Abiola was killed because some arrogant and power drunk people, including some of those in power today, could not bear to see an Abiola sitting in Aso Rock as the president of Nigeria, even if he won the freest elections in the country.
After battling to regain his mandate in vain, Abiola actually wanted to cut his losses and give up the struggle. But then, he was under incredible pressures from all manners of activists and progressive politicians who threatened to charge him with eternal cowardice if he ever gave up.
He had powerful proverbs to deal with such blackmail. “If I cannot be president of Nigeria, let me at least be the president of my family….A living dog is better than a dead lion…It is foolishness to stand before a moving train.”
As his wife and my boss in Concord Press, Dr. Doyin Abiola reminded me yesterday, Abiola always wore different caps—a statesman, a father, a husband, an uncle and a business man, among others. In other words, he had his options.
But after watching Nelson Mandela sworn in as the first black president of South Africa in late 1993, with all the powerful white army chiefs who previously hounded and jailed him, now lining up to salute the new president, Abiola was completely radicalized and resolved to reclaim his mandate at whatever cost.
But on this he miscalculated. In South Africa, the template was slightly different. Even the arch South African racists had blood, emotion and core values that drive them. You can’t be that generous in describing those fighting Abiola.
A billionaire who was exposed to all the luxuries that world could offer was shackled and kept in the most dehumanizing condition for four years. The idea was to break him—or kill him. But, Abiola would not trade with his mandate, even though he could have done so to be free.
When it seemed he was about to win the battle, Abiola died of what was described as cardiac arrest—although, more probably, slow poisoning. The day Abiola died, you would have thought the world was about to come to an end, but in the end, the country survived it partly because the transitional head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, under whose nose he died, seemed like a benevolent ruler who could not be involved in the evil mischief of Abiola’s death. In his days alive, Abiola was either the richest or one of Nigeria’s richest men.
Certainly, apart from the government, he was the second largest employer of labour in the country and a very benevolent one at that. Human welfare was at the core of his labour philosophy, rather than just mere profiteering. I suppose I am entitled to comment on these areas because the best part of my professional career was spent in Concord where Mike Awoyinfa and I made our media marks. It’s then not out of place to consider me a lifelong Abiolaist or an Abiola loyalist forever.
One of the significant fallouts of Abiola’s cruel death was that appeasing the Yorubas became a national mandate. Ironically, the greatest beneficiary of that policy was Abiola insecure and jealous kinsman, General Olusegun Obasanjo who to put it very nicely, was ill-disposed to Abiola’s mandate. Obasanjo reportedly with less than N20,000 bank balance in 1999, became president of Nigeria—ostensibly, he was more acceptable to those who so loathed Abiola’s guts, although today they are biting their fingers.
Abiola’s name ultimately became a platform for many pro-democracy forces who rode to power especially in Southwest from the platform of Alliance for Democracy to the present incarnation: the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.
Since then, Abiola’s name has only been invoked as a slogan of the June 12 activists. Otherwise, Abiola’s family along with his corporate empire is in shambles. In the wake of June 12, it was reported that the federal government owed Abiola about USD 600 million for telecom contracts executed which were never paid. When the opportunities came for him to trade his mandate for this bill to paid, he refused and refused.
Clearly, Nigeria owes Abiola not just the contractual bills, but the fact that through his blood and that of his wife, Kudirat Abiola, democratic rule, no matter how imperfect, is now possible in Nigeria and within that democratic space, the right of every Nigerian to aspire to any political office can be actualized even if you from the South.
What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did for Americans in abolishing racial segregation in the USA, and Nelson Mandela did for South Africa to abolish apartheid regime, Abiola did for Nigerians in paving way for every Nigerian to aspire to any political office in the land.
Without Abiola’s battle which demystified the military hegemony in the country and broke down the north’s eternal claim to Nigeria’s presidency, the prospect of a shoeless man from Bayelsa becoming the president of Nigeria would have been totally impossible.
If we were to grant him the benefit of the doubt, it is probable that it was in recognition of this reality that President Goodluck Jonathan decided to honour Abiola by renaming the iconic University of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University.
Since then, all hell has been let loose not only on Jonathan, but surprisingly, even on Abiola whom some are even questioning his contribution to the country. What a country! Some in the social media forums have called Abiola names, including accusing him not only being a contractor, but in fact, even a thief—this, even despite his not having held any government office before. Despite having awarded over a thousand scholarships to people, some are wondering what did Abiola ever do for education anyway? Perhaps, as a former Pillar of Sports in Africa, they should have named Abuja Stadium after him—how gracious!
Some critics are in fact, doubting the sanity of the president! How dare! The opposition forces—an amalgam of politicians, intellectuals, media and elite especially from the highly vocal Southwest, are denouncing Jonathan’s gesture as a Greek gift, designed to attain the president’s second term agenda. Of course, it can hardly be disputed that the president’s gesture is wrapped in political agenda. Do politicians in our clime do things without selfish motives? So what’s new then?
But is Jonathan’s second term agenda which I have severally condemned in the past because it is still so premature in my view, enough to obscure Abiola’s great sacrifice to the nation? I certainly prefer to look beyond Jonathan’s political shenanigans to consider Nigeria’s debt to Abiola legacy.
But then, the greatest argument is that renaming the iconic institution after Abiola will somehow ruin its historic legacy.
The students of the former University of Lagos vowed that they cannot trade their fancy name with the less than classy name of Moshood Abiola University. They may well be right, for whoever likes a change, until time makes the change a permanent feature? This then is a great lesson in patriotism and sacrifice on both sides of the divides:
The students, the alumni, the South west political elite and other vocal critics consider trading the iconic name of the University of Lagos too much a sacrifice to make for a democratic martyr who sacrificed his wealth, his life and his wife’s life for democractic rule to become a reality in our land! This paints a perfect picture of who the real patriots are between Abiola and the critics!
It is in this context that I can understand the dismay of the entire Abiola family at the class betrayal of Abiola by those who should have cherished him most. Well, this is Nigeria! Since this name change battle is heading to a stalemate, perhaps, I can venture a compromise name: Abiola University of Lagos! What do you think of that combination?
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