Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, CFR (24
August 1937 – 7 July 1998), often referred to
as M.K.O Abiola , was a popular
Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher,
politician and aristocrat of
the Yoruba Egba clan. He ran for
the presidency in 1993, and is widely regarded
as the presumed winner of the inconclusive
election since no official final results were
announced. He died in 1998, after being denied
victory when the entire election results were
dubiously annulled by the preceding military
president Ibrahim Babangida because of alleged
evidence that they were corrupt and unfair.
Early life
His name, Kashimawo, means “ Let us wait and
see “. Moshood Abiola was his father’s twenty-
third child but the first of his father’s children
to survive infancy, hence the name
‘Kashimawo’. It was not until he was 15 years
old that he was properly named Moshood, by
his parents.
MKO showed entrepreneurial talents at a very
young age, at the age of nine he started his first
business selling firewood. He would wake up at
dawn to go to the forest and gather firewood,
which he would then cart back to town and sell
before going to school, to support his old father
and his siblings. He later founded a band at age
fifteen where he would perform at various
ceremonies in exchange for food. He eventually
became famous enough to start demanding
payment for his performances and used the
money to support his family and his secondary
education at the Baptist Boys High School
Abeokuta, where he excelled. He was the editor
of the school magazine The Trumpeter , Olusegun
Obasanjo was deputy editor. At the age of 19 he
joined the National Council of Nigeria and the
Cameroons ostensibly because of its stronger
pan-Nigerian origin compared with
the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group.
Career
In 1956 Moshood Abiola started his
professional life as bank clerk with Barclays
Bank plc in Ibadan, South-West Nigeria.
He joined the Western Region Finance
Corporation as an executive accounts officer
in 1958.
He went toGlasgow University, Glasgow,
Scotland to pursue his higher education. He
received a first class degree in accountancy.
He also received a distinction from
theInstitute of Chartered Accountants of
Scotland.
He worked as a senior accountant at
theUniversity of LagosTeaching Hospital, on
his return to Nigeria.
He worked at Pfizer
He joined theITT Corporation, where he later
rose to the position of Vice-President, Africa
and Middle-East of the entire corporation,
which was headquartered in the United
States.
Moshood Abiola spent a lot of his time and
made most of his money in the United
States, whilst retaining the post of chairman
of the corporation’s Nigerian subsidiary. In
addition to his duties throughout the
Middle-East and Africa.
Moshood Abiola invested heavily in Nigeria
and West Africa. He set up
Abiola Farms,
Abiola bookshops,
Radio Communications Nigeria,
Wonder bakeries,
Concord Press,
Concord Airlines,
Summit oil international ltd,
Africa Ocean lines,
Habib Bank,
Decca W.A. ltd, and
Abiola football club.
In addition to these, he also managed to
perform his duties as Chairman of the G15
business council,
President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange,
Patron of the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation,
Patron of the WEB Du Bois foundation,
Trustee of the Martin Luther King
foundation and
Director of the International Press Institute.
Philanthropy:
Moshood Abiola sprang to national and
international prominence as a result of his
philanthropic activities. The Congressional
Black Caucus of the United States of America
issued the following tribute to Moshood Abiola:
Because of this man, there is both cause for
hope and certainty that the agony and protests
of those who suffer injustice shall give way to
peace and human dignity. The children of the
world shall know the great work of this
extraordinary leader and his fervent mission to
right wrong, to do justice, and to serve
mankind. The enemies which imperil the future
of generations to come: poverty, ignorance,
disease, hunger, and racism have each seen
effects of the valiant work of Chief Abiola.
Through him and others like him, never again
will freedom rest in the domain of the few. We,
the members of the Congressional Black Caucus
salute him this day as a hero in the global
pursuit to preserve the history and the legacy
of the African diaspora.
From 1972 until his death Moshood Abiola had
been conferred with 197 traditional titles by 68
different communities in Nigeria, in response to
the fact that his financial assistance resulted in
the construction of
63 secondary schools,
121 mosques and churches,
41 libraries,
21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria
And was grand patron to 149 societies or
associations in Nigeria. In this way Abiola
reached out and won admiration across the
multifarious ethnic and religious divides in
Nigeria. In addition to his work in Nigeria,
Moshood Abiola was a dedicated supporter of
the Southern African Liberation movements
from the 1970s and he sponsored the campaign
to win reparations for slavery and colonialism
in Africa and the diaspora.
Political Career:
Abiola’s involvement in politics started early
on in life when he joined the National
Council of Nigeria and the
Cameroons (NCNC) at age 19.
As Abiola was already involved in politics,
he joined the ruling National Party of
Nigeria (NPN) in 1980 and was elected the
state chairman of his party.
Re-election was done in 1983 and everything
looked promising since the re-elected
president was from Abiola’s party and based
on the true transition to power in 1979;
Abiola stood for the presidential nomination
of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and
beat Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe and
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to secure the
presidential nomination of the SDP ahead of
the 12 June 1993 presidential elections.
Abiola had managed to work his way out of
poverty through hard work and symbolised
the aspirations of many downtrodden
Nigerians. His commitment to the plight of
ordinary Nigerians included establishing
Abiola bookshops to provide affordable,
locally produced textbooks in the 1980s
when imported textbooks became out of the
reach of ordinary Nigerians as the naira was
devalued. He also made available daily
necessities such as rice and soap at
affordable prices in the market.
Presidential elections
12 June 1993 presidential elections,
Abiola’srunning mate was Baba Gana
Kingibe. He overwhelmingly defeated his
rival, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican
Convention.
The election was declared Nigeria’s freest
and fairest presidential election by national
and international observers, with Abiola
even winning in his Northern opponent’s
home state.
Abiola won at the national capital, Abuja,
the military polling stations, and over two-
thirds of Nigerian states.
The reason why the election was so historic,
was because men of Northern descent had
largely dominated Nigeria’s political
landscape since independence. The fact that
Moshood Abiola (a Southern Muslim) was
able to secure a national mandate freely and
fairly remains unprecedented in Nigeria’s
history. However, the election was annulled
by Ibrahim Babangida, a political crisis that
ensued which led to General Sani
Abacha seizing power later that year.
During preparations for the 2011 Nigerian
Presidential elections there were calls from
several quarters to remember MKO Abiola.
Imprisonment
In 1994 Moshood Abiola declared himself the
lawful president of Nigeria in the Epetedo area
of Lagos island, an area mainly populated by
(Yoruba) Lagos Indigenes. He had recently
returned from a trip to win the support of the
international community for his mandate. After
declaring himself president he was declared
wanted and was accused of treason and
arrested on the orders of military President
General Sani Abacha, who sent 200 police
vehicles to bring him into custody. MKO Abiola
has been referred to as Nigeria’s greatest
statesman. His second wife Alhaja Kudirat
Abiola was assassinated in Lagos in 1996 after
declaring public support for her husband.
Moshood Abiola was detained for four years,
largely in solitary confinement with a
Bible, Qur’an, and fourteen guards as
companions. During that time, Pope John Paul
II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and human rights
activists from all over the world lobbied the
Nigerian government for his release. The sole
condition attached to the release of Chief Abiola
was that he renounce his mandate, something
that he refused to do, although the military
government offered to compensate him and
refund his extensive election expenses. For this
reason Chief Abiola became extremely troubled
when Kofi Annan and Emeka Anyaoku reported
to the world that he had agreed to renounce his
mandate after they met with him to tell him
that the world would not recognise a five-year-
old election.
Death:
Abiola died under suspicious circumstances
shortly after the death of General Abacha.
Moshood Abiola died on the day that he was
due to be released, on 7 July 1998. While the
official autopsy stated that Abiola died of
natural causes, Abacha’s Chief Security Officer,
al-Mustapha has alleged that Moshood Abiola
was in fact beaten to death. al-Mustapha, who
was detained by the Nigerian government, but
later released, claims to have video and
audiotapes showing how Abiola was beaten to
death. The final autopsy report, which was
produced by a group of international coroners
has never been publicly released. Irrespective
of the exact circumstances of his death, it is
clear that Chief Abiola received insufficient
medical attention for his existing health
conditions.
As recounted at the time in a BBC interview
with special envoy Thomas R. Pickering, an
American delegation, which included Susan
Rice, visited Abiola and during their meeting
with him, Abiola fell ill, with what was
presumed to be a heart attack which caused his
death.
A clause in Abiola’s will required that his heirs
could prove that he was their father. Over
seventy people were able to show that Abiola
was their father using DNA tests. Seven
children were descended from his second
wife, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
On the 29/02/2016:
Former President Thabo Mbeki gave his views
on what happened.
President Mandela resisted all this until news
came through that on the very first day of the
1995 Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM) held in New Zealand
CHOGM, the Nigerian Government had
executed Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his Ogoni
colleagues. He then immediately joined others
strongly to condemn the Abacha Government
and approved the suspension of Nigeria from
the Commonwealth.
Remembrance of M.K.O. Abiola:
Chief MKO Abiola’s memory is celebrated in
Nigeria and internationally. 12 June remains a
public holiday in Lagos and Ogun states. There
are also remembrance events arranged across
Nigeria. MKO Abiola was known for his
charisma and for being a man of the people. As
a prominent social activist, democratic freedom
fighter, and successful business figure, the
continuing support for MKO Abiola is part of
his legacy. MKO Abiola Stadium and Moshood
Abiola Polytechnic were named in his honour.
There were also calls for posthumous
presidential recognition. A statue, MKO Abiola
Statue was also erected in his honour.
Despite his popularity or because of it, MKO
Abiola occasionally attracted criticism from
political activists and detractors. Controversy
was caused by a song by Nigerian
musician, Fela Kuti. Kuti was a charismatic
multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and
human rights activist – famed for being the
pioneer of Afrobeat music as well as a
controversial figure, due to his unusual lifestyle
and apparent drug use. It is believed that Kuti
had entered into an acrimonious dispute
relating to a contract with MKO Abiola’s record
label. He used the abbreviation of International
Telephone & Telegraph (IT&T) in a song
criticising big multinational corporations. The
song, ITT accuses such companies of draining
Africa’s resources and makes specific reference
to MKO Abiola (“they start to steal money Like
Obasanjo and Abiola”).
Awards and honours
Moshood Abiola was twice voted
international businessman of the year, and
Received numerous honorary doctorates
from universities all over the world.
In 1987 he was bestowed with the golden
key to the city of Washington D.C
He was bestowed with awards from
the NAACP and the King center in the USA,
The International Committee on Education
for Teaching in Paris.
In Nigeria
Aare Ona Kakanfo by Alaafin of Oyo:
The Oloye Abiola was made the Aare Ona
Kakanfo of Yorubaland. It is the highest
chieftaincy title available to commoners
amongst the Yoruba, and
He has only been conferred by the tribe 14
times in its history. This in effect rendered
Abiola the ceremonial War Viceroy of all of
his tribes people. According to the folklore
of the tribe as recounted by the Yoruba
elders, the Aare Ona Kakanfo is expected to
die a warrior in the defence of his nation to
prove himself in the eyes of both the divine
and the mortal as having been worthy of his
title.
He was awarded the third highest national
honour, the Commander of the Federal
Republic posthumously in 1998.
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