Jamiu Abiola, a son of Chief MKO Abiola, presumed winner of June 12 1993 election, speaks with Inner room correspondent Linda Bankole about how his father felt disappointed that the United States’ government could not help him
Twenty-three years after, what memories do you have of the June 12, 1993 presidential election in which your father, Chief MKO Abiola, was presumed the winner?
The memory of June 12 is always a painful one and my thought of June 12 is for Nigerians to get to the Promised Land to give June 12 a meaning, because looking back at that date, it was all about democracy.
How do you feel when people express mixed reactions about your father?
That is what life is like in general: even if something is painted white, some will say it is blue or black; some will say it is yellow. People have different opinions. There was a time I was waiting for a flight in Abuja and was listening to some people arguing whether my father was a hero or not; whether he would have been a good president or not. It was an interesting scenario as I watched them. But that goes to show how people think in this country; whether Abiola would have been the best president or the worst president (Nigeria would have had) does not take away the fact that he won an election which was witnessed by the whole country.
People should not be arguing whether he should have been president or not after he won the 1993 presidential election. It is this kind of controversy that has led the country not to recognise Chief MKO Abiola as president even though everybody knows he was elected president of Nigeria. It goes on to show that a country that cannot stand by the truth is not a country that will prosper.
Do you think the Federal Government has a responsibility to recognise MKO Abiola as the president of this country?
The Federal Government has a responsibility to recognise my late father as a president of the country though he was never allowed to rule. You would recall that recently Professor Humphrey Nwosu released the results of the 1993 presidential election that he was forced not to release (which lends credence to the fact that Abiola won that election) and I thank God that Prof. Nwosu was still alive to do that. He was the one in charge. Today, everyone is talking about (Prof. Attahiru) Jega as being a great man concerning the way he conducted 2015 elections. Prof. Nwosu was the Jega of 1993 presidential election. Of course, my father has passed away, there is no way he will ever be president again. He can never come back to rule the country he fought for with the mandate of the people stolen from him. Some people might think this is a trivial matter but I tell you, there will be no peace in this country and definitely there will be no real progress unless this matter is resolved. There is no way you can build on a foundation with lost lives and people being ignored. Anyone who thinks he can do that and get away with it is only deceiving himself.
This country will not prosper unless my father –the president –is recognised as a president of this country because he was and my mother (late Kudirat Abiola) ought to be honoured because they laid down their lives to ensure the enthronement of democracy while military dictatorship reigned supreme. Because of the historical role that my mother played in the post-June 12 struggle, a street was named after her by the United States government. It was on the 44th Street (and incidentally, my mother was killed at the age of 44) on Manhattan not far from the United Nations building on the same street with the Nigerian Embassy. The government of New York did that for a reason –to spite the Nigerian government at that time and to let the government know that what it was doing was wrong. It is therefore, imperative that the Federal Government should do the same and recognise my father (as president of this country). I can say it again, that if they are not honoured this country will never move forward. There are only two Africans that were so named: late Nelson Mandela during the apartheid era and my mother, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola. The Americans are not stupid; they knew the importance of June 12 and that is why the City of New York did what it did.
At the 20th anniversary of your mother’s death, you said the then Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.) should be held liable for your father’s death. But some people feel Abiola’s death should be traced to the US government. Do you agree?
Some people enjoy watching Hollywood movies with conspiracy theories as their themes. It is easy for such people to reach that conclusion. My way of thinking is that the best way to go anywhere is a straight line. There is no need for us to do a zigzag; running around circles. The straight line is always the fastest and the best way to get to anywhere. Let us come up with some very important facts: The first thing is that the US government wasn’t responsible for the arrest of my father and his detention for at least four years. The Nigerian government has never accused the US of being responsible for my father’s death. Now about Abdulsalami, a man had been removed from his family for four years and following the death of (Gen. Sani) Abacha, he did not allow Abiola to see his family members. Instead, he was bringing in foreign diplomats from the US and the United Nations to visit him. Tell me, are those people more important than my father’s personal relations? Thus, you can see there was an evil intention.
It was a day before his death that his family was allowed to see him and someone will tell me that the Federal Government didn’t have a hand in the death of my father? Those who are involved in my father’s death should note that one day death will come knocking on their door too. People like Abdulsalami should be hiding somewhere and not be seen in the public but because Nigeria is a shameless country, a person like him can be seen posing as a democrat brokering peace.
June 12 over the years is seen by other regions of Nigeria as a South-West event. What you think about that?
One thing people don’t fully understand is that if you travel out of this country nobody cares which state or geopolitical zone you are from. They only know you’re from Nigeria. They don’t know if you’re from Bayelsa or you’re from Bauchi. Nigeria’s problem isn’t about different tribes. We have wonderful people from all parts of Nigeria who have done wonderful things in this country. The more we keep thinking about tribe, the more we keep going backward. There is too much conspiracy and tribalism. If it were an Igbo man who won the 1993 election it would be celebrated in the South-East more than anywhere else, including the South-West. Unless Nigerians get rid of their hopeless way of thinking, definitely this country won’t move forward.
You wrote in your book, ‘The President who never ruled’ that Abiola came to the US for help but was disappointed. What happened?
After the presidential election, he went to America, trying to get the American government to back him so that he could realise the mandate Nigerians gave him through the ballot box. But that was impossible because there was no way the American government could work with a man that won an election but was not declared as the president of the country. Thus, he was disappointed. He had felt that since the Americans, like many other foreign observers, saw that the election was free and fair, he would gain their support to actualise his mandate. He went to look for help in America but he didn’t get it so he went back to Nigeria and that was when he now declared himself as president. We all know what happened afterwards.
Some people say ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Ernest Shonekan – both from the same state as Abiola – did not make it possible for your father to become Nigeria’s president. What do you think?
The fact that someone is from your state does not mean he will have your interest at heart. Chief Ernest Shonekan is a quiet man and he was a business executive. He might have thought about being a president or head of an interim national government and there was no way he could have refused that offer. I don’t know exactly why he accepted that offer. One thing I like about Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is that he is straightforward. And I don’t think he likes my dad and the way he acts actually proves that he doesn’t like my father. I like people who are straightforward although the fact that he doesn’t like my father is a mystery yet that is not my business. It is between the two of them. But if you say they are the ones that stopped my dad from becoming president I don’t agree because they were not in power. People who stopped MKO from becoming president are Gen. (Ibrahim) Babangida and Gen. Abacha. Gen. Abdulsalami saw to it that my father died. Everybody is going to die one day and I want to see how they will get away with what they did.
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