Why MKO Abiola Should Be Immortalised

It was exactly 18 years yesterday when the June 12, 1993 presidential election was held in Nigeria. Though Moshood Abiola, the flagbearer of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, was the acclaimed winner of the election which he contested against Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention, NRC, the election was annulled on Wednesday, 23 June, 1993 by General Ibrahim Babangida, Abiola’s friend who was the self-styled military president.

The struggle to regain the mandate resulted in a very serious political impasse and precipitated bloody protests all over Nigeria, moreso in the Southwest. This forced Babangida to quit power on 26 August of that year and a lameduck Interim National Government, ING, headed by Ernest Shonekan was foisted on the nation by the ruling military cabal.

This government was shortlived as Gen. Sani Abacha (now deceased) shoved Shonekan aside on 17 November of that year and proclaimed himself military head of state.

In order to consolidate his grip on power, Abacha set up a hit squad that began the systematic arrests and assassination of prominent politicians and pro-democracy activists.

Abiola was also arrested in 1994 after the famous Epetedo Declaration where he declared himself president and Commander-In-Chief of Nigeria’s Armed Forces. He was incarcerated till he died on 8 June, 1998. Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, had earlier been assassinated in 1996.

Since the death of Abiola, Nigerians have been clamouring for him to be immortalised by the Federal Government.

Abiola was loved by millions of Nigerians because of his philanthropic endeavours. He used his immense wealth to impact the lives of many Nigerian students through scholarships. He built laboratories, libraries, halls of residence, classroom blocks in universities and polytecnics. He built hospitals, churches, mosques and gave huge donations for worthy causes.

During the 1993 presidential campaign, he anchored his programme on a simple slogan called ‘Farewell To Poverty’.

Because of his immense contribution to sports development in Africa, he was called ‘The Pillar of Sports in Africa’ during his lifetime.

In spite of all these, no civilian leader has deemed it proper to immortalise him since 1999 when the nation began another democratic journey.

If President Goodluck Jonathan wants to endear himself to Nigerians who knew what Abiola did and stood for before he died in the hands of the military, he should do the right thing now by immortalising the late business mogul. One way to do that is to declare June 12 as Democracy Day and not May 29. Prominent national monuments could also be named after him. Nigerians have waited for too long for this to happen.