They didnt blame IBB but Igbos and Arthur Nzeribe for Abiola's death yet the truths keep reeling out like movie scripts,

http://saharareporters.com/2010/07/14/june-12-why-ooni-betrayed-mkoabiola-thenews

Mortiple:
Who would have caused the wahala? Hopefully not the Yorubas. We know their antecedents. Na talk dem sabi talk.

AREONAKAKANFO of Yoruba land, Moshood Abiola died like an ISIS captive yet his kinsmen couldn't do a farthing. Rather than fight, some of their leaders sold out while some others went on self-imposed exile.

Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade’s role in the aftermath of the annulment of the 1993 presidential election is widely thought to have been less than noble. In Awujale, the recently released autobiography of Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, Sijuade’s connivance with those who annulled the election is brought into sharp focus

His position as the most revered traditional ruler in Yorubaland has not innoculated Oba Okunade Sijuade Olubuse 11, the Ooni of Ife, from public scorn. Since 1993, much of the mystique around him has been eroded, largely through the carnage sparked by the controversial annulment of the 1993 presidential election, aka June 12. Oba Sijuade came out of the annulment saga with grave reputational injuries from which he is yet to, and may not, recover, given the decision of Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, to re-invite public attention to Sijuwade’s role in one of the most grotesque episodes in Yoruba and Nigerian history.

The medium chosen by Oba Adetona is Awujale, his recently released autobiography, in which the 11th chapter is dedicated to the annulment and the struggle for the de-annulment of the election won by the late Chief M.K.O Abiola.

In Awujale, Adetona presents what can hardly be described as a worm’s eye view. And in the book, the Ooni does not come out smelling like roses. As one of the most prominent Yoruba traditional rulers, Adetona was regularly invited to meetings with General Ibrahim Babangida, the military president that annulled the election and installed an Interim National Government, ING, headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

As the widespread anger provoked by the annulment and Babangida’s ING contraption raged, the former military president hoped to limit the damage to his reputation and that of his government, appealing to leaders from all the country’s geo-political zones, especially the South-West, which felt wounded because of Abiola.

For one of those meetings in Abuja, writes Adetona in Awujale, he arrived on a Thursday. The meeting was to hold the next day. While in his hotel room on the day of arrival, Adetona called the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, to say that there was a need for a meeting of Yoruba traditional rulers, where they could arrive at a common position to be presented at the next day’s meeting with Babangida. Adeyemi agreed. Adetona then suggested that there was also a need to inform the Ooni and asked Adeyemi to accompany him to Sijuwade’s room.

Adeyemi, however, was not keen because of the rivalry, over superiority, between him and the Ooni. Eventually, he gave in. The late Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, Oba of Lagos, was also informed. He agreed that a meeting was required, but refused to accompany them to the Ooni’s suite. However, he said he would support whatever position the meeting adopted.

In the Ooni’s suite, Adetona and Adeyemi met the Ife monarch dining with Alhaji Ado Bayero, Emir of Kano. Another Yoruba monarch, Oba Frederick Aroloye, the Owa of Idanre, writes Adetona, sat in a corner. When the two dining monarchs finished their meals, they went into the Ooni’s room for a discussion, after which the Ooni came out to meet Adetona and Adeyemi.

“When we told the Ooni the purpose of our meeting, he said he had met the Northern Emirs. Their position was the same as ours. We asked how and he said that they wanted a fresh meeting to be called of the Council of State along with us. The Council of State, as enshrined in the constitution, has powers to advise the President,” Adetona writes.

But what the Northern traditional rulers wanted was not exactly what the Yoruba monarchs wanted.

“Our mandate from the Yorubas was that the election had been concluded and our son was clearly the winner. So, all we wanted was that they should just simply release the results,” the author explains.

Adetona then insisted that if a Council of State meeting was to be called, it should be for the purpose of ensuring that the election was de-annulled and the wish of the people respected. The Ooni agreed. But the Alaafin, writes Adetona, said there was no need for another meeting because the key members of the Council had already expressed their opposition to the annulment.

When Adetona and the Alaafin left the Ooni, they went to discuss seating arrangements for the next day’s meeting with the other Yoruba traditional rulers. Apparently suspicious that the Ooni could switch positions, the monarchs agreed that they would sit in a way that would ensure that the Ife monarch was hemmed between two of them “so as to forestall any wavering of position.”

The planned sitting arrangement was foiled. As the traditional rulers walked into the venue of the meeting, they found seats that bore each attendee’s name. Babangida came in, explained the position of the government and sought reactions from his audience. The first came from Ibrahim Dasuki, then Sultan of Sokoto, who said very little apart from accusing the government of using traditional rulers to quell crises brought upon the nation by the government itself.

He suggested that Babangida should invite members of the Council of State to join the traditional rulers in the discussion of the annulment. The Ooni was the next to speak and presented the position of the Yoruba obas: declaration of Abiola as the winner.

It was something the meeting had not expected. “You could have heard a pin drop,” writes Adetona. Next was Bayero, who expressed no opposition to what the Ooni said, but called for a fresh Council of State meeting. After him spoke the Oba of Benin, who condemned the annulment and rejected calls for a Council of State meeting.

The natural rulers continued turning the heat on Babangida. According to Adetona, Gbong Gwon Jos, the late Chief Fom Bot, told the meeting that he could not return to his domain if Babangida did not to de-annul the election, as his subjects had demanded, and asked the former president to find accommodation for him in Abuja. A traditional ruler from the South-East, Adetona writes, was more dramatic, telling Babangida to quit as president. “Please go. Please go,” he shouted.

Then Babangida cut in, explaining that the decision to annul or de-annul was not solely his, but that of the military heirachy. He kept on calling on others to speak, but the obas observed that he was calling only people who sat to his right. The obas sat to his left. This drew a protest from the Alaafin, who Babangida was forced to ask to speak.

The Oyo monarch insisted that another Council of State meeting was needless because the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, a member, was out of the country, while some other key members had expressed their disapproval of the annulment in the media. Other traditional rulers told Babangida that he should save the country from a huge crisis by respecting the wishes of Nigerians.

Then, Babangida attempted one more throw of the dice. In a somewhat emotional tone, he told the meeting how close he and Abiola were. His government, he added, had paid Abiola hefty debts owed him by previous regimes. The sum, Babangida said, was about $600million. The scent of money scrambled a particular royal head–the Ooni’s.

“When he heard this piece of information, the Ooni became angry and said something to the effect that if Babangida paid him (Ooni) that much, he would be living on the Island of Capri in Italy,” Adetona writes.

Sijuade then got up to go to the toilet. Adetona followed, spewing criticisms at his fellow oba for going against what the Yoruba traditional rulers had agreed on. After the meeting, watched by Uche Chukwumerije, Information Secretary in the Interim National Government, the Ooni told journalists that he was in support of Babangida’s position that a fresh election should be held and that the obas should return to their domains and tell their people to prepare for the election.

Adetona thought he had not heard Ooni right. “To assure myself that what I heard was true, I invited one of the reporters, who was there when the Ooni was speaking to my room. This was a reporter from The Nigerian Tribune. Fortunately, the Alaafin was with me when the reporter played the tape for us. We were stunned,” the Awujale writes.

From his hotel room, the Ooni called Adetona on the intercom and announced gleefully that he had told the world (through the media) of the Yoruba position. Adetona replied that he was not sure that Sijuwade’s claim was correct. Adetona, accompanied by the Alaafin and the reporter, went over to Sijuade’s room. The Ooni repeated his claim that he presented the Yoruba position to the press.

He was instantly put to shame, when the reporter was asked to play his tape, which contained the opposite of Ooni’s claim. Adetona and the Alaafin then pressured Ooni into granting another interview, restating the position of the Yoruba. He did and the reporter was asked to take the interview to media houses for publication the next day. The interview was published by newspapers the next day, but Chukwumerije had caused the first interview to be used on the network news of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA.

In the book, the Awujale was unsparing in his attack on former Nigerian leader, Olusegun Obasanjo. He described him as a Judas, “who would betray his people,” who lacks credibility and squandered “the enormous goodwill,” which he carried into office “with a performance that left him with a second term short of tangible achievements.”

Oba Adetona recalled an event on 24 July 2002, the late Abraham Adesanya’s 80th birthday in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, when in a ride with Obasanjo to a makeshift helipad he told Obasanjo how disappointed he had become over Obasanjo’s pussy-footing on the issue of federalism. “This was the dividing line for me in our relationship,” Awujale recalled and

Adesanya’s birthday presented an opportunity for him to tell Obasanjo how he felt about him, when they rode together in a Mercedes Benz limousine, with former Ogun governor, Olusegun Osoba, as witness. “It was going to be a short trip but I had something to say and so it had to be said quickly enough while the three of us shared some privacy. I said there was a time when I had trusted Obasanjo so much so that I could swear by his name, but that the trust was now gone. Obasanjo asked why. I answered that Obasanjo was no longer credible.” The Oba recalled further in the book, that at another time when he visited Obasanjo in Aso Rock, Obasanjo revisited their earlier conversation during which he told the Awujale, accusatorily, that he painted him a Judas. Awujale reconfirmed the labeling according to his account.

“I told him that I not only remembered but still maintained that he was a Judas who would betray his people…I had no qualms about speaking plainly to him. In high office, people who surround leaders tend to skirt around the truth,” Awujale wrote.

The Awujale was clearly not impressed by Obasanjo’s tenure as Nigeria’s leader. ‘‘Eight years in office was ample time to put electricity on a very strong footing. Eight years was enough to put down a strong foot against corruption and make a clear difference. Eight years was adequate for orderliness and the rule of law to triumph in every facet of our society. These were the basis upon which I gave my support for the office,” he submitted.

[quote author=after1 post=33184511]

Hehehehehe. Diya is better than Oju-Iku, the thin god of the Igbos that ran away from war front, dressed like Allen Avenue ashewo in the middle of the night. He is the most useless war general ever, a big shame.[/quoteThat's the worst a military man can ever do,he wasn't patriotic enough,if it was some soldiers,even if they have an escape route,they'd still poison themselves,they wouldn't want to witness defeat,but Ojukwu led to millions of death,but he himself was scared of death,people should look at how Hitler committed suicide,that's a patriotic leader,but I still wonder why Igbos call Ojukwu Ezendigbo and see him as a hero upon all he did]

igbos coward agu ironsi went to hide at fajuyi house weping b/4 he was cut

Ohhhh your expecting Ojukwu to take poison and die after three years battle but Awolowo that took his own life only heard about military fiat that implicated him in a coup.

Yeye dey smell your head

[quote author=iamrealdeji post=33186786][/quote]

[quote author=iamrealdeji post=33186786][/quote]

Dont mind those mofo, the coward had to dress like an ashewo in the middle of this night, after tricking millions of his kinsmen to perish in a war. A very shameless man

[quote author=after1 post=33189532][s][/s]

Ebuka Phills the jobless troll, what happened to your anambradota handle? At your miserable old dying age you still engage in tribal threads. No wonder you are still jobless after wasting 9 years in school without achieving anything. Pathetic.

This is totally unacceptable. You have just violated Rule 10 of Nairaland which stipulates

Don't violate the privacy of any Nairaland member e.g. by posting personal details/conversations without permission.

I therefore have no option than to report you to MOD for punitive actions.

Here we go again. Tribal bigots everywhere. They are the same people complaining about south Africans.

The children of cowards and hates who are too timid to emancipate themselves and achieve self determination, why do you want Igbos so much in your nigeria?

Yorubas fight for your own country. ..Nigeria is not a country. ..

Your hero committed suicide. Your hero is coward who never fight for your freedom. Your hero had no choice of his, remember Zik made him accept nigeria and Gowon made him stay in Nigeria. Your hero believed nothing and die like nothing. ..WHAT A BIG SHAME

LouisVanGaal:
How ?? Who told you that?? Do you think that as at that period, ANY Nigerian could stand up to Gen. Abacha and go scott free??

Fear ibb my brother the Niger man Abacha was coming for him next and ibb felt insulted that a Niger man is ruling us and he is killing us as well. Ask Buhari who ibb really is he will tell you that if ibb smiles with you run.

truefact:
The children of cowards and hates who are too timid to emancipate themselves and achieve self determination, why do you want Igbos so much in your nigeria?

Yorubas fight for your own country. ..Nigeria is not a country. ..

Your hero committed suicide. Your hero is coward who never fight for your freedom. Your hero had no choice of his, remember Zik made him accept nigeria and Gowon made him stay in Nigeria. Your hero believed nothing and die like nothing. ..WHAT A BIG SHAME

Tell them!!!

Let's wait and watch how this hot political romance between Afonja people and Alimi brethren will end. Yorubas should pray hard so that nothing happens to the incoming President. I do not think Hausa/Fulanis will welcome a replay of Yaradua's scenario. By the way, who has seen or heard from Professor Osinbajo after their victory?

One Nigeria gbaa kwa oku!!!

Lalasticlala Seun Ishilove

Do you think it is a wise idea to bring this topic to the front page?

Biafranqueeen:
Lalasticlala Seun Ishilove

Do you think it is a wise idea to bring this topic to the front page?

A General weeping before an army major, why shouldn't it be on front page?

You should be banned for stealing Biafranqueen's identity.

Lol.. Please if you weren't born when Abacha was still alive, don't comment on this thread

Na wao!

BuddahMonk why did you put this on the front page?

Crying doesn't mean you are weak; it means you have been strong for way too long"
#STOPCURSING

Biafranqueeen:
Lalasticlala Seun Ishilove

Do you think it is a wise idea to bring this topic to the front page?

smh...i wonder o. whose bright idea was this?

Reminez:

And your Ike-eba ojukwu the cantankerous coward cum pedophile was the first general to cowardly FLEE a war he started. So much for being a warlord....LOL...The joke is on you bro. THOSE IN GLASS HOUSE SHOULDN'T THROW STONES...
You arrogant and irritating chestbeaters from the gully ravaged SAD-EAST are the real cowards !!!!!!!!

. Why do ppl take time to talk with some one who eats ofe manu?

disumusa:
igbos coward agu ironsi went to hide at fajuyi house weping b/4 he was cut

Your blunder eh

I don't understand why nairaland mods are pushing these kinds of threads to the front page when it's obvious it's aimed at ethnic bashing

BuddahMonk:
Ogundipe the most senior in the military then will give order to his junior Gambari officers but they wont heed but when Emeka Ojukwu his Junior in the military was gave order to his Gambari juniors in the army they all carry the out, Emeka Ojukwu was running things but Ogundipe was seeing as things were been ran .
When Ogundipe gives order the gambari junior will be laughing at him, they will reluctantly ask him "oga relax jor", he fled without hearing any gunshot. LMOA

raumdeuter:
Diya wept, Ojuku fled wearing a ladies attire

I think Ojuku is worse because his father in law Chief CC Onoh even confirmed that he was a coward. His only bravery comes when its time to molest underaged girls like Biancar

Please where is the video of Ojukwu fleeing in a woman's cloth. It seems hilarious I WANT TO SEE IT!

And again, this thread has been turned to another tribal war

Where are the Mods?

lol chai

this man is a disgrace to all generals.

even a 5 years old kid cannot weep like this. i can't remember the last time I cried and it wasn't this bad.

there was still one general that cried after loosing a mere election. that goodluck lost and was all smiles. Gej would have made a better general

Mortiple:
There is yet another called ABDULKARIM ADISA. He also wept!

Chai...una wicked o
Majority weepers...wetin worry these generals dem sef?Buhari come kukuma zoin the list from the North, this time in a democratic setting

stanech:
lol chai

this man is a disgrace to all generals.

even a 5 years old kid cannot weep like this. u can't remember the last time I cried and it wasn't this bad.

there was still one general that cried after loosing a mere election. that goodluck lost and was all smiles. Gej would have made a better general

I'm telling you o..E be like dem get weeping course for NDA