Lekan Abiola was interviewed, Read Below;
What do you think about the annulment of
the outcome of the 1993 presidential
election which your father was believed to
have won?
Of course, I was very disappointed and I felt a
sense of betrayal because IBB was someone we
knew very well. This was somebody who
assured the nation that he was leaving, how can
he do that? If all along, he knew that he had no
intention to leave, why did he allow my dad to
go all the way, do all the campaigns and spend
all that he spent? He could have told my father.
But as a family, we have forgiven him; we have
taken it as act of God.
Have you had an opportunity to speak with
IBB since then and what transpired?
Yes, I met him (IBB) about three years ago and
we discussed. But he could not explain much
but that he himself regretted what happened
and that the whole situation was out of his
hands. He said that his hands were tied and
that there were many things that he could not
discuss. He said we should let bygones be
bygones and to bury the hatchet.
Wednesday will make it 20 years since the
historic June 12 presidential election was
held. Where were you when you heard
about your father’s death?
I was in the United States when I heard the
news. We were preparing to watch a World Cup
game between Brazil and Holland. I had
expected my father to have been released. I
was expecting a call. I went to pray and when I
came back, I saw all my friends who had
gathered together to watch the game but they
were all looking gloomy. Instead of the
television to be tuned to a football channel, I
noticed that it was tuned to CNN. I put all of
these together and asked ‘is my father dead’?
They replied that they were just finding that
out. It was really shocking because we were
expecting that he would be released. Instead,
what we got was the news that he was dead.
And remember that my mum had died two
years before, so losing both parents on the
same issue hurt very much. It was painful for
all of us but more painful for some of us who
are Kudirat’s children, in particular, because his
death meant that we had lost both our parents.
So, where do you start from? It was a disaster;
the worst case scenario.
Why do you consider yourself luckier than
your siblings?
The last time I saw my father alive, he was in
detention and there were about 10 of us – all
siblings – waiting to see him. It was at the
police commissioner’s office in Abuja. This was
like four years before his death. We were there
waiting and we had waited for like two hours. I
remember thinking to myself that when daddy
comes out, I would like to be the one that he
would see first. Like five minutes after I
thought of it, they all left, some to get drinks
because we were all thirsty. Almost
immediately they all left, they brought my dad
out and I had my wish because I was the only
one there. It was after like 10 or 15 minutes
before others came back. I had an extra 10
minutes with him and you can’t buy that with
N1 million. That was the last time all the 10 of
us that went saw him. Before they came, my
father and I chatted and joked one on one. He
had a beard and I said ‘daddy, this beard fits
you’. It was totally black and he had always
been clean shaven; that’s why I said I was
fortunate to have that extra moment with him.
The last time you saw your father, when you
had about 10 extra minutes with him, what
did he tell you?
He (MKO) told me to be strong and to make
sure I pray a lot. He said he would never back
down and that we should not be discouraged.
He said he was sure that he would win back his
mandate and that I should be very prayerful,
hold on to God and to tell my younger ones to
do the same.
How would you describe your relationship
with your late father?
We had a good and wonderful relationship. He
was a good father and I wasn’t a terrible son. I
was lucky and fortunate to get more from him
than a lot of my siblings. I looked up to him
because he was a problem solver; I respected
him a lot. If you had a problem, just call dad to
say these are the problems. He was always
there for us. I wish I can be half as good to my
children as he was to me. He was a good
husband to my mother and a good dad to me
because you need to be both to be considered
a good dad. You can’t be a good dad and be a
bad husband.
How would you like him to be remembered?
Nigeria needs someone that actually cares. We
didn’t need a school to be named after him or
any specific thing. He did what he did to bring
about change in the country, and that is the
only thing that would truly make him happy. He
gave his life for this country, but I have to say
that the public reaction that followed the
attempt to rename UNILAG (University of
Lagos) after him was bad. Even if people had
issues with it, there are ways to go about it;
they can go to court, write letters and things
like that. But the way some people went about
it, blocking the road, and going on Twitter, and
social media and insulting the man is just sad.
Maybe Nigerians are not worth all the sacrifice
because they are ungrateful. This was someone
who gave up everything, including his life. I
would like to commend President Goodluck
Jonathan for being the first president to try to
do something to remember our father. We
appreciate what he tried to do; I wish to say
that he should not be discouraged by the
reaction from the public. Our father and
mother gave their lives for this country. My
mum took a bullet; what is worth doing at all is
worth doing well.
How has it been for the family?
The elections cost a lost of money – billions.
The struggle against Ibrahim Babangida to get
back his mandate, after that, the interim
government of Shonekan and then Sani Abacha
cost him a lot. Government did not pay the
debts owed to him for projects he had done; all
the contracts he had were cancelled. They
locked him up; no compensation for the family.
My mother got shot in the head; her businesses
too were shut down. But we thank God that he
died for something honourable and just. For
like 14 years, government has not done
anything, they have not really apologised, and
they have not done anything to compensate us.
So I’m not going to hold my breath that
government will still compensate the family for
everything they did to us. After all, all that we
have in the end is our deeds.
You lost your mother two years before you
lost your dad. How did you and your dad
take the loss?
I was in the US at the time; someone called to
say that somebody in our family had been shot.
It was the last thing any of us expected. When I
was told, I remember repeating ‘daddy’, but
they said it wasn’t daddy but mummy. I couldn’t
imagine that it would be mummy because she
was free; it was daddy who was in detention.
I came back home to see dad and to try to get
back my mum’s containers that were held but
we were not allowed to see him. We wanted to
know what we should do but they did not allow
us to see him in detention.
We met with Oladipo Diya, who was the
second-in-command then. He asked us to talk
to Hamza al-Mustapha, but al-Mustapha would
say we should call back the next day. He just
said, ‘Call back tomorrow’. Then one day, he
banged the phone. So we didn’t get to see him
(MKO Abiola) to know his reaction to it. It must
have been very painful for him, to hear that
the woman that had seven children for you was
shot just like that. It was injustice on top of
injustice, but I know that Allah will judge.
My younger brother, Jamiu, had told me to get
our mother out. He said the government would
kill her but I said that the worst they would do
was to lock her up, that who would want to kill
a woman? That’s to show how wicked some
people can be. You shot someone in the head
and did not allow the children to see their
father.
When she died, it was the last thing I could
ever imagine, that these people could descend
so low. My mother knew Mariam Abacha; my
sister and her kids were in school together. My
dad also knew Abacha. Last year, I met Mariam
Abacha in Mecca and some of the kids. I told
her that I don’t have any animosity against her
family. I told her that I expect God to forgive
my father and her husband too. I know that
when Abacha died, my father wrote Mariam a
condolence letter. So if my dad buried the
hatchet, why not me? As Muslims, we are
brothers and sisters.
How do you remember him today?
I’m glad that he was a good Muslim; both my
late parents actually. At the end of the day, we
have nothing except our faith and our good
deeds – no money, no shoes, no cars, we have
nothing.
When Abiola was alive, there used to be so
many visitors coming and going, but the
premises are very quiet now. Why is that?
He was always helping people a lot; if you have
a place where the owner helps people, there
will be crowds. People were always coming to
come and collect something. Now, my father is
no longer alive and his businesses have been
crumbled. The family is no longer in a good
shape to be able to continue doing that kind of
thing anymore. Obviously, you will not see
people coming like they used to, but some of
his children are still here. Two of his wives are
still living here and the mosque is still open. So
maybe not as many people as before, but we
still have people coming in.
Abiola had many wives and many more
children. How was growing up for you?
He only had four wives as a Muslim. The ones
outside were concubines and they were not
inside the house. So it was just us – the four
wives and their children – and we had a good
relationship with one other. Out of the children
belonging to the four wives, I had a good
relationship with about 15 of them. The other
four that I was not so close with, it was not
because of animosity or anything like that. It
was just because they were older than me and I
didn’t get to see them often. The wives also got
along fine but sometimes you know women,
they sometimes don’t get along. But generally,
the relationship was okay.
After Abiola’s death, many people wonder
why his businesses have gone down. Why is
this so?
There is no guarantee that your business will
survive over time. Today, the exchange rate is
so high. During Abacha’s time, it was N80 to a
dollar, but now, it’s about N160. It’s very
difficult to do business in Nigeria. There have
been efforts to improve the rail system but the
Central Bank of Nigeria should do something
about the interest rate which is above 20 per
cent. As it is, products made here will find it
difficult to compete against those of other
countries. If countries like US and the UK
where their interest rate is like two or three
per cent, their economies are still shaky, so
what can we say about Nigeria where the
interest rate is over 20 per cent? We’ve seen
improvement in electricity generation but we
still need more improvement in electricity. No
compensation for the family: you called an
election, campaigns were held, money went
into these campaigns because materials like
posters were made, etc. He now won the
election, you now annulled the election and
followed that up by locking him up. You closed
down his businesses, you killed his wife and
before that, you crippled her businesses too.
No compensation till now.
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