One of MKO’s abandoned buildings in Abeokuta.
Today marks the 18th anniversary of June 12, 1993 election when the nation went to polls to elect its president. Though the election was later annulled by a military junta, while the winner of the election died in detention under questionable circumstances. EMMANUEL ADENIYI, in this reports, historicises the day and writes on betrayal of trust, dashed hope of Nigerians as well as the pitiable state of Chief MKO Abiola’s once thriving business empire.
HIS campaign jingles took the entire nation by storm, whipping up excitement in a people whose remaining modicum of hope had completely been sapped by bad governance.
The media were awash with the jingles and hardly could anyone around then claim not to be aware of Hope’93 messages on the nation’s radio and television channels as well as advertorials in newspapers. “On the march again, on the march again, looking for Mr. President o, on the march again. MKO is our man o, MKO is our man o.”
The jingles came in torrents, just as the lead actor in the June 12, 1993 drama, late Bashorun Moshood Kasimawo Olanbiwoninu Abiola, went round the country preaching his gospel of hope to the entire nation.
Nigerians of progressive bent stayed glued to their transistor radio sets, no thanks to epileptic power supply which deprived them the opportunity of watching the presidential campaigns of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential standard bearer live.
You wouldn’t want to miss out on all the fun too. Excitement was in the air. Nigerians were all united for a common purpose: to bring an end to the protracted military rule and usher in democratic governance.
In some of his campaign promises, Chief MKO, who later won the June 12, 1993 annulled election, said he would strive for the unity of the country and enunciate programmes that would wipe off poverty from the land.
His 55-page Hope’93 blueprint, tagged “Farewell to Poverty” contained largely three cardinal goals: economic reconstruction through accountability, consolidation of democracy and promotion of national unity through social harmony.
MKO’s agenda for hope promised re-invigoration of the mass transit programme, de-monopolizing of the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), which according to him, would make electricity available within four years of his administration to Nigerians, appointment of women into key positions in the country.
This stemmed from his belief that “Women are some of the most important natural resources in any country, while Nigerian women are the most enterprising in the world.” The late business mogul also promised to build 50,000 housing units in each local government area in the country.
The foregoing, coupled with his well-organized campaigns, further fueled Nigerians’ hope in a man whom they believed projected populist ideals and upon whose shoulder rested their resolve to sail out of the murky waters of military dictatorship.
Hope’93 was eventually dashed and the collective trust of Nigerians in brighter future, transparency and good leadership became shattered, when the then military president, Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the election for the reasons best known to him.
Time is truly transient as today marks the 18th anniversary of the election. June 12 has become a political lexicon in Nigeria’s history as a moment of hard struggle for hope. It signifies people’s yearnings for good leadership and governance.
It is a watershed in the annals of Nigeria’s political history when Nigerian nation must identify with social justice. Apart from serving as the staring point for Nigeria’s democratic experiments, it is also the peak of a people’s projection of their subconscious against mismanagement, blind leadership and dictatorship.
The unfolding drama that came after the annulment evokes pity, for the nation and the lead actor in the absurdist theatrisation of man’s inhumanity to man.
The political class comprising dramatic personae like ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, Tony Anenih, Chuba Okadigbo, Kanti Bello, Aminu Inuwa, S.M. Afolabi, Lamidi Adedibu, Paschal Bafyau, Lulu Briggs, Bala Takaya, Ekong Etuk and a host of others were alleged to have jilted Chief MKO during his trying period.
They all benefited from him, but turned their backs on him when he needed them most. Just like Shakespearian character in Julius Caesar, Brutus, a respected Roman personage and a confidant of Caesar, colluded with Caesar’s enemies to kill the Roman warrior.
On the Ides of March when he was murdered, his trusted friend, Brutus, was among those who stabbed him to death. Caesar’s last words, “Et tu, Brute?” (Even you, Brutus?), were revealing. The country’s political class like Brutus stabbed MKO to death, snuffed life out of him by their actions and inactions.
Their surreptitious moves for appointments and patronage emboldened the military kleptomaniacs, gave fillip to their hold on MKO and eventually stymied his hope of ruling Nigeria.
On the question of political relevance of Chief MKO’s political associates in the present Nigeria, one finds it difficult to believe how the law of Karma has brought itself to bear in quick successions on the betrayers of people’s mandate. Ambassador Kingibe, who was MKO’s running mate in 1993, left office as the Secretary to the Federal Government in late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration disgraced.
He was accused of betraying his principal who was down with a terminal illness and was flown to Saudi Arabia. He had thought the late president would not return only to go behind him holding political discussions with Northern elites so as to make them support his bid of succeeding the ailing president.
He was summarily dismissed by Yar’Adua and has since remained oblivious. Where is Evans Enwerem, though in the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC)? Where are Chuba Okadigbo, S.M Afolabi and a host of others who bestrode Nigeria’s political landscape in the 90’s? Some of them have been confined to the urn of history.
The chief betrayer of people’s mandate himself, IBB, is now an expired politician. His total rejection at the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary last year could be described as his last undoing and may have helped situated him where he belongs.
June 12 relics are everywhere for all to see. They constitute failed promises, hopes that are still birthed, struggles that died midway and betrayal of trusted friendship. June 12 undid MKO, disintegrated his large family and like magical spell closed down his chain of businesses.
A newspaper report late last year painted the sordidness of the remains of Abiola’s one-time glowing, enviable blue chips. His bookshop in Yaba, Lagos, is said to look like a relic of civil war. A friend of this reporter, who was there, last week, said a visitor to the three-storey building housing the bookshop would mistake it for a building in war-torn Libya.
His Wonder Loaf Bakery is also said to have been acquired by as foreign-based Super Eagles defender. His airline (Concord Airline), football club (Abiola Babes), Concord Publishing Company, telecommunication outfit and many others have all gone with the late philanthropist.
With over 80 children from about 26 wives, things appear not to be any longer at ease with an erstwhile richest family in Nigeria. One of his sons from his Ivorian wife, according to a report, was said to have dropped out of school.
The boy, reported to be in his early 20’s, was quoted in an interview as saying, “You won’t believe this, but it is true. I dropped out of school for lack of fund, and I am not the only one of such Abiola’s children… It is a sad thing to see this kind of thing happening to some of us. But I have taken my destiny in my hand by pursing my small business.”
Some people who spoke with Sunday Tribune said Chief MKO was a good businessman but failed to leave behind endurable succession plan for his children to manage his chain of businesses the moment he indicated his intention to join politics.
Reverend John Odunuga, an Abeokuta-based cleric, told this reporter that Abiola’s death on July 7, 1998 sealed up his fate and business concerns. “Death is a leveler. It takes away both the rich and the poor. If MKO were to be alive today, his companies would still be flourishing.
"His charisma alone is enough to sustain his companies let alone his wealth of experience and enormous resources which he would have injected into them to ensure their viability. His death is a big blow not only to his family, but also to the entire nation.
"How many philanthropists have you seen since his demise? Those who are rich in today’s Nigeria are chronically self-centered persons who care less about others. MKO wasn’t like that. He lived for all. Every part of this nation benefited from his wealth,” he said.
Commenting on the largeness of his family as a possible disintegrating factor, a family source said it was not. He told Sunday Tribune that there was nothing wrong in the late business mogul’s penchant for polygamy, noting that the children and his wives ought to come together and devise a means of protecting the image and the legacy of their late father.
“There is nothing anyone can do about it. The children, wives and other family members can rescue MKO’s companies. This is not the time to engage in tussles over property or what else? They can collectively manage what Abiola left behind for the good of all,” the source remarked.
Though his death still leaves sour taste in the mouth of many, it is generally believed that he was killed in order to end his clamour for his mandate.
Some human rights groups in the country have several times called on government to unravel the cause of his death. The Campaign for Democracy (CD) and Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group, it would be recalled last year during the thanksgiving service organized to mark the 10th anniversary of Abiola’s death in Lagos, called on the Federal Government to immediately constitute a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate the cause of death of late Chief MKO Abiola.
They said this became imperative because of their belief that the late business mogul died in suspicious circumstances in government custody while trying to realize the mandate freely given to him by the Nigerian people.
Afenifere spokesperson, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, had alleged that the presence of a particular American official increased the suspicion that Chief MKO Abiola was murdered on July 7, 1998. He said the same American official was in the country when the former Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, was assassinated and was also in the country when Abiola was killed having met with him a few days before his death.
Justice, it is believed, could only assuage the anger and bitterness of scores of family members and few well wishers who still stand by the family and lend their voices to Abiola’s course.
NB: This piece was published in 2011 to commemorate the 18th anniversary of June 12 election.
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