Two younger brothers of the late
Chief M.K.O. Abiola yesterday rubbished a statement by their
sibling,Alhaji Mubasiru Abiola, in which he described former military
president, General Ibrahim Babangida, as a pillar of the family since
the demise of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
The larger Abiola family met yesterday
on the issue with Alhaji Muritala Abiola and Engineer Sule Abiola,
declaring that Mubasiru spoke for himself.
The election, widely regarded as the fairest and freest in the nation’s history ,was annulled by Babangida.
Babangida’s successor, the late General
Sani Abacha, clamped Chief M.K.O.Abiola into detention after the
politician publicly proclaimed himself president.
He died in detention in 1998 moments before he was to be released by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime.
Mubasiru had, in an interview in
Abeokuta, to mark the 20th anniversary of the annulled election of his
brother, said contrary to the view that Babangida should be held
responsible for Abiola’s fate, the former military ruler had been kind
to the family.
But speaking to The Nation yesterday
after a family meeting, Alhaji Muritala Abiola and Engineer Sule Abiola,
secretary of the family said “there is no truth in Mubasiru’s
statement.”
Muritala, who is also the Baale of
Agbado said: “Mubasiru has been claiming to be the head of the MKO
Abiola family. I do not know how that is. But I know that he is not the
head of the (Salaudeen) Abiola family which is the parent body of the
MKO Abiola family. And I do not know where his claim of even being the
head of the MKO Abiola family comes from.
“All of us are learned. MKO was an
accountant; I am an accountant, my younger brother is an engineer and
our sister is a banker. Taju Abiola is an engineer too, and one of us
holds a doctorate degree in Business Administration and works in a bank.
“There never was a time that we
appointed Mubasiru as the head of the entire Salaudeen Abiola family or
the MKO Abiola family. So he is just making a jest of himself declaring
and claiming to be the head of the family. Abiola family is not about me
or anybody or any individual. It is a general body, not one person.
“How could he declare IBB as the pillar
of the family? I don’t know where that statement originated from. May be
IBB is his own pillar.
“I don’t know what Mubasiru means by
that statement; may be IBB has a room at MKO Abiola’s house in Ikeja,
Lagos, since Mubasiru has declared him the head and pillar of MKO Abiola
family. I don’t know. But Mubasiru must have his own reasons for saying
such. The family hereby disassociates itself from his June 12 20th
anniversary celebration statement. I, therefore, say openly that
Mubasiru is doing what he is doing for himself, not for the family.
“What I know is that the Abiola family
has never received any money from Mubasiru collected from any source on
behalf of the family. Mubasiru has never declared any money to the
Abiola family. We also heard that when President Obasanjo was in
government, he gave money to the family. People said the money was over a
million naira or so, but it was all hearsay.
“When Kudi Abiola died, I was particular
about IBB not coming for the burial. I made noise over the matter that I
did not want to see him there, that I might even kill him if he came. I
was very angry and I meant it. It was while I was attending to Bamaiyi
that IBB sneaked in and sneaked out. I rushed down when I was told, but
he had sneaked out. He did not stay for long at all.
“During the government of Segun Osoba,
the Abiola family was given money during June 12 celebration. For this,
we decided to go and pay him a courtesy visit to show appreciation. It
was there that Mubasiru jumped up to speak for the family. Since then,
he started parading himself publicly as the head of the Abiola family.“
Corroborating MurtaIa’s statement, Sule
said: “Mubasiru is not the head of the family, and has never been the
official head. Two heads cannot run a ship.
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