Jamiu
Abiola, a son of late Chief MKO Abiola and his late wife, Kudirat, on Saturday
said the late former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.),
allegedly refused to release his father from incarceration when his health was
failing.
He
also said some Nigerians would have made a hero out of Abdulsalami’s
predecessor, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, who incarcerated Abiola till his
(Abacha’s) death, if he was alive today.
Abiola’s
son said this during the 20th anniversary of Kudirat’s death, organised by the
Kudirat Initiative for Democracy and the Campaign for Democracy.
Jamiu
also described the assassination of his father and mother as a turning point in
Nigeria’s history, adding
Abiola
had won the June 12, 1993, presidential election but the country’s military
dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), annulled the election rated as the
most credible in the political history of the country.
Kudirat
was assassinated on June 4, 1996, by suspected state officials under the Abacha
regime, while her husband died in incarceration on July 7, 1998, in a
controversial circumstance under the Abdulsamali regime.
Speaking
at the remembrance ceremony on Saturday, the younger Abiola noted that people
who worked against the enthronement of democracy during the post-June 12
struggle had become ‘heroes’ in the country.
These
people, he said, included “somebody like the former Head of State, Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, who refused to release the President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria (Abiola) or saw to it that the president died in
detention.”
He
added, “A day before he (Abiola) died, he complained that he had malaria for
more than a month and the government did not attend to him. The president
(Abdulsalami) knew he was very sick but he did not do anything (to salvage the
situation). At the end of the day, the country’s president-elect – my father –
died.”
According
to Jamiu, it is hypocritical on the part of any Nigerian government to see
Abdulsalami as a hero and an adviser to the Federal Government.
Among
those present at the anniversary were a leader of National Democratic
Coalition, Admiral Kanu Ndubuisi (retd.); President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe
Okei-Odumakin; Abdulmumini Abiola and Mrs. Dupe Akin-Ajayi.
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