Hehehe....Whenever and wherever the political
history of Nigeria is to be written, the story of the late Chief Moshood
Kasimawo Olawale Abiola will take a chunk of the narration. The
Abeokuta, Ogun State-born billionaire businessman of the Social
Democratic Party contested the June 12, 1993, presidential election –
widely acclaimed to be the most credible election the country has ever
had – and won.
Unfortunately for most Nigerians, who
loved him, supported him and voted for him, the then maximum ruler of
the country, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the election and dashed
their hope in Abiola’s ‘Hope ’93.’
With Abiola’s wealth, popularity and
influence, the masses, the civil society, activists and the
international community were mobilised and rose up for him. Rather than
restore his mandate by declaring him winner of the election and install
him as president, more travails awaited the Yoruba high chief.
One year after protests, rallies,
lobbyists, media campaigns and all other peaceful methods had failed to
recover his mandate, Abiola, on June 11, 1994, declared himself
president. The now defunct Social Democratic Party candidate, in his
famous ‘Epetedo Declaration’ – declared himself president and proclaimed
a new ‘Government of National Unity.’ The speech was what landed Abiola
into trouble.
In the ‘Epetedo Declaration,’ Abiola
noted that he garnered 58.4 per cent of the popular vote and a majority
in 20 out of 30 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in
the exercise, which enabled him to fulfill the constitutional
requirement of winning one-third of the votes in two-thirds of the
states.
Abiola was arrested and incarcerated
shortly after. It was a journey of no return for him. Till date, his
death on July 7, 1998 – after four years in detention and on the day he
was to be released – is still shrouded in mystery. But, many Nigerians
still strongly believe that Abiola’s death was not natural.
Kudirat Abiola
While Abiola was in military
incarceration, his wife, Kudirat, continued with the fight for his
release and the restoration of his mandate. She joined forces with other
pro-democracy activists to stoke the anti-military fire and to give the
pro-democracy struggle a strong push. Like the late HID Awolowo kept
the flag flying when her husband – the late sage – was imprisoned,
Kudirat continued the fight where her husband stopped till she was
assassinated.
Allegedly on the orders of the state,
Kudirat was trailed from her house in Ikeja and was shot dead on the
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday, June 4, 1996, at 44.
More revelations would later be made by a
witness, Mr. Mohammed Abdul, aka Katako, in 2007, that Kudirat’s murder
was state sponsored in a case filed against the former Chief of Army
Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi.
Abdul said, “On the day of the attack,
we followed Kudirat Abiola’s white Mercedez Benz from Ikeja to Allen
Avenue and then to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. When we got to the Toll
Gate area, (Sgt. Barnabas) Rogers asked me to get close to the Benz and I
did. Then, he (Rogers) leaned out of the window and started spraying
the victim with bullets with the P90 rifle. After that, we immediately
drove to Dodan Barracks.”
Frank Kokori
Chief Frank Kokori was the
Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Workers during the June 12 saga. He will be remembered for the pivotal
role he played in the protests against the annulment of the 1993
election by General Ibrahim Babangida.
The NUPENG leader singlehandedly
paralysed the country’s economy by instigating workers in the petroleum
sector to go on strike. Being a monolithic economy, with the military
regime capitalising on oil which was then one of the most sought-after
commodities by world economic powers, the mass action by the Kokori-led
union had a significant impact on the military government’s coffers.
Kokori would later become the National
Financial Secretary of the SDP under the chairmanship of Ambassador
Babagana Kingibe; the party on which platform Abiola contested the
presidential election, with Kingibe as his running mate.
Some political historians have likened
how Kokori’s NUPENG and his compatriots in PENGASSAN tackled the
military government to the late legendry Michael Imoudu and his
comrades, who played a combative role in the anti-colonial struggle.
Thus, this school of thought links the 1945 strike action to the
1993/1994 action.
The Gen. Sani Abacha-led regime was said
to have offered Kokori ‘juicy’ appointments and cash gifts – bribes in
the real sense – which the labour leader rejected in the face of
intimidation and military dictatorship. He stood firm on his
pro-democracy principles.
Wole Soyinka
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, was a
major voice in the post-June 12 struggle. While some democrats were in
charge of the campaign back home, Soyinka made use of all available
international platforms and media to propagate the democratic agenda.
The literary icon used his international appeal to draw the attention of
the international community to events in his home-country.
Soyinka’s voice was notable on the guerilla Radio Kudirat,
which was set up at a time when Babangida and Abacha were ‘dealing’
with media organisations and journalists. He was also a strong pillar of
the National Democratic Coalition, made up of pro-democracy like-minds.
Anthony Enahoro
Like Soyinka, Chief Anthony Enahoro was
also a leader of NADECO during the movement against military junta. He
led the coalition in the Diaspora while on exile. The anti-colonial and
pro-democracy activist was the Chairman of NADECO; the Chairman of the
Movement for National Reformation and was the leader of Pro-National
Conference Organisation.
The journalist, publisher and democrat,
who was a hero of Nigerian independence, was one of the loudest voices
that called for the recognition of the June 12, 1993, presidential
election won by Abiola.
Enahoro, like Kudirat, was also a target
of Abacha’s assassination squad, from which he narrowly escaped in
1996. His offer to help convene a dialogue between the democracy
movement and the junta was said to have been found offensive by the
military regime. He died on December 15, 2010, at 87.
Gani Fawehinmi
The late Abdul-Ganiyu Fawehinmi was one
of the most popular lawyers Nigeria has ever produced. As a human rights
activist, he had a strong mass appeal; his followership was huge. He
spoke to power in defence of the people and their rights, regardless of
what the consequence would be. Before he was recognised and awarded the
coveted Senior Advocate of Nigeria, his followers had ‘honoured’ him
with the ‘Senior Advocate of the Masses.’
Reports have it that the late Fawehinmi
was arrested, detained and incarcerated a total of 32 times by
successive military regimes, including those of Gen. Yakubu Gowon (six
times), Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (three times), Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (17
times) and Gen. Sani Abacha (six times). The lawyer suffered from the
harassment and intimidation in the post-June 12 pro-democracy struggle.
So radical was Gani, as he was fondly
called, that Babangida reportedly said, “If there is one man I respect,
it is Gani. It sounds strange. I appreciate you that you have a strong
conviction and fight for it consistently. This is the context in which I
see Gani. I was a consistent ‘evil’ and he was … a dogged fighter and I
respect him for this. In fact there are three of them I respect like
that. They are Gani, late (Prof.) Awojobi and Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman. None
of them says anything without doing his homework first.”
When asked by journalists why his regime
kept arresting and detaining Gani, the dictator replied, “What kind of
question is that? Every Nigerian president arrests Gani Fawehinmi. Why
should my turn be different? It’s all in a day’s work. It’s just part of
the job description.”
Beko Ransome-Kuti
Beko Ransome-Kuti was a mobiliser of the
masses. He was at the forefront of the battle against military invasion
of the presidential powerhouse.
Under Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, he
was jailed and his medical association banned – just as his brother,
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by the
military ruler – but was released by Babangida in 1985.
Beko formed what has been described as
Nigeria’s first human rights organisation, the Campaign for Democracy,
which was used to tackle Abacha’s dictatorship in the post-June 12
struggle. The CHDR is also Beko’s brainchild.
Under the regime, a military tribunal in
1995 sentenced Beko to life in prison for bringing the mock trial of
Obasanjo to the attention of the world. He was eventually adopted as a
Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International was and freed in 1998
following Abacha’s death.
Activism ran in Beko’s vein, a trait he
inherited from his family – the Ransome-Kuti Family of Egba in Abeokuta;
his parents and all his siblings fought for various human causes all
their lives. He died on February 10, 2006, at approximately 11:20pm at
the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos.
Ndubuisi Kanu
Although Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu
(retd.) started his journey as a military officer, he is now one of the
surviving democrats who pushed away military dictatorship in Nigeria.
After his retirement, Kanu joined the
pro-democracy movement and played a leading role in the agitation for
the actualisation of the annulled June 12 election. He was one of the
leaders of NADECO during the period; he later became chairman of the
coalition in 2013.
Kanu also had his share of the bitter
experiences like other pro-democracy activists like him. Narrating how
he once escaped death narrowly in an interview in 2009.
He said, “Once I had goose pimples
because, then, I was driving myself even though I had a driver. I
reached a point (somewhere) there at Onikan, as I was passing (by) the
stadium, I saw a Peugeot 505. As I got to Awolowo Road (in
Ikoyi), I still noticed the car but I just went on to where I was going.
I didn’t know how and when the vehicle passed ahead of me. I was on one
side of the road when the car came close to me and somebody in the car
shouted to me, ‘Admiral Kanu, how are you?’ I just waved back to him but
it was a very remarkable face…until I saw the face years later on
television. I had goose pimples. What made him change his mind from
shooting me, only God knows.”
Alfred Rewane
Alfred Rewane was a successful
businessman, a close associate of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and a
major financier of NADECO in the post-June 12 struggle.
In the 90s, Rewane’s residence in Ikeja
area of Lagos was the venue of political meetings which led to the
formation of NADECO. He used his means to support his compatriots in the
opposition to the Abacha regime.
Rewane was eventually murdered on
October 6, 1995, by suspected assassins who stormed his 100, Oduduwa
Crescent, G.R.A Ikeja residence, Lagos and snuffed life out of the
78-year-old man.
The Nigerian Police arrested seven
suspects in connection with his murder. Among those charged were Lucky
Igbinovia, Effiong Elemi-Edu, Sylvester Iyasele, Saturday Egbeide, Ola
Obanuso, Akeem Ali and Sunday Obanobi. While five of the suspects were
said to have died in detention, the remaining two were freed based on
weak evidence from the prosecution.
Abubakar Umar
Col. Abubakar Umar (retd.) lives a life
similar to Kanu’s. By 1993, he was a colonel and Commander of the
Armoured Corps Center and School. Despite serving under Babangida, Umar
was opposed to the annulment of the 1993 election.
In what could be described as a deadly
mission, the military officer had begun to mobilise officers with like
minds to mastermind Abiola’s installation as president. However, his
moves led to his arrest and detention for suspicion of conspiracy. He
was lucky not to have been charged. After his release, he resigned his
commission. And after his voluntary retirement from the Nigerian Amy in
1993, he became a social critic and founded a political party called the
Movement for Unity and Progress.
Umar was a vocal critic of the
Abacha-led regime and joined the G-18, a group of politicians who
publicly opposed Abacha’s plan to become president.
Ayo Opadokun
Chief Ayo Opadokun is one of the
political activists sent to jail under military dictatorship. Through
the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere and NADECO, the
vocal lawyer cum journalist spent a part of his life behind the bars in
the battle to bring back democracy.
As the Convener of the Coalition of
Democrats for Electoral Reforms, Opadokun has continued with his
political activism. Till date, he is still asking for the restructuring
of the country’s current federal system to allow true federalism.
Alao Aka-Basorun
The late Chief Alao Aka-Basorun, a
former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, was one of the pioneers
of legal activism. Fondly referred to as ‘The Lion of the Bar,’ he was
said to be one of the earliest proponents of national conference and
restructuring of Nigeria’s federation.
Aka-Bashorun was one of those who
challenged successive military regimes in the country. He was one of the
leading lawyers who defended Abiola during his “treason” trial,
aftermath of his ‘Epetedo Declaration.’
There are reports that shortly after
Kudirat Abiola’s assassination, Aka- Basorun suffered a memory failure
and April 1997, his health degenerated to a point where he could not
even remember the names of his junior partners who appeared with him in
courts.
Opadokun had described how Kudirat was killed and how it allegedly led to Aka-Basorun’s death in an interview with us
He said, “What the Abacha murderers had
done; the way they terminated the life of that distinguished, beautiful
lady, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, was unimaginable. I tell you, one of our
most important and credible leaders, when he saw her remains, never
lived long thereafter.
“This elderly, senior colleague – my
confidant – was totally out of himself when I saw him on his return from
a medical trip abroad. He never survived it. I am talking of Chief Alao
Aka-Basorun. He didn’t recover from it. When I came out of prison,
because I was there when Kudirat was killed, he was already abroad
receiving medication.”
Abraham Adesanya
Adesanya was the leader of the
Afenifere, deputy leader of NADECO as well as a strong ally of other
pro–democracy groups he mobilised against the plan by Abacha to install
military governance in Nigeria. He was a politician, lawyer, activist,
welfarist, aristocrat and liberal progressive.
At the peak of military persecution,
many of the pro-democracy activists, including Enahoro, who was the
leader of NADECO, fled the country on exile but Abraham Adesanya
remained at home with the likes of the late Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana,
Olisa Agbakoba and a host of others.
Adesanya was also arrested and detained
by the military, and almost paid the supreme price for the struggle on
January 14, 1997, when he was attacked by assassins from the
government’s attack force, who rained a volley of bullets into his car
near his Lagos office. How Adesanya escaped unhurt has remained a
mystery.
It was during the trial of those
suspected to have attacked him that revelations were made that he was
marked for assassination for being a member of NADECO, a group already
outlawed by the military regime.
Tunji Braithwaite
Dr. Tunji Braithwaite was a lawyer,
activist and politician, was one of the brains behind the ‘June 12
Coalition of Democratic Formations,’ another pro-democracy advocacy
group. Unlike some of his contemporaries, he rejected offers by
successive military juntas to be part of their regimes.
Braithwaite rejected President Shehu
Shagari’s Second Republic government in 1983, he did same to the offer
by Babangida, who sent General Mohammed Gusau to Braithwaite in 1985 “to
be prepared to join their junta, as the Prime Minister to President
Babangida.”
The vocal revolutionary also had his
share of military intimidation during the fight for democracy. During
the turbulence caused by the Gideon Okar’s coup in the military
hierarchy, Babangida had sent a platoon of armed troops to Braithwaite’s
Lagos residence in April 1990 “to shoot at sight” any resistance to his
troops and arrest Braithwaite.
The activist lawyer was arrested and
locked up in the barracks for over 20 months, during which he was
hospitalised. Babangida’s regime had claimed that Braithwaite’s public
comments might have indirectly “inspired” the coup – perceived as a
Christian coup – against the dictator.
Babangida would later send his Chief of Intelligence Staff to apologise to Braithwaite for the “mistake.”
Again, while several critics of the
Abacha regime went on exile, Braithwaite and a former Inspector-General
of Police, the late M. D. Yusuf, were the first Nigerians who stood up
against Abacha.
Braithwaite’s case challenging the
rigged primary, which Abacha purportedly won, was still pending at the
Supreme Court by the time the tyrant died.
Olusegun Osoba
One of the finest journalists Nigeria
has ever produced, Chief Olusegun Osoba, was the Editor and Managing
Director of government-owned Daily Times Nigeria Ltd under Babagida’s
regime. He had bitter experiences like his compatriots.
At a forum in 2012, the politician
recalled that Babangida sacked him three times while Abacha made
attempts on his life three times due to his alighment with NADECO.
Osoba said in parts, “I will call him by
his name. Three times Babangida sacked me. Three times he re-instated
me. At last, he converted my sack to resignation. Three times Abacha
wanted to kill me. I was in hiding for one year,” he said.
Other notable activists in the June 12
struggle are Bolaji Akinyemi, Bola Ige, Femi Falana, Olisa Agbakoba,
Yinka and Joe-Okei-Odumakin, Dele Momodu, Chima Ubani, Debo Adeniran,
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Omoyele Sowore, Segun Maiyegun, Segun Okeowo, Femi
Aborisade, Joe Igbokwe, Solanke Onasanya, Kayode Fayemi, Shehu Sani,
among several others.
The Villains
Ibrahim Babangida
Perhaps there is no greater thing Gen.
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (retd.) will be remembered for than his
infamous annulment of Nigeria’s ‘freest and fairest’ election held on
June 12, 1993.
Babangida, alias Evil Genius, had made
several failed attempts to become a sit-tight military ruler until he
‘agreed’ to conduct a poll to usher in a democratically elected
leadership for the country. The dictator, nicknamed ‘Maradona’ perhaps
for his cunning ways, gave the impression that all would be well but it
was never so.
MKO Abiola of the SDP defeated Bashir
Tofa of the National Republican Convention but Babangida, in what was
tantamount to a ‘dirty’ slap on the face of the majority Nigerians, on
June 23, 1993, annulled the election and ensured that Abiola never
become president till he ‘stepped aside’ from the presidential seat.
IBB has taken full responsibility of the annulment of the election but claims it was a collective decision.
Among other cancerous legacies left
behind in Nigeria’s political system, Babangida’s regime is widely
regarded as one that institutionalised corruption in the governance, a
‘disease’ the country has yet to recover from ever since. His regime is
also tainted with mass clampdown on the media, including the unresolved
murder of Mr. Dele Giwa, who was killed by a letter-bomb alleged to have
been sent from the presidency.
Sani Abacha
IBB denied Abiola his widely-acclaimed
victory by annulling his election; Gen. Sani Abacha made the denial so
permanent that he got Abiola arrested and detained until his (Abacha’s)
death. It was during Abacha’s regime that more close friends and allies
of the president-elect were lured and lobbied by the military
government, which made some of them to withdraw their loyalty to the
philanthropist.
Abacha also continued from where
Babangida stopped in the clampdown on pro-democracy groups and the
media, leading to deaths, injuries and incarcerations.
Humphrey Nwosu
At the helm of affairs of the National
Electoral Commission was Prof. Humphrey Nwosu. He oversaw the conduct of
what is still referred to as the most credible poll in the country till
date but failed to declare the results of the exercise.
Much later – in 2008, Nwosu, while
launching his book in Abuja, said Abiola scored over eight million votes
to win the election but he failed to say who voided the election, while
the belated comment attracted widespread criticisms.
Although Abubakar Umar said rather than
vilify Nwosu, he and the commission he headed deserved the commendation
of all Nigerians for conducting the freest election in Nigeria.
According to him, rather than blaming the Prof. Humphrey Nwosu-led
National Electoral Commission for the annulment of the election, the
military authorities at that time actually committed the heinous act.
Many Nigerians believe Nwosu would have
written his name in gold if he had dared the consequence of protecting
the will of the masses against the interest of the maximum ruler.
Several pro-democracy activists were killed, incarcerated or exiled in
the aftermath of Nwosu’s inaction.
Babagana Kingibe
Babagana Kingibe was Abiola’s running
mate in the 1993 contest. When the going got tough, Kingibe and the
likes of Tony Anenih allegedly traded off SDP/Abiola’s mandate, which
was seen as one of the greatest betrayals in the June 12 saga.
Uche Chukwumerije
The late Sen. Uche Chukwumerije, was a
‘chief propagandist’ of the military regime that annulled Abiola’s
election in 1993. In defence of the junta as the Minister of Information
and Culture of Babangida’s regime and Shonekan’s ING, the late
politician threw hard tackles at opponents of the annulment.
He would later participate in the
democratic process by contesting the Abia-North Senatorial District seat
at the National Assembly on the platform of the PDP, a seat he occupied
from 2003 to 2015.
Later on in an interview in July 2008,
Chukwumerije said in parts, “In the circumstances of the time, given the
security reports the regime had at that time, it (the annulment) could
be said to some extent to be proper. But given the political
implications, grave political implications for democracy, it is not
proper.”
Nevertheless, after Chukwumerije’s death
on April 19, 2015, the Afenifere Renewal Group criticised the late
lawmaker for his role in the annulment. It stated that anti-June 12
forces denied Nigeria a 20-year worth of democratic progress and
Chukwumerije was partly responsible for the retrogression.
Daniel Kanu
Daniel Kanu was known for his support
for Abacha’s regime and its anti-democratic activities. The
self-acclaimed leader of the youths dined and wined with the autocratic
government.
Abacha had ruled Nigeria for five years
and wanted to elongate his hold to power. Then came Kanu in 1997/1998
who led different political groups such as the ‘Youth Earnestly Ask for
Abacha’ and the ‘Two Million Man March for Abacha,’ in an infamous
attempt to give the dictator a democratic face.
Kanu was reported as saying, “The
destiny of this nation and the transition to democracy under the present
dispensation can only achieve its viable potential if handled by
prudent, purposeful, and transparent leadership of General Abacha.”
He later contested the PDP’s ticket for
the House of Representatives in AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in 2002
and won but his election was ‘annulled.’ The party disqualified him over
“unverifiable certificates” and “unclear antecedents.”
Arthur Nzeribe
Babangida’s regime wanted to remain in
power and the Association for Better Nigeria led by Arthur Nzeribe was
formed to achieve the goal.
By that time, the regime had scrapped
all political parties in the country and created a two-party system made
up of the NRC and the SDP in 1991.
Although the ABN appeared to be
progressive in the long run its pro-government campaigns indicated that
the military regime was behind the activities of the association. For
instance, the association started its campaign by putting up billboards
in Abuja, with the message, ‘Four More Years.’
As a result, pro-democracy groups and most of Nigerian media treated the ABN with contempt.
The ABN had made taken a major step to
ensure the junta remained in power by approaching a court to prevent the
conduct of the June 1993 presidential election. Its argument: leader of
the NRC and the SDP were corrupt politicians.
The Beko Ransome-Kuti-led Campaign for
Democracy had challenged the ABN with the argument that canvassing for
the continuation of the military government in Nigeria was
unconstitutional. The ABN lost the case and the CD won.
Nzeribe’s association, again, went to
court after the poll to prevent the release of the election results. It
was when the military government annulled the election that political
crisis began.
Later in an interview in November 2014,
Nzeribe expressed his pride in being one of the brains behind Abiola’s
election’s annulment.
He said in part, “For us, I got what we
wanted. We said ‘cancel the election’ and, eventually, they cancelled
the election. We said ‘don’t count the votes’ but they counted the
votes. I am proud that we cancelled the election. I wanted the election
cancelled and it was cancelled.”
Abdul-Azeez Arisekola-Alao
The late Ibadan-based billionaire
businessman and Yoruba Islamic leader, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez
Arisekola-Alao, was mutual friends with Babangida and Abiola but he
chose to pitch his tent with the former against the latter. While the
majority of Yoruba leaders were for the June 12 mandate, the Ibadan
chief and a few others were against it.
Over 17 years after the annulment of
Abiola’s election, Arisekola-Alao, in August 2010 at a press conference
in Ibadan, absolved the maximum ruler of guilt over the action.
He said, “Wallahi tallahi billahillazi
la’ila ha illahuwa – and we are in the month of Ramadan; that is what
happened at that time. It was after the election that members of the
Armed Forces Ruling Council threatened to kill both MKO Abiola and IBB,
if he insisted on releasing the result of the election. They threatened
to kill both IBB and Abiola.”
Lamidi Adedibu
The late strongman of Ibadan politics,
Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, was said to have ‘arranged’ the infamous
conditional bail to be granted to Abiola while in incarceration, a move
that would have denied Abiola his mandate if he accepted the offer.
IBB was later quoted as saying that Adedibu supported the June 12 annulment.
Jerry Gana
Prof. Jerry Gana was one of the
civilians co-opted into Abacha’s transition and being the Minister of
Information, he was one of earliest people to sing the dirge of June 12.
Gana had in May 1994, almost the first
year anniversary of June 12, reportedly said, “The military
administration (Abacha’s regime) did not actualise the June 12 election,
in spite of its opposition to the annulment, for fear that certain
sections of the country could rise against it. If they actualised June
12 when they came in, another section would rise.
“The annulment is a painful one but we
cannot because of it allow the people of Nigeria to be destroyed.
Somebody has made a mistake like somebody made in 1966, like somebody
made in 1984, like somebody made a mistake by stopping Jerry Gana from
becoming a president by annulling my own primaries.”
Tony Anenih
Chief Tony Anenih was the National
Chairman of the SDP, on which platform Abiola contested the 1993
election. Anenih, alias ‘Mr. Fix It,’ together with some leaders of the
winning party, had allegedly become sell-outs in the battle for Abiola’s
mandate. Anenih, who later became the Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the PDP, will be remembered for the role he played in ‘fixing’ the
people’s mandate.
Al-Mustapha, Sofolahan, others
Abacha’s former Chief Security Officer,
Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha; Kudirat’s former Personal Assistant, Alhaji
Lateef Shofolahan; a son of late military Head of State, Gen. Sani
Abacha, Mohammed Abacha; and Rabo Lawal were in December 1999 charged
with conspiracy and murder over their alleged involvement in the
assassination of Kudirat Abiola.
After 13 years of instituting the case,
which was presided over by five successive judges and during which the
accused persons were in prison custody, Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan were
sentenced to death by a Lagos High Court on January 30, 2012.
Lawal Pedro, who led the prosecution,
had accused Al-Mustapha of ordering Barnabas Rogers, (alias Sgt.
Rogers), a member of Abacha’s Strike Force, to kill Kudirat. However,
the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on Friday, July 12, 2013,
discharged and acquitted al-Mustapha and Shofolahan, saying there was
not enough evidence to incriminate him in the murder of Kudirat. The
verdict overturned the death sentence passed on al-Mustapha by the Lagos
High Court.
Similarly, the likes of Bashir Tofa, the
candidate of the NRC, who has yet to openly admit that Abiola won the
election; Chief Earnest Sonekan, Abiola’s kinsman in Abeokuta, Ogun
State, who accepted Babangida’s offer to make him the Head of the
‘Interim National Government’ put together by the regime; Brig.-Gen.
David Mark (retd.), who was a key player in the Babangida-led regime but
would later serve as a member of the Senate for 16 years – from 1999 to
date – within which he was the President of the Senate for eight years;
and Abimbola Davies, who was one of the directors of the Nzeribe-led
pro-Abacha ABN, among several others, have been criticised for their
links with the anti-democratic forces.
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