Feature

Seven power players behind June 12 crisis beyond MKO, IBB

Published

2 weeks ago

June 12, 2024

General Ibrahim Babangida and Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO)

Seven power players behind June 12 crisis beyond MKO, IBB

The narrative of Nigeria’s democracy is tightly woven around a protagonist, Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO), and an infamous villain, General Ibrahim Babangida, whose action birthed the reason June 12 became a special day in Nigeria’s political calendar.

While Abiola and Babangida remain the main characters in the June 12 debacle, many other Nigerians played crucial roles in the crisis that turned out to be a pyrrhic victory for the largest democracy in Africa.

Abiola is dead. Babangida is alive. But on the sides of the two men were power players who wanted their man to emerge as the winner of the political conflict that preceded and trailed the annulment of the June 12 election.

Here are the power players behind the June 12 debacle.

Alhaja Kudirat Abiola

Our History - KIND Ahead of the Saturday, June 12 presidential election, Kudirat Abiola, the wife of the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), MKO Abiola, played a significant role in her husband’s campaign.

Aside from the goodwill Abiola enjoyed among Nigerians at the time, especially in the South, Kudirat, who grew up in Zaria, endeared the voting populace in the North to her husband by delivering her campaign speeches in the Hausa language.

When her husband’s election was annulled and was subsequently incarcerated, she took up the leadership of the struggle for democracy and Abiola’s release.

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Despite the tyranny General Sani Abacha unleashed on pro-democracy activists across the country, Kudirat refused to go into exile like others. She fearlessly stayed back to fight for her husband’s release from detention, sadly, she did not live to see it through.

She was assassinated on June 4, 1996, at the age of 45.

Pa Alfred Rewane

Alfred Rewane was a Nigerian businessman who committed his money to the struggle for democracy. He was the chief financier of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) a pro-democracy group established in May 1994 to call for the recognition of Abiola as the winner of the June 12 election.

He reportedly spent millions of naira on media campaigns to ensure Abiola’s June 12 mandate was restored. Like Kudirat, he did not live to see the democracy he fought for.

He paid the supreme price on October 6, 1995, when suspected agents of the Abacha regime assassinated him at his Ikeja residence.

Prof Humphrey Nwosu

Prof. Humphrey Nwosu-The former chair... - Sahara Reporters | Facebook Humphrey Nwosu was the chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) which conducted the 1993 election.

According to reports, Nwosu courageously resisted efforts by self-serving groups to scuttle the election.

Having supervised an exercise that was largely deemed free and fair, he proceeded to announce the results of the election when Babangida ordered him to stop. The military general subsequently annulled the election.

Arthur Nzeribe

Arthur Nzeribe: 10 things to know about the maverick politician One of the groups set up to stop the election scheduled for June 12 was the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) led by Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe.

The association allegedly funded by Babangida was one of the many groups that launched campaigns for his prolonged stay in office.

In its bid to scuttle the election, Nzeribe’s group filed a suit at an Abuja High Court over alleged electoral corruption by Abiola at the SDP primaries in Jos in March 1993.

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After the plan to stop the election failed, the ABN, while the counting of the election results was ongoing, ran to court again to obtain an order to stop the further release of the results and Justice Dahiru Saleh granted the order on the ground that the election should not have held in the first place.

Having released the results of 14 out of 30 states, all of which were won by Abiola, the electoral umpire suspended the announcement, followed by a military pronouncement that heralded the death of HOPE ‘93.

Justice Dahir Saleh

Justice Dahiru Saleh, June 12 and his 'Special Order 191' - Daily Trust On the negative side of the narrative of the June 12 power play was Justice Dahiru Saleh, the former Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

It is on record that his order which forced Nwosu to suspend the announcement of the adjudged free and fair election ever recorded in Nigeria was granted in a hurry without hearing the electoral umpire.

In his 2016 interview with The Interview magazine, the retired justice accepted the blame for the annulment of the June 12 election, saying Babangida had no hand in his controversial decision.

He said Nigerians may be blaming Babangida for the June 12 debacle because he was Abiola’s friend, but the former Head of State did not use him or his court to scuttle the election.

General Sani Abacha

Nigerians remember brutal dictator, Sani Abacha, 20 years after death Nigeria’s ruthless dictator, the late Sani Abacha, was the biggest beneficiary of the June 12 crisis after the political heat forced Babangida to step aside.

With Babangida out of power, Nigerians looked forward to a transition to democracy with the hope that Abiola’s mandate would be restored by the interim government of Ernest Shonekan, installed by Babangida.

But Abacha, who was Shonekan’s Chief of Defence Staff, had a different plan. Three months into his government, Abacha overthrew him and declared himself Head of State and Commander-in-Chief.

Despite the promise to set Nigeria back on a democratic path with a plan to set up a constitutional conference that would lead to the recognition of political parties, Abacha refused to return the country to democracy.

He played god, jailed Abiola, and hunted down pro-democracy advocates. After five years of ruthless rule, he expired ignominiously.

NADECO

AJASIN, Chief Michael Adekunle – Biographical Legacy and Research Foundation

Pa Michael Adekunle Ajasin

Formed in May 1994, almost a year after the annulment of the June 12 election, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) was established by members of several pro-democracy and civil society groups.

The coalition’s main goal was to ensure the military government of General Sani Abacha stepped down for Abiola’s mandate to be restored.

In their struggle for the mandate, the coalition, led by Michael Adekunle Ajasin, the Governor of Ondo State from 1979 to 1983, expended its resources to bring Abacha’s junta to an end.

In retaliation, the Head of State brutally went after them. Some of them were arrested and jailed. Some went into exile while their main financier, Pa Alfred Rewane was assassinated.

Seven power players behind June 12 crisis beyond MKO, IBB

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48 of 103 kids my dad raised were not his – MKO Abiola’s son

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Why women must always check their partner’s phone – Solomon Buchi

Feature

48 of 103 kids my dad raised were not his – MKO Abiola’s son

Published

1 week ago

June 19, 2024

Trends Admin

Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola and Abdulmumuni Abiola

48 of 103 kids my dad raised were not his – MKO Abiola’s son

Abdulmumuni Abiola, son of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, has opened up on how the family detected paternity frauds committed by some of the late patriarch’s widows.

The late politician’s son revealed this while speaking on several issues on the latest episode of the MIC ON Podcast with Seun Okinbaloye.

According to Abdulmumuni, though the record on MKO’s will showed that he had 40 wives, some of his partners were not captured in the legal document.

Contrary to popular belief that the late politician fathered over 100 children, Abdulmumuni said the Abiola family is smaller than speculated.

He said even though his father was paying school fees for 103 children while he was alive, blood tests conducted after his death revealed that only 55 were his biological children.

“You know, the Abiola family, we are not that much because people are thinking we’re a lot. We are only 55.

“They were 40 wives according to the will but I think they were 40 something though. I think there are some wives that were not there at the end but there were 40 wives.

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“Most of the wives had maybe one or two for my dad not everyone… so when my father was alive, he was paying for 103 children to go to school but like I said, not all of them were his so after the blood test, we happened to be 55 which is actually a manageable number if you’re in a country of 220 million people.

“You would think my father was enjoying himself but apparently he wasn’t enjoying himself that much,” he said.

Abdulmumuni criticises Kola Abiola

Also, Abdulmumuni took a swipe at his father’s eldest son, Kola Abiola, over what he called the poor handling of their father’s legacies.

He said his brother, who was well-positioned to hoist MKO’s legacy, has failed in that regard.

According to him, instead of carrying on their father’s struggle, Kola was having a relationship with the former Head of State General Ibrahim Babangida’s daughter while his father was in prison.

Abdulmumuni stressed that Kola could have been a strong voice, adding that Nigerians and himself are unhappy with how the struggle went after MKO’s demise.

“He was in a pivotal position, especially after the whole crisis. He (Kola) could have been a voice.

“He could have been a strong voice of true democratic values. He could have.

“He chose not to—apparently, at the time my father was still in jail—he was having a relationship with Babangida’s daughter. I don’t want to go down there. You know—it’s just sad, you know.

“I’m actually a little bit displeased that my brother didn’t get to come out and see what the people’s response to his first turnout will be (to test his acceptability and popularity and ride on Abiola’s legacies).

“Therefore, I am unhappy with him, and I think Nigerian people are unhappy,” he added.

48 of 103 kids my dad raised were not his – MKO Abiola’s son

Feature

Why women must always check their partner’s phone – Solomon Buchi

Published

3 months ago

March 24, 2024

Trends Admin

Why women must always check their partner’s phone – Solomon Buchi

Relationship/life Coach Solomon Buchi, reveals why it is essential for women to always check their partner’s phone.

Taking to the X-Platform, Solomon Buchi stated that married couples should be allowed to easily access each other’s phones.

According to him it is a means of protecting themselves and ensuring transparency in the relationship.

As a married guy, he added, his wife always know his whereabouts, and can always handle his phone however she likes.

He disclosed that individuals in marriage are expected to be transparent about everything, emphasizing that the more transparent you are as a married man or woman, the less probable it is that you will succumb to temptation.

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He further disclosed that having a transparent life in a marriage always leads to a sense of accountability.

He wrote:

“My wife and I have access to our locations at every time (Find My app) and more than for safety, I think it takes openness to share that.

In this marriage thing, open yourself as much as you can. Openness disarms your proclivities. The more open you are, the less likely you’ll fall into temptation. Openness breeds accountability.

Your gadgets, social media and bank passwords shouldn’t be a secret. Your whereabouts too.

Falling is inevitable when you have a ‘private’ life in marriage.”

24 hours after posting, he revealed how many ladies DM’d him. They had apparently checked their husband’s phone and were surprised by what they discovered.

He reinforced his statement, highlighting the importance of women checking their partner’s phone, especially if they are deeply concerned about something.

Feature

‘Tinubu’s act of kindness changed our story’

Published

2 years ago

October 5, 2022

Trends Admin

Nineteen years ago, God blessed the family of Pastor and Mrs Sobowale-Davies with twins. Expectedly, the arrival of the newborn babies at the Island Maternity Hospital, Lagos was supposed to be a moment of love and joy for the family.

But, that was not to be. To their shock, the twins were joined at the abdomen and sternum (chest), and their livers fused.

That crisis literarily created a heavy burden on the couple who were not prepared emotionally and materially for such challenge.

Mrs Kikelomo Sobowale-Davies, an accountant and civil servant, never imagined such would happen to her because when she was pregnant, her joy knew no bound.

“I never imagined something like this happening to me. When I became pregnant, I was overjoyed, having a bundle of joy in my stomach. I did the necessary scans that I could. You know the ones the pregnant women do, and no abnormalities were detected. They said they were twins,” she recalled.

Narrating her experiences in a 10-minute 45 second documentary entitled: My Asiwaju story, Mrs Sobowale-Davis recalled that she broke down shortly after she was taken delivery of the twins on July 16, 2003.

“I began to cry and I wondered how they were going to live their normal lives. I couldn’t imagine, but all I knew was that they were alive and I knew that they would surely survive,” she said in the documentary.

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Mrs Sobowale-Davis’worries might not be unconnected with the fact that conjoined twins are uncommon, occurring in about one in every 50,000 to 60,000 births. And that 40 to 60 per cent are stillborn, with 35 per cent surviving only one day. “They couldn’t stop crying. Because of their positions, feeding them was difficult. And at times, one would want to sleep and the other one wanted to be awake. So, for them, it was kind of inconvenient. I felt for them,” she recalled.

More worrisome for the couple was the chance of carrying out a successful surgery on the twins.

Lamenting their predicament, Davies, a pastor and businessman, wondered how the family could get the needed support for the surgery as well as the societal issues about the Siamese twins.

“We were also concerned about their health, and a lot of societal issues concerning the twins. And we knew we the needed surgery for them to live separate lives. But, as a family we didn’t have the financial strength,” he said.

But it was common knowledge that the medical expertise and equipment required to perform such a major surgery were not available at the time, and even if they were, it would require a medical miracle. However, one week after the twins’birth and in the midst of the agonising experiences, some encouraging news came their way.

According to Davies, the then Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan, informed him that Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had taken a keen interest in the twins and that he was ready to assist the family to take care of the surgery.

To Mrs. Sobowale-Davis, that news came to her as a surprise. “I was surprised when he told me Asiwaju knew about it. We don’t know him from anywhere. And after a few days, his wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, came to visit us at the Island. And they assured us that all would be well.”

The promises by Governor Tinubu were backed by timely actions as the twins and their parents were prepared for a medical trip to Maryland for the surgery.

“Senator Remi Tinubu asked us if we had valid passports for the trip, and we told her we didn’t have. He said we should not bother, that she would arrange everything for us for the journey and the separation of the twins,” Sobowale-Davies recalled.

The choice of Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre in Baltimore, Maryland, United States was top on the list of possible hospitals for the surgery. And a team of 17 medics were assembled for the task, including Dr. Henry Lau, the Director of Paediatric Surgery.

A four-person medical team from Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, where the babies were born, accompanied them to the Children’s Centre. The Nigerian team was on hand to observe the surgery.

Before the departure date, Davies was nervous about flying because he had not flown before. But, he got assurances from Tinubu’s wife that the trip would be safe. True, the babies arrived safely in the U.S. and settled at the governor’s nephew’s house, Dr. Sikiru. Two days later, they went to the hospital.

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It was surgery day, and the plans had been laid out, but it was time to put them into action.

“On that fateful morning for the operation, I was scared, when the doctor and his team took the twins away. I couldn’t tell if I was saying goodbye to one or both, but I had faith in God that they would survive it,”Davies said.

The surgical team met at 8:00 a.m. to administer anaesthesia to the twins. At 11:00 a.m., the twins’ chest bone, abdominal wall, and liver were separated.

Continuing, he recalled: “At interval nurses would come to check on us at the reception, to assure us and to give us feedback. We are scared but we keep on praying dueing the five hours the operation lasted.”

According to Chairman of the Pediatric Surgery, Dr. Colombani, the operation went very smoothly. And the twins, thereafter, lived a normal life.

Davies thanked Tinubu for his generosity and large heart.

“He never knew us before, yet he took interest in the case of my family. He is indeed a man that we can never forget in a hurry.

“All I can say is thank you Asiwaju. The generosity, the large heart, he didn’t know us from anywhere and he took interest in the case of my family. He is indeed a man that we can never forget in a hurry. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu visited us and he gave us a house above our expectation.

“A simple act of kindness changed our story. That is our Asiwaju story. It is uncommon to find people who will give simply out of the goodness of their hearts, and I am extremely grateful to the Asiwaju family, the Lagos State government, the doctors, and everyone else who made this possible. God will abundantly bless and replenish him,” he added.

Today, the twins, Faithful and Favour, are doing well and studying medicine at the university.

Favour recalled: “Honestly, I don’t recall us being conjoined because we were still very little then and probably didn’t know anything, but according to what my mother told me, I know it must have been a very difficult situation.

“I’m glad we were given the opportunity to live our separate lives, all thanks to God in the life of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we can live our separate lives, have separate friends, go to separate schools and do things different.”

Faithful added: “Our story inspired me to pursue a career in medicine – to study physiotherapy at the University of Lagos. We also have this desire of studying medicine at the university that we were separated, which is John Hopkins University.

“I desire to study medicine and she desires to study physiotherapy. We want to do this to give back to the society and also to Asiwaju for the act of kindness that he showed towards my sister and I.”

The Nation