The annulment of the June 12 presidential elections birthed chaos and tension that characterised an autocratic rule and pandemonium in the country for a period of five years from 1993 to 1998. The calamitous state of the nation at that time forced Babangida to hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan to head the Interim National Government (ING).
Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, popularly known as MKO Abiola, won Nigeria’s presidential election on June 12, 1993. The election was considered the freest and fairest presidential election in the political history of Nigeria. Abiola who contested under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) defeated his rival, Alhaji Bashiru Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC).
Notwithstanding that the late business mogul, Abiola polled a total number of 8,342,309 against Tofa, his arch rival who garnered 5,952,087 votes, the then Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the results.
The annulment of the June 12 presidential elections birthed chaos and tension that characterised an autocratic rule and pandemonium in the country for a period of five years from 1993 to 1998. The calamitous state of the nation at that time forced Babangida to hand over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan to head the Interim National Government (ING).
Shonekan only ruled for barely 3 months from 27th August to 17 November, 1993 as his government was halted in a palace coup by late General Sani Abacha, who was regarded arguably the most tyrannical, oppressive and autocratic leader Nigeria has ever had with his military junta.
Abacha arrested and detained MKO Abiola, when the latter declared himself the lawful President of Nigeria at his residence at Epetedo in Lagos on June 11, 1994. He died in detention on July 7, 1998.
Here are a few things you should know about late Chief MKO Abiola
1. He died at the age of 60 as he was born on the 24th August, 1937 and died 7th July, 1998
2. His parents – Salawu and Suliat were poor as they traded in cocoa and kolanuts respectively, and he too sold firewoods at the age of nine to survive until he grew up with a passionate spirit to succeed
3. He had many wives with the prominent ones known to be late Simbiat, Kudirat, Doyinsola, Modupe and Remi
4. He had many children as well with the likes of the notable ones as Kola, Deji, Lola, Hafsat, Wura and others
5. He hailed from Abeokuta, Ogun State in the South-West region of Nigeria
6. He was a secondary school classmate of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta
7. He became the editor of his Secondary School magazine called The Trumpeter as Obasanjo was the deputy editor
8. He joined the political party National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons established by late Dr Nnamdi Azikwe at the age of 19
9. He had a degree in Accountancy from the University of Glasgow, Scotland through a scholarship from the Nigerian government
10. He was a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria
11. He was one of Nigeria’s finest business tycoon, philanthropist, politician and publisher.
12. MKO showed entrepreneurial talents at a very young age, at the tender age of nine he started his first business selling firewood. He would wake up at dawn to go to the forest and gather firewood, which he would then cart back to town and sell before going to school, in order to support his old father and his siblings. He had many investments contributing to the socio-economic developments of Nigeria which included Abiola Farms, Abiola Bookshops, Radio Communications Nigeria, Concord Press, Concord Airlines, Wonder Bakeries, Summit Oil International Limited, Habib Bank and Abiola Football Club among others.
13. He was detained for four years by late Nigeria’s military dictator, Sani Abacha from 1994 to 1998
14. He was a personal friend to the ex-Military leader, Ibrahim Babangida, who annulled his election results
15. He started his professional career as a clerk in 1956 with Barclays Bank in Ibadan, the then old Western region headquarters and the modern Oyo state capital
16. He was actively involved in the formation and activities of the National Sharia Committee in the 1980s
17. He petitioned the United States and other European countries demanding compensations for their enslavement of African people in the 1980s
18. He supported the Southern African Liberation Movements from the 1970s
19. He was a Chairman of the G15 Business Council in the 1980s
20. He was once the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the 1980s
21. Moshood was his father’s twenty-third child but the first of his father’s children to survive infancy.
22. He established a band at age fifteen where he performed at different functions in return of food. He in the end came to be acclaimed enough to begin requesting money for his exhibitions and utilized the cash to uphold his family and his optional instruction at the Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta, where he outperformed.
23. Moshood Abiola sprang to national and global prominence as a consequence of his humanitarian exercises. The Congressional Black Caucus 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”
24. From 1972 until his death Moshood Abiola had been conferred with 197 traditional titles by 68 different communities in Nigeria, in response to the fact that his financial assistance resulted in the construction of 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries, 21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria, and was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in Nigeria.
25. Moshood Abiola was twice voted worldwide businessman of the year, and gained various honorary doctorates from universities all over the world. In 1987 he was given the golden key to the city of Washington D.c., and he was bestowed with an award from the NAACP and the King center in the USA, and also the International Committee on Education for Teaching in Paris, around numerous others.
26. In Nigeria, the Oloye Abiola was made the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. It is the most noteworthy chieftancy title accessible to everyday citizens around the Yoruba, and has just been given by the tribe 14 times in its history. This basically rendered Abiola the ceremonial Viceroy of the greater part of his tribes people.
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