8th July, 2015
Jamiu Yisa
Hafsat Abiola-Costello, daughter of the late business mogul and politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, popularly known as MKO, has said that her father sacrificed all for the nation at the expense of his family.
The daughter of the late business mogul who said this at an event organised to mark the 17th anniversary of his demise, added that, the family he left behind is now suffering because of the singular decision he took back then.
“He lost his life because he did not want to betray his people. We accept all the sufferings we go through. Nigeria can’t be great if people did not suffer for the nation,” she said.
The event which was put together by the Campaign for Democracy (CD) and the Women Arise Initiative, had in attendance, former military governor of Lagos state and leader of the defunct National Democratic Coalition, Ndubuisi Kanu; former President, Nigeria Bar Association, Priscilla Kuye; Comrade Femi Aborishade; Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, represented by Mrs Idowu Obasa, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources; Abdul Abiola, among others.
The activists also walked in honour of Abiola as they chanted songs in memory of the deceased after which they gathered at Abiola’s graveside to extol his qualities.
Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, National President, CD, said Abiola displayed uncommon courage, unparalleled dignity and unusual candour in defence of the mandate reposed in him by change-seeking Nigerians who trooped out to vote for him in on June 12, 1993 and engaged all the illegal regimes that held sway while the legal president was languishing in jail.
“Seventeen years after his elimination, President Abiola still stands tall than all his adversaries and his murderers. He represents what Nigeria is capable of being but which we are not because of the machinations of a greedy cabal,” she said.
Kanu said Abiola represented hope for the Nigerian people, saying that he would have taken the nation to greater heights if he was sworn in as president.