Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola , also known as M. K. O. Abiola (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998) was a
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
businessman, publisher, and politician. He was the
Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of
Yorubaland
Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of 142,114 km2 or about 60% of the land area of Ghana. Of this ...
and an aristocrat of the
Egba clan.
M.K.O. Abiola ran for the
presidency in 1993, for which the election results were annulled by the preceding military president
Ibrahim Babangida
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as C ...
because of allegations that they were corrupt and unfair.
[Hamilton, Janice. ''Nigeria in Pictures'', p. 70.] Abiola was awarded the
GCFR posthumously
Posthumous may refer to:
* Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death
* Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death
* ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987
* ''Posthumous'' (E ...
on 6 June 2018 by President
Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015.
Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...
and Nigeria's democracy day was changed to June 12.
Abiola was a personal friend of
Ibrahim Babangida
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as C ...
[Rufai, Misbahu. (1990, May 11). A man called MKO. ''Muslim Journal.''] and he is believed to have supported Babangida's coming to power.
Abiola's support in the
June 1993 presidential election cut across all
geo-political zones and religious divisions, among a few politicians to accomplish such a spread during his time. By the time of his death, he had become an unexpected symbol of
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
.
Early life
M. K. O. Abiola was born in
Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna; north of Lagos by railway, or by water. , Abeokuta and the surrounding a ...
,
Ogun State
Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to th ...
to the family o
Salawuan
Suliat Wuraola Abiola His father was a produce trader who primarily traded
cocoa, and his mother traded in
kola nuts
The term kola nut usually refers to the seeds of certain species of plant of the genus ''Cola'', placed formerly in the cocoa family Sterculiaceae and now usually subsumed in the mallow family Malvaceae (as subfamily Sterculioideae). These co ...
. His name, Kashimawo, means "''Let us wait and see''". Moshood Abiola was his father's twenty-third child, but the first of them to survive infancy, hence the name 'Kashimawo'. It was not until he was fifteen that he was properly named Moshood by his parents.
Abiola attended African Central School, Abeokuta for his primary education.
As a young boy, he assisted his father in th
cocoa trade but by the end of 1946, his father's business venture was failing precipitated by the destruction of a cocoa consignment declared by a produce inspector to be of poor quality grade and unworthy for export and to be destroyed immediately.
At the age of nine he started his first business selling firewood gathered in the forest at dawn before school, to support his father and siblings. Abiola founded a band at the age of fifteen and would perform at various ceremonies in exchange for food. Abiola was eventually able to require payment for his performances, and used the money to support his family and his secondary education at the
Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta
Abeokuta is the capital city of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria. It is situated on the east bank of the Ogun River, near a group of rocky outcrops in a wooded savanna; north of Lagos by railway, or by water. , Abeokuta and the surrounding a ...
. Abiola was the editor of the school magazine ''The Trumpeter'',
Olusegun Obasanjo
Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its presid ...
was deputy editor. At the age of 19 he joined the
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) later changed to the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, was a Nigerian nationalist political party from 1944 to 1966, during the period leading up to independence and immediately ...
ostensibly because of its stronger pan-Nigerian origin compared with the
Obafemi Awolowo
Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe O ...
-led
Action Group.
In
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Jan ...
, he obtained a government scholarship to study at the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
, where he later earned a degree in accountancy and qualified as a
chartered accountant. He later became a Fellow of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) is a professional accountancy body in Nigeria. It is one of the two professional accountancy associations with regulatory authority in Nigeria, the other being the Association of National ...
(ICAN).
Business career
In 1956 Moshood Abiola started his professional life as a bank clerk with
Barclays Bank
Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Barclays traces ...
in
Ibadan
Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...
,
South-West Nigeria
The South West (often hyphenated to the South-West) is the one of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria representing both a geographic and political region of the country's southwest. It comprises six states – Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, ...
. After two years he joined the Western Region Finance Corporation as an executive accounts officer, before leaving for
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland, to pursue his higher education. From
Glasgow University
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
he received a first class degree in accountancy, and he also gained a distinction from the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) is the world's first professional body of Chartered Accountants (CAs). It is a regulator, educator, influencer and thought leader.
ICAS act as a thought leader and voice of the professiona ...
. On his return to Nigeria, Abiola worked as a senior accountant at the
University of Lagos
The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...
Teaching Hospital, then went on to US firm
Pfizer
Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
, before joining the
ITT Corporation, where he later rose to the position of vice-president, Africa and Middle-East. Abiola spent a lot of his time, and made most of his money, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, while retaining the post of chairman of the corporation's Nigerian subsidiary.
ITT
While Abiola worked at the
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...
subsidiary of
Pfizer smile pharmaceuticals, his desire was to own some
equity in the firm but the options available to him were not appealing.
He then applied to a job listing seeking a trained accountant, it was during the interview that he found out the firm was ITT Corporation. Abiola was employed by the firm and one of his immediate responsibilities was to clear the backlog of debt owed to the firm by the
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. An office meeting with the army's Inspector of Signals,
Murtala Mohammed
Murtala Ramat Muhammad (8 November 1938 – 13 February 1976) was a Nigerian general who led the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup in overthrowing the Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi military regime and featured prominently during the Nigerian Civil War ...
to seek a resolution of the debts resulted in verbal argument heard by the Chief of Army Staff
Hassan Usman Katsina.
The intervention of Katsina ended up being favorable to Abiola as he was given a check to cover the debt. Abiola used his determination to clear the debts as a bargaining tool for more role in the company, initially he was able to remove the expatriate manager but was unable to get a requested 50% equity in the Nigerian arm of ITT. Abiola subsequently established
Radio Communication (RCN) as a side business, new employees were trained in marketing of telecoms equipment and Abiola targeted the military who were replacing
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
-era equipment as business clients. His marketing strategy proposed training of military personnel in the use of equipment so as to reduce reliance on outside vendors for maintenance, this strategy gained favor in a security conscious armed forces. Abiola soon received a contract to supply hardware to the military that got the attention of ITT and he was offered 49% equity ownership of its Nigerian arm.
RCN went on to develop a static communications network for the armed forces signal unit and Nigeria's domestic satellite communications. In 1975, ITT and partners secured a major contract to supply automatic telephone exchanges in a number of locations within the country.
Other ventures
In addition to his duties throughout the Middle-East and Africa, 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. He was also Chairman of the
G15 business council, President of the
Nigerian Stock Exchange
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) now Nigerian Exchange Group is a Nigerian stock exchange founded in 1961 in Lagos. As of November 2019, it has a total of 161 listed companies, with 8 domestic companies on the premium board, 144 companies on the ...
, Patron of the
Kwame Nkrumah Foundation, Patron of the
WEB Du Bois foundation, trustee of th
Martin Luther King Foundation and director of the
International Press Institute
International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia University ...
. In 1983, he teamed up with
Shehu Musa Yar'Adua
Shehu Musa Yar'Adua (5 March 1943 – 8 December 1997) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who was the ''de facto'' vice president of Nigeria as Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters when Nigeria was under military rule from 1976 to ...
,
Bamanga Tukur
Bamanga Tukur ( CON) (born 15 September 1935) is a Nigerian businessman and politician who served as Minister for Industries in the administration of General Sani Abacha during the 1990s. He is one of the high-profile civil servants and militar ...
and
Raymond Dokpesi to establish Africa Ocean Lines. The firm began operations in 1984 using chartered vessels before acquiring two cargo ships in 1986 with a capacity for 958
TEUs. The shipping firm's route linked the major shipping ports along the West African coast with United Kingdom and Northern Europe.
Involvement in politics
Abiola's involvement in politics started early on in life when he joined the
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons
The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) later changed to the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, was a Nigerian nationalist political party from 1944 to 1966, during the period leading up to independence and immediately ...
(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
The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the dominant political party in Nigeria during the Second Republic (1979–1983).
History Formation
The party's beginning could be traced to private and sometimes secret meetings among key Northern Nigerian ...
(NPN) in 1980 and was elected the state chairman of his party. Re-election was done in 1983 and everything looked promising since the re-elected president 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.
Abiola was a member of
Ansar Ud Deen
Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria is a Muslim organization established for the purpose of the educational development of Muslims and also as a body to enhance the moral and social development of the Muslim community in Lagos. Stefan Reichmuth. 'New ...
organization in Nigeria. In the 1980s, through his National Concord Newspaper Abiola supported Islamic causes including introduction of a
Sharia Court of Appeal in
Southwestern Nigeria and Nigeria's entry to the
Organization of Islamic Countries. The support given the latter received less favorable response from some readers of the National Concord. Notwithstanding, he was actively involved in the formation and activities of the National Sharia Committee. In 1984, he was given a title of Baba Adinni of Yorubaland by a committee of Muslim clerics. His support of Islam in Southern Nigeria earned him some recognition in the Northern region of the country. In his hometown of Abeokuta, Abiola built a Quran training center which was named after his mother Zulihat Abiola.
After a decade of military rule, General Ibrahim Babangida 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 12 June 1993 presidential elections. Abiola had managed to work his way out of poverty through hard work. He established 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
The naira (sign: ₦; code: NGN) is the currency of Nigeria. One naira is divided into 100 ''kobo''.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the sole issuer of legal tender money throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It controls the volume ...
was devalued. He also made available daily necessities such as rice and soap at affordable prices in the market.
Presidential election
Primaries and campaign
Abiola announced his candidacy for president in February 1993, this was after a previous round of presidential primaries had been cancelled by military President Babangida. His party of choice was
SDP, though he was an outsider who was new to the partisan politics within the party which at the time was dominated by two major factions, People's Front(PF) and PSP. Both SDP and its opposition,
NRC held presidential primaries in March 1993. SDP's primaries was held in
Jos and was largely a three-way contest between Abiola, Kingibe and
Atiku even though there were more aspirants. Abiola was heavily supported by the People's Solidarity faction (PSP) within SDP while Atiku was supported by PF faction led by
Yar'Adua
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the 2007 Nigeria general election, Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, ...
and Kingibe was supported by a loose coalition of party members. During the first ballot, Abiola was able to score a slim majority vote of 3,617 to Kingibe's 3,225. A second round was contested two days later and Abiola again emerged victorious with a slim margin and he became the party's presidential candidate for the June 12 election.
Abiola's political message was an optimistic future for Nigeria with slogans such as "Farewell to poverty", " At last! Our rays of Hope" and the "Burden of Schooling". His economic policy included negotiations with foreign creditors and better management of the country's international debts, in addition, increased cooperation with the foreign community while presenting himself as someone the international community can trust.
Election
![Hope'93 front cover (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Hope%2793_front_cover_%282%29.jpg)
For the
12 June 1993 presidential elections, Abiola's
running mate
A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pr ...
was his primary opponent
Baba Gana Kingibe. He defeated his rival,
Bashir Tofa
Bashir Othman Tofa (20 June 1947 – 3 January 2022) was a Nigerian politician. A Kanuri Muslim who hailed from Kano State, Tofa was the National Republican Convention (NRC) candidate in the annulled Nigeria's 12 June 1993 presidential electio ...
of the
National Republican Convention. The election was declared Nigeria's freeest and fairest presidential election by national and international observers, with Abiola even winning in his Northern opponent's home state of Kano. Abiola won at the national capital, Abuja, the military polling stations, and over two-thirds of Nigerian states. Men of Northern descent had largely dominated Nigeria's political landscape since independence; Moshood Abiola, a Western Muslim, was able to secure a national mandate freely and fairly, unprecedented in Nigeria's history. However, the election was annulled by
Ibrahim Babangida
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August, 1941) is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as C ...
, causing a political crisis which led to General
Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...
seizing power later that year. During preparations for the 2011 Nigerian Presidential elections there were calls from several quarters to remember MKO Abiola.
;Unofficial results
These are the unofficial results:
Imprisonment
![MKO arrest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/MKO_arrest.jpg)
In 1994 Moshood Abiola, M.K.O. declared himself the lawful president of Nigeria in the Epetedo area of Lagos island, an area mainly populated by (Yoruba) Lagos Indigenes. 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
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and arrested on the orders of military President General
Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...
, who sent 200 police vehicles to bring him into custody. M.K.O. Abiola has been referred to as Nigeria's greatest statesman.
[Dibie, Robert A. ''Public Management and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Military-bureaucracy Relationship'', Page 51.] His second wife
Alhaja Kudirat Abiola
Alhaja Kudirat Abiola (born Kudirat Olayinka Adeyemi), popularly known simply as Kudirat Abiola (1951 – 4 June 1996), was a Nigerian pro-democracy campaigner. She was assassinated whilst her husband, Moshood Abiola, was being detained by the ...
was assassinated in Lagos in 1996 after declaring public support for her husband.
Moshood Abiola was detained for four years, largely in solitary confinement with a Bible,
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
, and fourteen guards as companions. During that time,
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, 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
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
and
Emeka Anyaoku
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, GCVO, CFR, CON (born 18 January 1933)"Anyaoku, Eleazar Chukwuemeka", in ''Africa Who's Who'', London: Africa Journal for Africa Books Ltd, 1981, p. 137. is a Nigerian diplomat of Igbo descent. He was the third Commonwea ...
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 recognise a five-year-old election.
Death
Moshood Abiola died unexpectedly, shortly after the death of General Abacha, on the day that he was due to be released. While meeting group of American diplomats including
Thomas Pickering and
Susan Rice at a government guesthouse in Abuja, Abiola fell ill and died. Rice had served tea to Abiola shortly before his collapse, and later wrote of an enduring belief in Nigera that she had poisoned Abiola.
Independent autopsy carried out and witnessed by physicians and pathologists from the Nigerian government, Nigerian Medical Association, Canada, UK and the US found substantial evidence of longstanding heart disease.
General Abacha's Chief Security Officer,
Hamza al-Mustapha has alleged that Moshood Abiola was in fact beaten to death and although Al-Mustapha claims to have video and audiotapes showing how Abiola was beaten to death, he has yet to come forward with the release of such tapes or how it was procured in the first place. Regardless of the exact circumstances of his death, it is clear that Chief Abiola received insufficient medical attention for his existing health conditions. Hence, whatever claims Al-Mustapha must have made to direct blames to other quarters other than himself and his late boss (General Sani Abacha) might be irrelevant or at best point back to them as the murderers of MKO.
Investigation
A number of different perspectives exist on Abiola's death. Renowned writer and playwright
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...
in his autobiography
You Must Set Forth at Dawn, categorically asserted that Abiola was presented with a poisoned cup of tea during his final interview with the BBC. He was certain about the fact that Abiola was poisoned, although information on what entities were behind the poisoning, have yet to come to light.
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
, the seventh
Secretary General of the United Nations
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-ge ...
who had been in a meeting with Abiola at
Abuja on the 29th of June 1998, mentioned that Abiola had been denied adequate medical care throughout his incarceration. This was in some corroboration with the findings of an international team of pathologists who posited a heart condition as the cause of death.
The Human Rights Violation Investigation Commission of Nigeria The Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission of Nigeria, also known as the Oputa Panel, was a commission that was developed following the collapse of the military dictatorship that controlled Nigeria until 1998. It was created by Olusegun O ...
, conducted a series of hearings aiming to discover the truth of events leading to the Abiola's death, concluding that the Abubakar regime probably knew more than it revealed.
Legacy
Chief M.K.O. Abiola's memory is celebrated in Nigeria and internationally. Since his death, the Lagos State Government declares June 12 as a public holiday. In 2018, other states including Ogun, Oyo and Osun, announced June 12 as a public holiday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the annulled 1993 presidential election. June 12 remains a public holiday in Nigeria beginning 12 June 2019, it will be celebrated as democracy day, replacing May 29. Remembrance events are arranged across Nigeria.
MKO Abiola Stadium
MKO Abiola Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Abeokuta, Nigeria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Gateway F.C. The stadium has a capacity of 10,000 people.
Name
The stadium name refers to Moshood Kashim ...
and
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic
Moshood Abiola Polytechnic also known as MAPOLY is a tertiary learning institution in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
The Ojere campus is in the South-Eastern part of Abeokuta, covering about 960 hectares of rolling land bounded by the Ogun River ...
were named in his honour, and there were calls for posthumous presidential recognition. A statue,
MKO Abiola Statue was erected in his honour.
M.K.O. Abiola was criticised by political activists and detractors. Controversy was caused by a song by Nigerian musician,
Fela Kuti, a charismatic multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and human rights activist, famed for being the pioneer of Afrobeat music and a controversial figure due to his unusual lifestyle and apparent drug use. It is believed that Kuti had entered into an acrimonious dispute relating to a contract with M.K.O. 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 says "they start to steal money Like Obasanjo and Abiola".
On 29 May 2012, former president
Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
, announced that the famous
University of Lagos
The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...
will be renamed in memory of Abiola as Moshood Abiola University of Lagos (MAULAG). This received a negative reaction by both students, Alumni and members of public resulting in an abrupt reversal.
June 12 declared Democracy Day
On 6 June 2018,
Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015.
Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...
, President of Nigeria declared 12 June as the new date for the celebration of
Democracy Day. Nigeria's Democracy Day was formally celebrated every 29 May, the day in 1999 that former military Head of State,
Abdulsalami Abubakar
Abdulsalami Abubakar (; born 13 June 1942) is a Nigerian statesman and retired Nigerian Army general who served as the ''de facto'' President of Nigeria from 1998 to 1999. He was also Chief of Defence Staff between 1997 and 1998. He succeede ...
, handed over power to an elected president,
Olusegun Obasanjo
Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its presid ...
of the
People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the date when, for the second time in the history of Nigeria, an elected civilian administration took over from a military government.
On 6 June 2018, Muhammadu Buhari in a public statement changed the Democracy Day to June 12 in honor of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and it's winner, Moshood Abiola, who died in prison. Buhari's statement partly read: "for the past 18 years, Nigerians have been celebrating May 29, as Democracy Day. That was the date when, for the second time in our history, an elected civilian administration took over from a military government. The first time this happened was on 1 October 1979. But in the view of Nigerians, as shared by his administration, June 12, 1993, was far more symbolic of democracy in the Nigerian context than May 29 or even the October 1. June 12, 1993 was the day when Nigerians in millions expressed their democratic will in what was undisputedly the freeest, fairest and most peaceful elections since our independence. The fact that the outcome of that election was not upheld by the then military government doesn't distract from the democratic credential of that process. Accordingly, after due consultation, the Federal Government has decided, henceforth, June 12 will be celebrated as Democracy Day. Therefore, the government has decided to award posthumously the highest honour of the land GCFR, to the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 cancelled election".
On 11 June 2019, Muhammadu Buhari assented to a Bill amending May 29 previously set aside as a public holiday for the celebration. The public holiday amendment Act was passed by the National Assembly of Nigeria following a Bill introduced and sponsored by
Kayode Oladele
Kayode Oladele (born 8 June 1963) is a Nigerian human rights activist, lawyer and politician who was a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives representing Yewa North/ Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency, Ogun State, from 2015–2019. He w ...
, Human Rights Lawyer and Member of the House of Representatives ( Eighth Assembly) representing Yewa North/Imeko-Afon Federal Constituency of Ogun State.
Awards and honours
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 US, as well as the International Committee on Education for Teaching in Paris, among many others.
In Nigeria, the
Oloye
Oba means ″ruler″ in the Yoruba and
Bini languages of West Africa. Kings in Yorubaland, a region which is in the modern republics of Benin, Nigeria and Togo, make use of it as a pre-nominal
honorific. Examples of Yoruba bearers include Oba ...
Abiola was made the
Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, the highest
chieftaincy title available to commoners amongst the
Yoruba. At the point when he was elevated, the title had only been conferred by the tribe thirteen times in its long 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 defence of his nation to prove himself in the eyes of both the divine and the mortal as having been worthy of his title.
He was posthumously awarded the third highest national honour, the Commander of the Federal Republic, in 1998.
He was also awarded the highest national honor, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic – or
GCFR – in 2018. The date of the annulled election, June 12, was also made Nigeria's Democracy Day.
Personal life
Moshood Abiola married
many wives;
notable among them are Simibiat Atinuke Shoaga in 1960,
[ Simbiat Abiola Kudirat Olayinka Adeyemi in 1973, Adebisi Olawunmi Oshin in 1974,] Doyinsola (Doyin) Abiola Aboaba in 1981, Modupe Onitiri-Abiola[ and Remi Abiola. He fathered many children.]
Philanthropy
Moshood Abiola sprang to national and international prominence as a result of his philanthropic activities. The Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce B ...
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 leader and his fervent mission 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 his having provided financial assistance in the construction of 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries, 21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria, and he was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in Nigeria. In addition to his work in Nigeria, Moshood Abiola supported the Southern African Liberation movements from the 1970s, and he sponsored the campaign to win reparations for slavery
Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take numer ...
and colonialism in Africa and the diaspora. He personally communicated with 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.
References
Sources
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abiola, Moshood
1937 births
1998 deaths
20th-century Nigerian businesspeople
20th-century Nigerian politicians
Moshood
Assassinated businesspeople
Assassinated Nigerian politicians
Businesspeople from Abeokuta
Commanders of the Order of the Federal Republic
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons politicians
Nigerian democracy activists
Nigerian expatriates in the United States
Nigerian Muslims
Nigerian people who died in prison custody
Nigerian philanthropists
Candidates in the 1993 Nigerian presidential election
Participants in the 1983 Nigerian military coup
Politicians from Abeokuta
Prisoners and detainees of Nigeria
Reparations for slavery
Social Democratic Party (Nigeria) politicians
University of Lagos people
Yoruba activists
Yoruba businesspeople
Yoruba philanthropists
Yoruba politicians
20th-century philanthropists
Nigerian company founders