CHIEF M.K.O ABIOLA

Early life

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State.His name, Kashimawo, means "Let us wait and see". Moshood Abiola was his father's twenty-third child but the first of his father's children to survive infancy, hence the name 'Kashimawo'. It was not until he was 15 years old that he was properly named Moshood, by his parents.

MKO soon became entrepreneurial 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 later founded a band at age fifteen where he would perform at various ceremonies in exchange of food. He eventually became famous enough to start demanding payment for his performances and used the money to support his family and his secondary education at the Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta, where he excelled. He was the editor of the school magazine The Trumpeter, Olusegun Obasanjo was deputy editor. At the age of 19 he joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons ostensibly because of its pan-Africanist agenda, preferring it to the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group's focus on economic and educational development for the Western Region of Nigeria, where the Yoruba were in the majority.

Career

In 1956 Moshood Abiola started his professional life as bank clerk with Barclays Bank plc in Ibadan, South-West Nigeria. After two years he joined the Western Region Finance Corporation as an executive accounts officer before leaving to Glasgow, Scotland to pursue his higher education. In Glasgow he received 1st class in political economy, commercial law and management accountancy. He also received a distinction from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. On his returm to Nigeria he worked as a senior accountant at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, then went onto Pfizer, before joining the ITT Corporation, where he later rose to the position of Vice President, Africa and Middle-East of the entire corporation which was head-quartered in the United States. As a result Moshood Abiola spend much of his time and made most of his money in the United States, whilst retaining the post of chairman of the corporation's Nigerian subsidiary. In addition to his duty's throughout the Middle-East and Africa, Moshood 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. In addition to this he also magaged to perform his duties as Chairman of the G15 business council, President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Patron of the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation, Patron of the WEB Du Bois foundation, trustee of the Martin Luther King foundation and director of the International Press Institute.

Philanthropy


Moshood Abiola sprang to national and international prominence as a result of his philanthropic activities. 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"

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. In this way Abiola reached out and won admiration across the multifarious ethnic and religious divides in Nigeria. In addition to his work in Nigeria, Moshood Abiola was a dedicated supporter of the Southern African Liberation movements from the 1970's and he sponsored the campaign to win reparations for slavery and colonialism in Africa and the diaspora. Chief Abiola, personally rallied 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.

Criticsms of M.K.O. Abiola

The most widely known critic of Chief Abiola, was Fela. In his twenty-five minute song "ITT" (International Thief Thief), although the song was not about Moshood Abiola, he mentioned the name of both Olusegun Obasanjo and Moshood Abiola at the very end. It is far less widely known that Fela had been signed to Moshood Abiola's record label, Decca W.A. and had a dispute over royalties with him. When Abiola asked Fela to take him to court if he felt that he had been treated unfairly, he instead opted to destroy the studio's of Decca. This may have been because Abiola's influence and Fela's unpopularity with the establishment would have made it unlikely that he received a fair trial.

Moshood Abiola is also criticised for his close relationship and support of some of Nigeria's military regimes. He is known to have supported two of the many coup d'etats in the country. He received two oil blocks from the Federal Military Government, however he did not manage to begin extracting oil from them before he died, and therefore they were never a source of his wealth. The oil blocks were revoked by General Abacha, but have since been returned to the Abiola family who are only now developing them. Some people have accused Chief Abiola of looting Nigeria, however none of them are able to explain how and when he did this, especially given the fact that he made much of his money outside of Nigeria and from his private businesses that were independent of the government.The truth is probably more subtle and may likely surround Abiola's decision to at times favor practicality over principle in his dealings with Nigeria's military governments prior to the annulment of his election.

The most serious criticsm of Moshood Abiola concerns his private life. He was a polygamist (which is not at all unusual in Nigeria)and since his death there has been much strife within his family about the distribution of his assets.

Awards and honors

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 USA, as well as the International Committee on Education for Teaching in Paris, amongst many others. In Nigeria, Abiola was made the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. It is the highest chieftancy title in Yorubaland, and has only been conferred 14 times in the history of the Yoruba. This in effect rendered Abiola the Field Marshall of all Yorubas. According to Yoruba folklore the Aare Ona Kakanfo is expected to die a warrior, in the defense of his people.

Involvement in Politics

Abiola's involvement in politics started early on in life when he joined the NCNC at age 19. In the 1980s, he was elected as the chairman of the ruling National Party of Nigeria. However,In 1983, a military coup d'état ended civilian rule. After a decade of military rule, General Ibrahim Babanginda 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 June 12th 1993 presidential elections. Abiola had managed to work his way out of poverty through hard work and symbolised the aspirations of many disenfranchised Nigerians. His commitment to the plight of ordinary Nigerians included establishing 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 was devalued. He also made available daily necessities such as rice and soap at affordable prices in the market.

Presidential elections

Moshood Abiola's Hope '93 political manifesto

For the June 12th, 1993 presidential elections of June 12, Abiola's running mate was Baba Gana Kingibe). He overwhelmingly defeated his rival, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention. The election was declared Nigeria's freest and fairest presidential election by national and international observers, with Abiola even winning in his Northern opponents home state. Abiola won on the national capital, Abuja, the military polling stations, and over two-third's of Nigerian states. The reason why the election was so historic, was due to the fact that men of Northern descent had largely dominated Nigeria's political landscape since independence. The fact that Moshood Abiola (a Southern Muslim) was able to secure a national mandate freely and fairly remains unprecedented in Nigeria's history. However, the election was annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, a political crisis that ensued which led to General Sani Abacha seizing power later that year.

Imprisonment

Moshood Abiola leaving a Black Maria van under heavy armed guard

In 1994 President-Elect Moshood Abiola declared himself the lawful president of Nigeria in the Epetedo area of Lagos island, an area mainly populated by impoverished Nigerians. 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 and arrested on the orders of military President General Sani Abacha, who sent 200 police vehicles to bring him into custody. MKO Abiola has been referred to as Nigeria's greatest statesman

Moshood Abiola was detained for four years, largely in solitary confinement with a Bible, Qu'ran, and fourteen guards as companions. During that time, Pope John Paul II, 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 and Emeka Anyoku 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 recognize a five year old election.

Death

President-Elect Abiola's wife, Kudirat, was murdered in her car in a drive-by shooting in retaliation for her dogged pursuit of the restoration of her husband's electoral mandate. After her husband was arrested she began an intimidating campaign against Abacha's government and organised the masses in support of Chief Abiola's mandate. After her brutal murder, the New York City government named a street in Manhattan (close to the Nigerian consulate) after her. Abiola's daughter, Hafsat Abiola, also became a democracy activist and founded the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy.

President-Elect Abiola died under extremely suspicious circumstances shortly after the death of General Abacha. The officer charged with his security--Assistant Superintendent for Police Theodore Bethel Zadok--testified during the Oputa Panel (Nigeria's version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) about the events leading to the death of Chief Abiola. At 1300 hrs he brought Abiola to Aguda House where he was to meet with a delegation from the United States, headed by Thomas Pickering and Susan Rice. Zadok was under strict orders to taste anything that Chief Abiola ate or drank before giving it to him. According to Zadok, Chief Abiola who suffered from high blood pressure and heart problems, was healthy and in high spirits before the meeting. Before the meeting Zadok was ordered away from Abiola and was unable to taste the tea provided to him by the U.S. delegation. According to Thomas Pickering, Abiola collapsed suddenly during the meeting and was pronounced dead later in the State house clinic. Testimony by Brigadier-General Ibrahim Sabo suggests that Abiola, choked, jerked and foamed before dying, in the exact same manner as General Abacha. Moshood Abiola died on the day that he was due to be released, on July 7th, 1998. Though there is little evidence to support it, some analysts allege that his death (and possibly Abacha's) was masterminded by the American CIA.[citation needed]. There is an alternate version of the events surrounding Abiola's death. Abacha's Chief Security Officer, al-Mustapha has alleged that Moshood Abiola was in fact beaten to death. al-Mustapha, who is still being detained by the Nigerian government, claims to have video and audiotapes showing how Abiola was beaten to death. The final autopsy report, which was produced by an a group of international coroners has never been publicly released. Irrespective of the exact circumstances of his death, it is clear that Chief Abiola received insufficient medical attention for his existing health conditions.