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I know those who annulled June 12 and killed
Abiola -
Mubashiru
Alhaji Mubashiru Abiola, younger
brother to the late MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993,
presidential elections who died in detention in 1998, has been in the news
lately for his support of former military leader Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s
presidential ambition in 2007. Babangida it was who annulled the June 12
elections as military president then. Although he has been condemned by many,
Uncle Bashy, as he is popularly known, believes that people are doing so in
ignorance. In this interview with our Correspondent,
Dan Alo,
Mubashiru bares his mind on why he is supporting the IBB 2007 campaign.
Excerpts:
Recently, reports of
your support for IBB has attracted so much furore, such that it has been termed
the height of betrayal, what do you think about this?
You
see, I have read in the papers where people call me all sorts of names;
betrayer, backstabber, and many more. People who have not even met me published
interviews I never granted just to damage my image. But let me tell you as a
close friend, I don’t care what anybody says, I am not a politician, I am
not seeking any elective post. At my age, I will always stand by the truth and
no matter what people do the truth will always prevail.
Let
me start with the history of my family relationship with IBB (Babangida). I met
IBB through my late brother, MKO, some 28 to 30 years back, even before he
became the head of state. He had always been good to my brother, and my
brother’s friends, he helped all of them.IBB’s children and my brother’s children were
very close and they are still close till tomorrow. His wife Maryam and
MKO’s wives are equally close; Doyin (one of MKO’s wives) still
visited her recently and I am sure Kola still maintains his closeness with
them. Lola, MKO’s first daughter, calls IBB daddy because he always shows
her the compassion of a father. If you see anybody opposed to IBB, obviously
the person is not an Abiola; he or she is not from this family. It is those who
are actually enemies of democracy, those who were behind the annulment of June
12 election that are shouting loudest, now condemning IBB, because they know
his coming back as a ruler in this country will expose them.
For
those of us in Abiola’s family, IBB was Abiola’s friend till he
died. After his death, he still remains his friend and is very supportive of
this family, and saying this, I dare anybody to come out and say he was closer
to MKO Abiola during his lifetime than me, who came out from the same womb with
him, and with whom he shared thoughts and secrets he never revealed to any man.
You said some people
were behind the June 12 annulment, but the general belief is that IBB annulled
the election. Who are these people behind the annulment, do you know them?
IBB
has said on a number of occasions that he never wanted to annul the June 12
election but that some forces, even within us here in the South-West, never
wanted Abiola to rule; they were the people who schemed the annulment of that
election and that is just the truth. Did you not notice that immediately after
the annulment and the military takeover, those who were supposed to be
championing the cause of actualising the mandate abandoned Abiola in detention
and started taking up appointments as ministers under the military government
that was sitting on their mandate, giving to them freely by the people, and the
government that clamped their friend and financier behind bars? Can you see
where their integrity lies? Yet, they didn’t consider themselves
traitors, betrayers; they were not backstabbing then.
It
was me who is not a politician, his wives and family friends that then took up
the fight to free MKO and actualise the June 12 mandate, but unfortunately,
they killed him. Now that he is dead, they can now brand somebody as a
betrayer, well, I am not bothered about them. God is the righteous judge and he
will judge everybody according to his deeds. But for me, my conscience is clear
that I am doing the right thing and I will not be confused by all these greedy
politicians who only want to use Abiola’s name to appeal to
people’s sentiment; they did it in the last two elections. They used
Abiola’s name to campaign only to turn their backs on the family as soon
as they realise their dreams. Imagine, have you seen anybody visiting this
family in the last six years or so that MKO has died, or can we say he has no
friends when he was alive? Of course when he was alive, this place was a
beehive of activities, but now, where are all the politicians he helped then;
giving them money to contest elections? Many of them are now in key government
positions but who amongst them care to know what is happening to Abiola’s
children, his family members and hundreds of his dependants across the globe?
You see, they are the shameless class. So who is a betrayer, me or them?
Can you reveal those
behind the annulment and your role after the annulment?
The
issue of June 12, I must confess, is a long story. It is not all of it that we
can open publicly otherwise we will disturb this country’s fragile peace.
Babangida has said so too, but because you are a friend of this family, I will
tell you some names but not on tape.
Let
me start from where you will understand. When Babangida annulled the June 12
election, we waited for weeks expecting that he would call my brother to
explain why the election was annulled.
When
he didn’t call, a lot of the people you see today in politics came around
using that situation to extort money, promising to do and undo to make sure they
declare him winner of the election and swear him in as President. I got fed up
one day and told my brother that we should go and visit IBB in Minna. So I put
a call through to IBB, he greeted my brother very well and said he had been
expecting his call. So that night, myself, MKO, Kudirat his wife and Kola his
son flew down to Minna to see IBB. When we got there that night, he welcomed us
warmly and my brother asked the reason behind the annulment. I just
sarcastically chipped in that did he not vote for him too, so IBB, full of
remorse, explained for over two hours. He showed us documents which threatened
that if he did not annul that election in 48 hours, himself, MKO and some other
key politicians in the country were going to be assassinated and the country
thrown into chaos.
So,
IBB told my brother that he annulled the election to save MKO’s life and
maintain law and order in the country. Throughout his explanation to us, IBB
emphasised that MKO would still be sworn in as the president. So with these
assurances, we decided to head back home that night. On our way out, IBB called
my brother into another sitting room opposite the one where we were
entertained. They closed the transparent glass-door, and we were all looking at
them. At the end of the 30-minute closed-door meeting, my brother’s mood
changed and he just called us that we should go. It was when we were airborne
at about 2 a.m. in the morning that MKO told us that IBB was talking about some
dealings he (IBB) had with the late Mummy (Simbiat Abiola, MKO’s first
wife). You know my brother was a very principled man; he said he told IBB on
that occasion that he was unaware of that issue and that he was in his house
for a different purpose but that that issue would be resolved at a later date.
IBB still made sure he called me and my brother after then, always assuring us
that the annulment was not final. But those false friends, those politicians
made sure they were always around to confuse issues until MKO was arrested and
detained, then they all stopped coming around here. IBB himself needed to have
a break to save his head. We didn’t see any of them, even those of them
who promised to fight till the end to make sure Abiola was sworn in. Rather, we
were now seeing them on the pages of newspapers as ministers, directors, etc.
under the military government that incarcerated their friend and a winner of a
democratic election. You see, it is these people that are carrying out
campaigns of calumny against me, IBB and some other sincere individuals in this
country, because they know if IBB comes back, he will render them politically
impotent. He knows them very well now and they will not get what they want
easily from him just the way they are doing now. A few ignorant people who do
not know what is going on are joining them; it is quite unfortunate for this
country, because people always turn their backs to the truth and that has
always been the bane of our development.
I
challenge anybody in this South-West to come and say the kind of assistance he
or she rendered to free Abiola and actualise June 12. Whether they are kings,
chiefs, leaders of thoughts, they all abandoned my brother and this family. I
can reveal to you that some of them even worked against his release; they were
never interested in his coming back because of what they were benefiting from
the military then.
Who actually killed
MKO, could it be that the tea he drank the day he met Annan and Susan Rice was
poisoned as widely believed?
Wait,
let me tell you, I am not IBB. I cannot reveal to you those behind the
annulment. When the time is right, he will tell us those people, but you see,
IBB is a leader and a good leader will not be seeking the disintegration of his
people, rather, he will further cement their unity. I think that is what IBB is
doing in keeping those behind the annulment close to his heart. He has told the
family and we have dragged them before the greatest judge of man, Allah, and we
believe in Him to put right whatever wrong have been done this family in the
past.
Those
who killed Abiola know themselves but I am convinced and the rest of the family
are also convinced that neither IBB nor Abacha wanted Abiola dead. Let me tell
you, Abacha wanted to use Abiola as a protective shield; his ambition was to
become the civilian president of Nigeria and continue in power. Under that his
civilian rule, Abiola was to be made the prime minister. Abacha didn’t
want anything to trouble him and he was quite confident that with Abiola at his
arms length, his government would be secured. Of course, destiny was not to
have it that way; Abacha would have done it but God allowed his death and
believe me, it was Abacha’s death that created room for them to kill
Abiola. If Abacha didn’t die, Abiola would still be alive, forget whether
they poisoned his tea or not. I was the one who bathed his corpse and I can
tell you it was not tea poisoning. He must have inhaled a poisonous air, which
was to kill him hours later, and that was what happened. He was choked to
death. Don’t forget that over eight hours before his meeting with Annan
and Susan Rice, he was not given any food. You can tell from the smell of the
clothe he wore on that day; it is not a tea issue, forget it. Honestly, those
were the saddest moments of my life and my tears will never dry when I remember
how his corpse was treated, even after death. But all of it is in the hands of
God now. If someone says my brother’s death is not painful to me, let the
person go and have his or her siblings killed and have the body thrown at him.
I
just laugh when people say I am talking to IBB; that he killed my brother.
Well, they can say that out of their ignorance but as far as I know and
Abiola’s family knows, IBB didn’t kill Abiola. In fact, when Abiola
died and I confronted him with this kind of accusation, he swore by the Holy
Qu’ran that he didn’t know anything about it, and as a Muslim, we
in the Abiola family forgave him and threw out of our minds whatever
misconception we had about the whole issue.
IBB has accepted
responsibility and they say he should apologise. What do you say to this?
Again,
I have heard people say IBB should apologise for the annulment of June 12. If
he must apologise, whom should he apologise to? Is it to the family or the
people who schemed to make sure he was arrested and never came back alive, or
to those who abandoned him in prison and traded away the mandate they gave him?
Well, to me, the issue of apology is quite necessary. I like Gani
Fawehinmi’s position that IBB should expose those behind the annulment.
You will see that if he does that, majority of the people sponsoring all sorts
of campaign of calumny would bury their heads in shame. I also want to identify
with one Sonny Okosuns inerview I read in papers, where he said if IBB should
apologise, he should not be the only one. Gowon, Ojukwu and many others should
apologise for the injustice of the Civil War and many other hardships brought
on the people in this country. People owing the Abiola family know themselves
for the evil they have done us; putting us through hardship, denying us our
right to life, taking away our breadwinner. In fact, what are we even talking
about, was Abiola alone in that election? What about others who were voted in
alongside MKO? Their internal scheming was so amazing. If you remember, when
Abacha died and Abdusallam took over, he called members of SDP, MKO’s
party, and NADECO members, myself and some of MKO’s children were in the
meeting representing the family. The essence of the meeting, from what I
detected, was for them to check if the political base of Abiola was still
strong and if June 12 would still be a reality. It was only Bola Ige that made
a valid point that day that we were gathered to discuss the fate of a man all
of us had not seen. Ige insisted that we must meet with Abiola to discuss some
vital issues before we can sit down with government for any negotiations on his
release. We were all communicating in English until one of the politicians,
Babagana Kingibe, changed to Hausa, telling Abdusallam not to allow us meet
Abiola first. Bola Ige understood Hausa and quickly reacted. In fact, he left
there in anger, and you see, this politician who spoke on this occasion was
supposed to be the closest to Abiola; he was also voted in on the same ticket,
in the same election. When Bola Ige and members of Abiola family left that
meeting in annoyance, over their refusal to grant us access to Abiola, they
stayed behind and held that meeting. May be if all of us had refused to meet
with the government unless we see Abiola, that would have saved Abiola’s
life. So, you see who is a betrayer between us now. We have kept our calm since
all these years and the Abiola family silence should not be mistaken for
stupidity. We know what happened, we only decided to keep quiet because we are
quite confident that God will fight for us. So, no one can use any style or
disguise to encroach on our right of association; no amount of story published
in the newspaper will change my association. If I decide to follow Babangida,
that is my own problem, but they should not sell wrong ideas to the public
about June 12, and Abiola’s death. By now, people already know and if
anybody is in doubt or needs more let them come and talk with me. I will show
them what will make their hearts quake. For those politician whose thought are
that they can gain popularity by maligning me, I will say one thing (aani komode ma wu eyin to
ju lo, ete lo ma wa fibo to baya) I don’t blame any
child growing big teeth, he will later look for the lips with which to cover it
up. I am sure one day, they will have cause to come here and beg me for all the
wrongs they have done me and members of the Abiola family.
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