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Tribute: Moshood Kashimawo Abiola: A Life Fulfilled By Dele Momodu

Published

8 years ago

June 13, 2018

Eric

Say what you will, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola has finally achieved apotheosis. Not many humans are so lucky, or that endowed in life or in death. It is common to hear ordinary mortals say, in moments of deep frustration, Abiola should not have joined politics. In theory, such proponents believe he would be alive today. That is normal, because no one likes to lose a loved one, no matter how old. But there is never a cast-iron guarantee about life and death. No one ever chose when to be born and when to die.

Abiola’s life was a stuff of fairy-tale, and eerily mythical. He was the 23rd child of his dad when he was born on August 24, 1937, to the family of Salaudeen Abiola, in the Gbagura compound of Abeokuta, Ogun State. All 22 children born before him had died in infancy under varying and mysterious circumstances. His parents doubted if Moshood would stay or go the way of the other 22 children, the reason he was promptly and grudgingly named Kashimawo. But as fate would have it, Moshood not only stayed, other children born after him also enjoyed the same grace, making him a harbinger of good tidings. As was the norm in those days, his parents were not economically buoyant, but they nevertheless struggled to send him to school.

Abiola showed much promise early in life. He was gifted with a magnetic brain, and photographic memory, and also had an unusual ability for entertainment. Indeed, his musical performances enabled him get money that helped him and other siblings fund their education. The beginning of the great entrepreneur that he was to become was already sowed, and germinated, from such business dexterity. Abiola did not allow his under-privileged pedigree to affect him. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable. He spent his most formative years at the famous Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta. That was where he encountered Christian teachings and assimilated the Bible alongside his Koranic background. He became a versatile man who never discriminated against anyone on account of tribe or religion.

After secondary school, he worked briefly as banker with Barclays Bank in Ibadan. Thereafter, he proceeded to Scotland in search of the golden fleece and obtained a First Class degree in Accountancy from the University of Glasgow and a distinction from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. He worked briefly abroad before returning home to work at various companies, including University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, Pfizer Nigeria Limited and eventually, ITT Corporation where fortune and fame smiled on him. His was a meteoric rise from grass to grace because of his boundless energy, prodigious brilliance, great tenacity, never-say-die attitude, clear-headedness and uncommon ability to make and keep friends, in low and high places. He rose to become Vice President of ITT in Africa and the Middle East and Chairman of ITT’s Nigerian subsidiary.

Abiola’s business interests were humongous. He was more than an octopus with long fingers in many pies. He had substantial investments in telecommunications, oil and gas, media, music, farming, shipping, banking, sports, real estate, bookshops, airlines, bakery, bulk deliveries, printing, and so on. In his time, Abiola was probably the largest employer of private labour in Nigeria, with offices and homes in several countries abroad.

Abiola was the quintessential philanthropist and a most generous giver who gave unconditionally to people, organisations, institutions, communities and societies of different persuasions. He contributed to building many churches and mosques across Nigeria, water projects, medical facilities, libraries, sports facilities and so on. On a single day, he donated N1 million each to 30 Nigerian universities, an unprecedented and most remarkable move that endeared him to students and parents nationwide. Abiola changed the stature and status of journalists in Nigeria by elevating them from Press boys to gentlemen of the Press through incredible wages, training, exposure and incentives.

Abiola was a self-appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary of the black race. He championed the causes of Black people all over the world by leading a ceaseless campaign for Reparations from the Western world for the many decades of slavery. He was specially recognised by the American Black Caucus and was awarded an honorary Doctorate Degree by Tuskegee University, USA. He was a special friend of Lords and Royals and met many world leaders in recognition of his leadership and statesmanship. He was one of the most decorated Africans ever and possibly the man with the highest number of Chieftaincy titles on the continent of Africa.

Abiola’s foray into politics was never an accident. It was clearly planned and meticulously orchestrated. He had been a member of the National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) at the age of 19. He was therefore not a tyro when he rejoined politics in the late seventies. However, he was soon frustrated out of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) by the shenanigans of a powerful cabal in 1981, because they saw the grave threat he posed to their obsession for power, as control freaks. He had set his eyes on the Chairmanship of the party as a launch-pad to his Presidential ambition. He was told in unambiguous terms that the Presidency was not for sale. He went back home to lick his wounds with equanimity and waited to fight another day. But he was already a marked man who was being keenly watched by the Nigerian Mafia. He had occasional brushes with the government of his supposed best friend, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who dribbled and waltzed his way through the labyrinth of power and left everyone dazed with his wizardry. Babangida’s transition time-table was as confusing as it was befuddling. But everything is for a season!

Abiola resolutely had his sight on the Presidency but bided his time patiently. Before he took the leap of faith in January 1993, he had made wide and extensive consultations and was reasonably assured that President Babangida was ready to hand over power, finally. Abiola bought the assurance hook, line and sinker and took what turned out to be a kamikaze plunge. He fought with everything to upstage both Alhaji Babagana Kingibe as well as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, his two main rivals within the Social Democratic Party. He won the ticket eventually but had to contend with the Governors of his party who were rooting for Kingibe. He ended up with a Muslim/Muslim ticket but his charisma, panache, affluence and legendary generosity meant that he got away with this huge risk and gamble, in a religiously volatile country. He won the June 12 Presidential elections convincingly and resoundingly. Although the results have never been formally declared by NEC, the full details were before the High Court which ordered NEC to declare them. The military responded with such savagery and bestiality that nobody could have predicted or anticipated.

Abiola had managed to get very close, in fact too close, to touching distance of his holy grail when the military top brass struck and annulled the election, the first of its kind in Nigeria, because it was free and fair. The annulment was as audacious as it was reprehensible. Abiola and his civilian army of supporters pushed hard against an obstinate and vicious military that ostensibly had nowhere to go, and rigidly insisted that it was not ready to go. A lot of water passed under the bridge and Abiola went through so much trauma trying to retrieve his stolen mandate. The world community watched in total bewilderment and anguish as Nigeria went through its season of anomy. Unknown to Nigerians, and friends of Nigeria, Abiola was on his road to Golgotha. World figures came from the United Nations and the Commonwealth Office but neither Dr Kofi Anan nor Chief Emeka Anyaoku could convince Abiola to forget his mandate. He chose to die fighting like a man, a brave warrior in the forest of a thousand daemons, after all, he was the fabled and fabulous Aare Ona Kakanfo, the generalissimo of the Yoruba race. He had crossed the Rubicon and could not afford to let down the Nigerian people. The Generalissimo is not expected to shy away or run away from a fight. Abiola’s wit and wisdom were surreal. His courage and devotion to the cause of Nigeria were never in doubt. His humility and generosity were clearly unparalleled. In short, in his own inimitable way, Chief MKO Abiola was nonpareil!

Abiola was last visited by two august visitors from America on July 7, 1998, Thomas Pickering and Susan Rice, and the unexpected happened. They announced that Abiola had died of “apparent heart attack.” That was it. Abiola instantly became a martyr for democracy. Abiola left the world in a dramatic fashion, just as he came. The shockwaves of his death reverberated across the oceans to far flung places. Abiola was physically out of circulation, but the spirit and soul of June 12 was very much alive. Every effort to kill it remained abortive and aborted and could not be obliterated.

Abiola’s mandate stood ramrod for 25 years. Justice was delayed, but this one was never denied. President Muhammadu Buhari was probably haunted by the ghost of June 12, privately, as are a lot of others, both military and civilian. For whatever reason, or possible motives, he did the unthinkable, by recognising Abiola as the true winner of that watershed election. He recognised that it has never been the case of a presumptive winner, but that of an outright and undeniable winner. He finally brought the ghost to rest yesterday, in Abuja, and got a thunderous ovation for his courage and vision.

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Akpabio Lashes Out at Tinubu’s Critics, Says Nigeria Safe Despite Insecurity

Published

3 days ago

June 10, 2026

Eric

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has urged Nigerians to be careful of those trying to kidnap for ransom.

Akpabio argued on Tuesday that those behind kidnapping are perpetuating the activity to create an impression that Nigeria is not safe.

Speaking in Abuja during the commissioning of road projects to mark President Bola Tinubu’s third year anniversary, Akpabio said some of the president’s critics have resorted to paying youths to cause mayhem.

Akpabio accused Tinubu’s critics of focusing on insecurity instead of policy and infrastructure.

“Minister you said that people claimed that nothing is happening in Nigeria under the administration of President Tinubu. If they did not say that, how will they go for election? he asked rhetorically.

“If you realize what is happening recently, when they realized that they can’t talk about projects, performance, good laws, transformation in the Petroleum industry, subsidy removal that have been promised Nigerians for decades, they can no longer talk about the high-rise buildings in Abuja such as the NRS building, they resorted to paying young people and recruiting them to cause mayhem in the country.

“Be very vigilant and be careful about people trying to kidnap for ransom. They are kidnapping in order to give the impression that Nigeria is not safe.

“Our men and women in uniform have done tremendously well but many people will not know and that is why I keep saying that the devil you see today, you will soon see them no more.

“Elections will come and go; elections will never be our end; we will see the end of elections; it will never see our end,” he said.

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The Search for Justice: ADC vs Tsoho

Published

5 days ago

June 8, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

From the first day the African Democratic Congress (ADC) took a new shape in July, 2025, in readiness to wrest power from the government of the day, crises, allegedly engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC), have remained its lot.

From the struggle for leadership positions to the fight to save itself from deregistration, the hitherto coalition and main opposition party, has remained in a battle for its life and existence. And has not relented in the search for lasting justice. This time, it has taken the law itself to court to ensure that justice is not only done, but seen to have been done.

It would be recalled that shortly after the the party ratified the election of Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Chairman and Secretary of the party respectively, skirmishes were noticed among the rank and file of the party as a supposedly former deputy national chairman of the party, Nafiu Bala Gombe, claimed chairmanship of party, saying that since the founding chairman had resigned, it is constitutionally incumbent upon him to automatically assume the chairmanship role.

Gombe’s claims came on the heels of his ‘resignation’ from office, which paved the way for a new national executive of the party to be constituted. But his claims did not deter the party from carrying on with the formation and running of the party, including holding a keenly contested presidential primary election, which produced His Excellency, the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. So Gombe went to court. Yet, Mark and Aregbesola carried on the running of the party.

As a result, Gombe had approached a court for an order restraining Mark leadership from parading themselves as leaders of the ADC pending the hearing and determination of his suit challenging their leadership.

He had also asked the court to issue another order against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), restraining it from recognizing the Mark leadership.

But in his ruling in the interlocutory application, Justice Emeka Nwite ordered Gombe to put the defendants on notice so that they appear before the court to show cause, why the application should not be granted.

Rather than appearing before the trial court to show cause, the defendant appealed to the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court to dabble into the matter they described as internal matters of the ADC.

The appellate court in dismissing the appeal for lacking in merit, ordered accelerated hearing in the suit and further ordered all parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.

Dissatisfied, Mark had approached the appellate court but, his appeal was dismissed and the matter returned to the trial court.

With the to and from nature of the cases involving the ADC leadership crisis, the party has accused judges of bias in favoring party detractors and disobedience to court rules among other malice, the party has taken a new route to obtain the much eluded justice, and that involves charging the custodians of the law to court.

Consequently, the ADC has filed a lawsuit before a High Court in Abuja involving the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, over concerns arising from the ongoing leadership dispute within the party.

Also joined in the suit is the National Judicial Council (NJC), which the party said had not addressed issues it raised regarding the handling of a case challenging the leadership of former Senate President, Senator David Mark, within the ADC.

The lawsuit, dated June 4, 2026, was filed by the National Welfare Secretary of the ADC, Nkemakolam Ukandu, who is seeking to be joined in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025 instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe against the Mark-led leadership of the party.

According to the suit, Ukandu expressed concerns about the handling of the matter and alleged that the actions of both Justice Tsoho and Justice Peter Lifu, the judge assigned to hear the case, could affect confidence in the proceedings.

The lawsuit further stated that the assignment of the case to Justice Lifu stirred concerns among some members of the party, who believe the process may not guarantee a fair hearing.

The legal action marks a fresh twist in the leadership dispute within the ADC, which has attracted significant political attention ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Aside Justice John Tsoho, other defendants are the National Judicial Council (NJC), and Justice Peter Lifu, a judge newly assigned to hear the suit challenging the Senator David Mark-led leadership of ADC.

The plaintiff, who was seeking to be joined in the Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, brought by Nafiu Bala Gombe against the Mark-led leadership, accused the chief judge and Lifu of manifest bias, and willingness to do the biddings of persons against the interest of the party.

Ukandu, in the suit he personally filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, faulted the chief judge for reassigning the suit to Lifu, in alleged disregard of the orders of the Supreme Court as well as Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, who initially heard the suit brought by Gombe against the party.

The plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ ABJ/ CS/ 1165/2026, recalled that an appeal from an interlocutory decision of Nwite rose to the Supreme Court, wherein the apex court on April 30, 2026, “made an order of remittance of Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025: Nafiu Bala Gombe VS. ADC & 4 ORS back to Justice Emeka Nwite for continuation of hearing of pending applications challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court.”

He stated that upon resumption of hearing before Nwite, the plaintiff wrote to the chief judge praying for a reassignment of the matter to another judge of the Honourable Court.

Ukandu stated, “All the defendants’ counsel, including counsel to the applicants seeking to be joined in this matter, opposed the said application by the plaintiff’s counsel and Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite thereafter adjourned the matter sine die pending the service of the said letter by the plaintiff’s on all the parties in the matter, outcome of the letter by the 2nd defendant and the furnishing of the CTC of the judgement of the Supreme Court to the court.

“Without complying with the orders of the Supreme Court and Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite, the 2nd Defendant in abuse of his judicial powers reassigned this matter,” to Lifu.

He added that the third defendant, on his part, pretending not to see the order of Nwite, went ahead and fixed the matter for hearing for June 3, 2026.

Ukandu further recalled that ADC had on May 7 informed the public through a press release that the chief judge had planned to reassign the case to another judge favourable to the plaintiff.

He said the party had “warned against such unethical practice but the 2nd Defendant despite the public outcry reassigned the suit to the 3rd Defendant who have been nick-named as ‘Wike Judges’.”

He stated that the third defendant had started presiding over the matter, despite taking judicial notice of the orders of the Supreme Court and Nwite, and that the matter came up for hearing before the third defendant.

Though neither the Federal High Court nor the National Judicial Council had publicly responded to the issues raised so far, it is imperative to to state that the ADC appears to have lost interest in both the judiciary, which it believe is kowtowing to the dictates of Gombe, and by extension the body language of the Federal Government.

The ADC appears to have managed to draw the sympathy of the public as a group known as the Grassroots Mobilization Network (GMN), has lent their voice to the supposed injustice leveled against the Mark-led ADC, raising concerns about the handling of the matter, and calling for transparency in the judicial process.

The group alleged that the judiciary was being used to target opposition parties.

The group expressed concern over what it described as growing public distrust in the judiciary and called on relevant authorities to ensure fairness and transparency in the handling of politically sensitive cases.

While Nigerians await the outcome of the litigation, and other resolution of other sundry issues arising from the ADC and the judiciary, the party is going ahead making last minute transparent efforts to nominate a suitable running mate to bear the presidential flag with the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Among the party’s shortlists are the first runner-up in the presidential primary, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Akinwumi Adesina, Emeka Ihedioha, Emeka Nwajiuba and Chief Dele Momodu.

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Gunmen Abduct Ex-Power Minister Adelabu’s Sister, Her Two Sons in Ibadan

Published

1 week ago

June 3, 2026

Eric

Suspected gunmen have abducted the sister of a former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The family of former minister and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) confirmed the abduction, disclosing that Mrs. Olaide John-Paul and her 12-year-old twin sons were kidnapped by the gunmen on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.

According to a statement issued by Adelabu’s media aide, Femi Awogboro, the victims were kidnapped at about 7:30am while Mrs. John-Paul was taking her children to school.

Mrs. John-Paul, the youngest of five children of Mrs. Olufunmilayo Aduke Adegoke Adelabu, reportedly retired voluntarily from her career at First Bank Pension Custodian in 2025 before relocating to Ibadan with her children.

She was said to be making arrangements to join her husband, who had earlier relocated to the US.

The family expressed deep concern over the development but stated that security agencies had already commenced efforts to rescue the victims and apprehend those responsible.

“We are pleased to confirm that security operatives have swung into action and preliminary investigations have commenced in earnest,” the statement partly read.

While appealing for calm, the family urged members of the public to refrain from spreading unverified information that could undermine ongoing rescue operations.

“We are deeply distressed by this unfortunate incident, but remain hopeful that the victims will be rescued safely. We appeal to the public to remain calm, avoid speculation and support ongoing efforts with prayers,” the statement added.

The family also called on anyone with useful information that could aid the rescue operation to promptly share such intelligence with security agencies through the appropriate channels.

It assured that it would continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities and provide updates as investigations and rescue efforts progress.