But my question was this: why would America send senior officials to kill Abiola in Nigeria? I will never buy such preposterous theory.


At any rate, I pulled myself out of bed after Mr Ibidunni had managed to annul my sleep. I called Wuraola to tell her of Mr Ibidunni’s doomsday prophecy. We became frantic and decided to issue a press release pleading with the pro-democracy activists to understand the dangers Abiola was being exposed to by refusing to agree to bail conditions. Wuraola composed the release, and we faxed back and forth to fine-tune it. The final copy came through to me at 4.03pm and I was going to forward it to a few media houses when I got the most shocking news of my life. Wuraola was screaming some inaudible things at the other end… Something like “they said they have killed Daddy o” but to me it sounded like “they have released Daddy o” because that’s what we were expecting. Abiola was said to have died at about 4pm that day. Unknown to us our press release was a waste of efforts as the man we want released was already on a journey back to his Creator.


Within a twinkle of an eye, my phone was inundated with calls from all over the world with international journalists asking all manner of questions I could not answer. I was so devastated that I didn’t know when I started querying God. Why would Chief Abiola die in such a manner, after languishing in various cells for four years? Why should Abiola die on the second birthday of my second son, Enitanyole? The coincidence was too painful to bear. One of his last prayers before his arrest was for my wife to conceive and bear children as activism and advocacy had combined to make it impossible for me to spend enough time at home with my young wife. His prayers were answered but we had all our children in his absence.


As my mind raced through this stream of consciousness, I just knew Nigeria was in big trouble. It was only a matter of time before our country would begin to pay a heavy price for this thoughtlessness… We have continued to wobble and fumble from one crisis to another ever since. And it is not known how it would all end.


The more we try to run away from June 12, the more the defiant child continues to humiliate us. Those who think Abiola and June 12 are long dead and buried have missed the point. 
The prodigy just won’t go away. Believe me.

@2much @freecocoa You both are very Selfish, throwing tantrums of insults in the thread created for some one greater than your interest. You are both matured adults. Respect the Great M.K.O. Keep Silent or jump off the cliff of Maturity.

phraze: @2much @freecocoa You both are very Selfish, throwing tantrums of insults in the thread created for some one greater than your interest. You are both matured adults. Respect the Great M.K.O. Keep Silent or jump off the cliff of Maturity.

I apologize.

RIP to the man.

can u pple pls allow dis man's soul to rest in peace? everytime MKO abiola wat is d prblm?

I had just gotten back to my hostel after an evening lecture when a course mate came to see me. Being an 'aluta conscious' student, he asked if I had heard the news,I said what was in the news, had there been another coup? He replied that he heard on BBC that Abiola had passed on. We, the students of Obafemi Awolowo University, believed that they would release him. Immediately Abacha died, we had series of protests demanding for his unconditional release and reinstatement. In fact, our hopes were rekindled when he had the meetings with Anyaoku, Kofi Annan and the US delegation. So, I felt he was joking or probably meant he had been released.

While still brooding over it, the leadership of the Students' Union had invaded the halls of residence to mobilise students to protest against the agonising death of Basorun MKO Abiola. We knew it was a conspiracy and Abiola had been murdered.

And so we protested. Students were killed and maimed by the agents of government. The school was closed down indefinitely but re-opened after some weeks.

As we remember him today, I also remember all those who sacrificed for the democracy we are enjoying today. It is also sad to note that many who did not sow are now reaping. From sinators, legislooters, governors and even the president.
When we complain, they would not understand that this democracy came at a heavy price and people paid dearly for it. Most prominent was Basorun Abiola who gave his life for it.

Not only MKO died on dat dy I also lost a bros. May their soul rest in perfect peace

I understand your pains, I also understand history, those that do avoid repeating mistakes of the past. The break that I talked about will not be through war the way you know it. It will most likely be an intellectual war, laced with conspiracy. It has already started already, we are all part of it.

igbo boy:

Naija for life abeg....No be wetin una fight for? Arawolowo and co fought for one naija and now their descendants and kinsmen are saying break up is eminent. Me i go personally join army to commit human rights abuse in any region wey wan break commot for naija. After una don spill 2 million igbo blood u think u can just come and say u want a divorce from this marriage?

Dejiro: If you read this article, you will notice no HAUSA man was involved in the struggle. They were very comfortable with Abacha and Abdulsalam's regime. You can also flash your mind back to the past, you will remember there were a lot of Religious riots in the North during OBJ's regime. Join that to what they are doing with Boko Haram.
This article just confirmed to me that Nigeria is a waste of time. The North and the South cannot mix. It may take us time, but separation is eminent.
NOTE THIS!

2 stat wit fuk mko a fukng coup ploter nd a thief.2ur response d hausas hav ds culture of neva cricticise dia felows in power.bt yet dy tol in line 2 forment trouble in objs nd gudluks gov.nd yet an idiotic yoruba felow dat kant se beyound hs nostrils came 2ds forum by acusmg ibos nd we nija deltans 4 kilng d fuel subsidy strugle.i knw blame am sha na edu witot knwledge

Unbiased pls, how did abiola give his life for democracy? If he lived and contested and won again wld hv made him a complete patriotic national hero. The truths are yet to come out. Although he was said to have died of natural causes, we knw he was killed, but he was pleaded with to give up his mandate for stability in nigeria (for whatever reasons) which he selfishly refused.

I am pro-abiola and with much sympathy for d dilemma he found himself in but IMO he wld have lived to fight anoda day. As a patriot, I wld hv expected him to yield to plea having d nation at large in mind. And to think dat he declared himself...smh!

My question is: why wld UN & commonwealth ask him to give up his mandate? Why did d US (who hates military in power) send top envoy to plead with him to give up same mandate? Why? Why did they propose dropping his mandate as a stabilizing factor in d nation? Those who r in d know owe us answers.

If these people cld tell us what grave danger his refusal to a deal was, then by all means, wld have told him same when they visited him. And he chose to die.

No more live matches so seun is looking for another means to create traffic. That aside, wtf did abiola do for his country. You want us to sing his praises in this thread when you couldn‘t allow a common university to be named after him. Who is deceiving who?

Elueme: RIP, the great one... Recent events have taken me aback in thought who the real enemies of MKO were? Or we just in a world where psychophancy is the order? People have clamoured for your immortalisation and due recognition of your philosophy and ideals in a rather imperial state. They went ahead to declare a separate day for you as a democracy day against the dictate of a constitutional government.. Just when this govt at the centre now saw the need to truly immortalise you, these same set of people surreptitiously mobilized and are mobilsing against it.. Oh, the great Bashorun of Africa, these people have only used you to gain political weight and favor before millions who loved you but do they really love you as they claim? How are my sure that Cso from the northern pole was not right in his testament that your kinsmen betrayed you for self aggrandizement? How are my sure they are still not using you to cause sectional politics in a country where unity should be the paramount interest of all and sundry? I just want to say I love you the great Bashorun and may u find peace in eternity

Nothing could be more correct. You re on point. I watched with much dismay as the so called NADECO activists decided to play politics with a sincere move by this administration to immortalise the late MKO. The controversies surrounding the renaming of UNILAG is regrettable. What is so big in UNILAG that will make it undeserving to be renamed after this martyr? Is UNILAG more prestigious than old University of Ife which was renamed after Obafemi Awolowo? Even one of the world's most prestigious universities was renamed from New college to HARVARD after John Harvard. So I was shocked at the brazen display of madness over the rejection of the President's gesture. The students protest could be excused as youthful exuberance more especially when they may just be toddlers during the June 12 struggle, but coming from Tinubu and other politicians who pride themselves as NADECO chieftains, it's appaling. But I'm happy that we have a president who is not bothered about the antics of defeated opposition politicians hence the subsequent presentation of the executive amendment bill for the renaming of UNILAG TO Moshood Abiola University. We await to see those who will say NAY to the immortalisation of this great hero of democracy

RUBBISH! This man has got to be the most popular thief Nigeria has produced.