By Chris Paul Otaigbe
Moshood Olawale Kashimawo (MKO) Abiola would be all smiles on his 81st birthday even though he would be spending it in the company of Angels and not among humans. He would be smiling not just because it was the 21st anniversary of such gathering of friends, loyalists and patriots on his own birthday, in his own house and with his own family and he would not be there to be celebrated by them.
He would be all smiles because, it was though the 21st, but actually the first anniversary of the recognition of the election that won him the mandate that was deprived of him by certain elements in power at the time, 26 years ago. It was indeed, the first anniversary of his birthday after June 12 was officially declared Nigeria’s Democracy Day and made a national holiday.
So, it was that on July 7, 2019, many of the usual suspects converged at his Abiola Crescent Ikeja, Lagos home to celebrate his birthday not only as the symbol of June 12 but as the business mogul, philanthropist and down to earth Sports patron who had a way with everyone he meets. But most of all, many of the younger generation, especially 26 years and below can only remember him, from what they read in books and newspapers or watch on television, as the man who is known as the symbol of June 12.
The crowd keeps growing every year and so, virtually all of Lagos civil society and NGO communities were present at the program held under a clement Saturday weather.
The major highlight of the program was the birthday wreath and declaration of MKO Abiola as President at his tomb in his residence.
One thing that binds these people together is the determination to accomplish the self-assigned deliverables for June 12, as one formidable force behind the call for the actualization of the true democracy June 12 symbolizes and which MKO Abiola epitomizes.
WHO IS WHO
The gathering was a roll call of who is who in the pro-democracy and human rights groups, especially those who stood up to the military junta that annulled that historic election 26 years ago. Leading the pack so to speak was the chief convener of the post humous birthday event, Joe Odumakin, president of the rights group, Women Arise for Change initiative. The distinguished gathering also had Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka in attendance. Present also was Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (rtd) chairman of NADECO, Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), rights activist and journalist/ writer, Richard Akinola, son of late Gani Fawehinmi, Mohammed, some Abiola family members and a host of other prominent Nigerians, including members of the public.
Here is what some of them said at Abiola’s graveside:
Joe Okei-Odumakin, Chief Convener, president Women Arise for Change
MKO Abiola was incarcerated for four years. He died mysteriously. MKO could have been the President of Nigeria. He was elected in the freest, fairest and most peaceful election (as) adjudged by both local and international observers. During the incarceration, if you look round and see all the leaders here, they are all the heroes and heroines of democracy. MKO Abiola displayed uncommon courage keeping faith with the mandate freely given to him by the Nigerian people. After his incarceration, he died and for 21 years, we have been here, year in, year out.
MKO Abiola still stands strong, even taller than his adversaries who killed him. MKO Abiola, our President, we are here to tell you that for 20 years, we kept saying, the Nigerian people kept saying that May 29 would not be our Democracy Day but June 12.
After that we also said MKO should be immortalized and 20 years after that June 12 was named our Democracy Day, the national stadium (in Abuja) was named after MKO. All glory and honor would go to the Nigerian people.
Today, we are gathered here to demand that there should be a post humous declaration of MKO Abiola as a past president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and where portraits of past presidents are hung, MKO’s
portrait as a past president must also hang there. We also demand the gazetting of the results of June 12 as patently declared by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu.
And we are still saying that a judicial commission of enquiry should be instituted to ascertain those who committed high treason because it was impunity of the highest order. Finally, the Prisoner of conscience, Leah Shuaibu is no longer with us and several others are still in detention. They are still in captivity. We want to call on President Buhari to rescue Leah Shuaibu and all other who are still in captivity. We would never give them up.
Mohammed Fawehinmi Son of late legal luminary, Chief Gani Fawehinmi.
All I want to say is there was a General, Abdulsalam Abubakar who was in power when MKO died. We should ask him how MKO died. After him, another General was installed, Olusegun Obasanjo. These two people owe us, Nigerians to tell us how MKO died. The only demand I can make to General Mohammadu Buhari, because he seems to be the only sensible and sensitive person to Nigerians plight. He should pay four years salary to the Abiola family because having recognized June 12, he has recognized Abiola as a President, not just President-elect and also award him the GCFR.
Abdul Bako, President, Campaign for Democracy,
Twenty-one years after, Abiola still lives. For us, a President was made, one who was a billionaire who sacrificed his life for not renouncing his mandate. Today, we are here and it is our responsibility to keep that dream of his alive. For me, all leaders have spoken and they have spoken well. For us at Campaign for Democracy, nothing short of making MKO and recognizing him as a past president would suffice and so we call on the federal government to do that immediately. Also, issues around restructuring should be revisited.
Wale Okunniyi, a two-time governorship candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
We have already named this place, Abiola National Democracy House. That is the first thing we have done and we want to reaffirm that what Dr. Joe Odumakin has said is our position. That Abiola should be declared (president) post-humusly. That is the least we can go. June 12 election should be gazetted so that June 12 can be there historically.
Razaq Oladunse, Executive Director, Democratic Initiative
When we have leaders speaking our minds, there is no point repeating the same. But you see when we are talking of minimum demands, after 21 years … a child born 21 years ago, by now, would be thinking of a matrimony somewhere. So, I think we should step it up from the minimum to the specifics. The issue of insecurity, the educational deficit, medical and health infrastructural decay that have suddenly become part and parcel of our society. What Abiola represented to us is not about naming effigies after him, it is not about even declaring days after him. Do we lead in the line his life epitomized around us? No. So, we have to go back and do a good rethink. That what Abiola stood for, what Abiola’s thought process was for when he was alive, can we make it work, if we are sincere. Yes.
Richard Akinola, Journalist and rights activist
Abiola died for the rule of law and justice. In that regard, we can’t keep quiet when lives are languishing in prison despite various court orders. We can’t keep quiet when Dasuki is in prison despite various court orders. Rule of law is germane to any democracy. We have to insist that this is democracy and not military rule. So, rule of Law must be obeyed by this government and the issue of restructuring is a serious issue.
This country has never been this divided. MKO was a unifying factor. But now, Nigeria is now a nation of ‘to your tent O Israel.’
Jamiu Abiola, one MKO Abiola’s children.
I am grateful to every one of you that has been coming to this house for the past 21 years. May God continue to bless you and may God continue to bless our great country. God says in the Quran, that if you are grateful, more will be given to you. We have to reflect that by being appreciative of government for naming June 12, Democracy Day. It was a very, very big step. Almost a miracle, because at the end of the day, we never thought it was going to happen. So much effort has been made to keep the hope alive. I have to really thank people like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Joe Odumakin, and so many other people that have actually kept the hope alive.
I want us to be optimistic that the same federal government that was able to take such a giant step would not stop at that. They are going to do the other things that Nigerians want. The problems we have came as a result of decades of decadence we have in this country and so, it is not so easy to solve the problem, just like that. I urge us to be a little patient and for us to know that we should be optimistic. Yes, it is right for the people to clamor for a lot of things. But they should also, look inward as well. As we seek restructuring, we should seek to restructure our own way of thinking… our way of doing things. It is not just what the government can do. It is what we, the people, can do as a people… how we can become better people.
Akani Kilani
We are here gathered today to remember and recognize the man who stood for and was the symbol of a great struggle. Somebody rightly pointed out that MKO Abiola became a unifying point for people of different strands, interest, ethnic and religious groups in Nigeria. It is important to know that he became that unifying point as people said, because some people said NO to injustice. It is also important to remember that when injustice was meted on Nigerians, some people had the clarity of mind, the courage of voice and the vigor of action to continue to stand up, when a lot of people did not stand up. The recognition of June 12 that we recognize the administration of today for, is not a gesture of goodwill or a symbol of benevolence from this administration… it was because some people, for over 20 years, continue to stand up for over 20 years to ask and to insist. This is now a symbol to the young people to remember that if you continue to stand up, it is possible to get the right things done. It requires vison, it requires vigor.
Prof. Aluko, representing Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor
Today is memorable in various ways, not only as 21st anniversary of the memory of MKO’s passing, but it is the first anniversary after the national recognition of June 12 as democracy day. That is very significant and I think we all have to congratulate ourselves, first, for that simple gesture. More importantly, June 12 started a significant journey of democracy in this country. We are not there yet. Democracy is a process and not a single event, We have a nation to build. We are a country and not yet a nation of shared values. We have to work intentionally to ensure we are a nation of shared values. Just as we were going to start here, I saw a child, five years old, who had one of the T-shirts of June 12. I asked him how old he was and he told me he is five years. I asked him, were you around when June 12 occurred and he said he doesn’t think he was.
It is incumbent upon our parent to inculcate that important struggle for life, for democracy in our children so that they do not forget that the country they eventually inherit was not formed on a bed of roses. That somebody called MKO Abiola died and so many others too died, on their behalf.
Abdulmumuni Abiola, another of MKO Abiola’s children
I am going to read the page 33 of my father’s manifesto. I think it is important we understand what he was trying to accomplish back then and he said: “My country has been very good to me. It is my country that I owe all my endowment. I no longer ask what my country can do for me, all I ask now is an opportunity to give back to my country through loyalty, commitment and dedicated service… a token of what was given to me.” My father never felt the democracy for the country was worth more than him. He knew, with all the money he had, he knew Nigeria was way more important than his life even as one of the richest men in Africa at the time. I would like to encourage Nigerians today that 26 years later, that we can’t be bugged down on who betrayed or did not betray Abiola. We have a country to build. We have children out of school. People dying every day, what happened in the past is in the past. How do you move this nation forward? Constructive criticisms for God sakes… it is not because you don’t like what the government does and you just speak out. Before, people couldn’t even talk in Nigeria. My mum was killed. My dad was killed. I understand the pain of the loss. Nobody wants to live like that. We don’t want to live like that anymore. I don’t want to think anybody as bad or anybody as good. I just want to believe we are all Nigerians and we all want the best for our children. That is enough for me. I want the best for my children and you want the best for your children.
Now, let us make the country last, so our children can have something to call their own. This is 26 years later, Abiola has done his own, what are you going to do to make Nigeria the nation you desire for you and your children?
Femi Falana, SAN, co- convener, lawyer and rights activist
Our Leaders, distinguished guests… number one: we are gathered here today to mark the 21st anniversary of the colossal loss of Chief MKO Abiola. He was killed in detention. The facts came out at the Oputa Panel and the recommendation of the Panel is that the case of MKO Abiola be reopened to probe the circumstances of his death. That was one of the reasons why the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo did not release a White Paper on the Oputa Panel. But we are setting up a team of lawyers to ensure that that matter is reopened and that justice is done at the end of the day.
Secondly, Abiola’s campaign was anchored on farewell to poverty. Today, a hundred million Nigerians have been said to be extremely poor. We therefore need to rededicate ourselves to take our people out of the cocoon of poverty. Right now, we have the highest number of pupils, children that are out of school, about 15 million across the country.
If you have 15 million children on the street, you are likely to have insurgence, Banditry, kidnapping and the rest of it. So, we must not see these criminal activities as in the air…. we must concretize them. I want to appeal to the regime, not to allow the ruling class to defile them. Abiola stood for justice for all. That mandate, that election defied ethnicity, religion and any primordial consideration. Therefore, if you want to recognize June 12, if you want to celebrate Abiola, we must recognize and celebrate our unity as a people and as a country and not the disunity of our country.
The final one, many Nigerians are in detention. You can’t have a democracy where you have people languishing in custody. Right now, not less than 150 people are being detained by the Navy. Some of them have been detained for over two years. Ten of them are detained in a ship on Marina. Very soon, we are going to go there. For the past one year, they have not been allowed to change their dresses. As I am talking to you now, Elzakizaki is not in good condition and if care is not taken, he may die in detention. Nigerian doctors, foreign doctors have recommended to Elzakizaki and his wife to be flown outside Nigeria for medical treatment, but the government has remained silent on it. His wife was shot at on 15th December, 2015. Up till now some of the pellets have not been removed from her body. So, again, she is in danger.
Therefore, if we want to have democracy, we must free all our people. We must ensure that the right to life is respected. We must obey all court orders.
Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chairman NADECO
Ladies and gentlemen, it is not so much those who are here that I address
MKO did not vote himself President. Here lies his body, may his soul rest in peace. Nigerians left ethnicity, religion and all other sectional sentiments and voted for a President and MKO was not voted to be President of MKO. He was voted by millions of Nigerians from all over to be their President. He wasn’t just going to go and answer the name, as steps are being taken and a few things done… and what is important is what Nigerians voted for him for, has to be pursued and one of it was to have a sense of belonging, which have been diminishing. One of the reasons was the desire to have a country that is decentralized and balanced enough to have all hands-on deck to help its growth into a nation state. That is being desecrated.
Therefore, the job we need to do, peacefully (and the dangers are, we may not be able to do it peacefully), is for us to return to the root where we turned the way the wrong way.
Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate
I am not going to say fellow country men and women because we all know what that means. So, I am going to say good afternoon everybody. It is a remarkable gathering and as had been said earlier, it is the first gathering after the official recognition of the truth.
I agree with our young speaker over there about not placing too much emphasis on the past. But we must also, simultaneously, remember that the past is always with us we cannot escape the past. All we can do is ameliorate the bitter memories of the past and like the young contributor also said, confront the challenges of the present; which of course, very often arise from the past. We cannot really escape the past.
We cannot escape the fact that there have been others whose disappearances cannot be explained. We remember people like Bola Ige, the Attorney General of the nation at the time, who was on his way designated to occupy one of the most prestigious positions in the United Nations. He was cut down and till today, there is no one to give us the precise answer.
It is not that we want to exhume the past, it is that we want to exorcise the negative hole of the past, the negative hole of the past on us, and we can only do this by exhuming the truth no matter how old. The truth is imperishable. It would only take some time but we must quarry our way to the core of that essence. That for me, dignifies humanity.
MKO means so many things to many people, but one thing you cannot take away from him, is that he belongs, in that galaxy of stellar leaders, who at the critical moment said NO!
Nelsen Mandela, was such a leader. Leah Shuaibu, another young exemplar. MKO Abiola, when he was given a conditional release said NO! This is one of the lessons MKO would like us to have. We are inching slowly towards closure. One of these days when we would gather here… right in this place, there is that song about water … when that day comes, there would be no water. No trace of any water or moisture (in our eyes). It would be all rejoicing. When all the large amount of contributions and anomalies, which have been mentioned here, when we have set them on the course for elimination, then it would be time to start rejoicing. You have heard of insecurity, obeying the law, which is the one thing that equalizes all of us. This government, this President must be told in no uncertain terms that he can’t pick and choose which laws he must obey. Otherwise, he is setting an example for all of us. There is no exception or inception about the honor of being given the responsibility of running a nation. On the other hand, the responsibility is heavier. You must set an example.
So, we are calling on the President, once again, yet again, obey the dictate of the law. It is this kind of refusal to obey the rule of law that makes some of the populace to think they are above the law and the way they express this immunity is through impunity, preying on the rest of the population… saying, to paraphrase Orwell ‘all men are created equal. But some men are more equal than others.’
This is an intolerable and unacceptable social norm. We all have so many memories and as I said earlier, one of these days, before too long I hope…some of these memories are really hilarious. As you know, MKO… nothing allows this dimension of… to be missing in our lives.
The Ooni of Ife and myself just three nights ago when he visited me in my Ijegba forest village in Abeokuta, to discuss the issues plaguing this country especially the attempt by certain commercial sectors to colonize the rest of this nation. It is a very dangerous issue. Just when we think we are dealing with Boko Haram then come these nomadic herds armed with AK 47 and suddenly but gradually, the kind of harmonious relationship which existed between various arms of the nation, disappears. On a daily basis, our (people) are being threatened, killed, raped and then other productive arms like the farmers being driven out of their own Land.
These are critical issues. It simply reminds some of us who have been boasting that year so and so, we are going to retire, I have said if you are going to call me out for any demonstration, like today, I will only come if you provide me a wheel chair, an air conditional and a refrigerator to refresh myself so I can for once, live my age because all the problems are waking us up from our self-assigned slumber.
FINAL NOTE
Were Abiola to alive and around, the whole of Lagos would have been abuzz for his 81st birthday and these speeches would not have been speeches directed in praise of the dead but an adulation of the living. But then, the spirit of the rhetoric is an adulation of the living memories left behind by the icon and spirit of June 12, MKO.
The one significant point to note is the fact that the Champions of the cause led by the Nobel Laurate, who is himself, in his early eighties, have raised the bar a notch higher.
Having succeeded in getting President Mohammadu Buhari to grant the cause a national recognition and declaration, they now want MKO to be declared a President of the Federal Republic and accorded rights due to past presidents to him. This of course would include hanging of his pictures on the walls among those of past presidents.
On the face of it, it looks harmful even to powers who stood against the actualization of the mandate, right? After all, it is just commissioning the printing and hanging of the picture of the late MKO Abiola to be hung on walls where the pictures of all presidents, past and present are placed. Should the government throw the opportunity to the people to fund the logistics of that assignment, you can bet tens of thousands of MKO pictures would fill every where in Nigeria and it would have been gladly done by the people.
Then, what would the big deal be in just granting the status and mentioning MKO as a past president? After all, it does not translate nor give the liberty or license to a Deji, Abdul and the rest of the MKO’s children to want to lay claim to the Presidency of the country. It would be just a mere symbolic gesture and a mention at occasions. Etc.
But would the powers that be see the matter as this simple and symbolic? Only time and the quarters that matter in the affairs of the nation, Nigeria, would tell.
