…lauds Abiodun on renovation of Abiola’s family house
The kinsmen of Moshood Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the annulled 1993 Presidential Poll in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital, have asked President Bola Tinubu to declare Moshood Abiola the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria based on his victory in the Presidential Election he contested with Bashir Tofa in 1993.
The Abiola’s kinsmen, who spoke under aegis of Tobádé Progressive Club of Gbagura, noted that the posthumous conferment of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) by the immediate past Administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari couldn’t only make the acclaimed winner of the 1993 Poll the democratically-elected President, except there was a political and legal process to make him Nigeria’s President, posthumously.
Speaking shortly after the conduct of annual prayer for the soul of Abiola held at the Abiola’s Family House at Oja-Agbo, Oke-Iddo, Gbagura, Abeokuta on Wednesday, Shamwill Keshinro, President of Tobádé Progressive Club of Gbagura, submitted that though the journey to make Abiola Nigeria’s President had started by former President Muhammadu Buhari, it must be completed by President Bola Tinubu being a direct beneficiary of the sacrifice made by Abiola and others.
He said, It’s no news that the acclaimed winner of the 1993 Presidential Election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was arrested and jailed by General Sani Abacha-led Military Government, having declared himself as a democratically-elected President of Nigeria.
“He was later died in detention under General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s Military Regime, having spent four years, just as he had earlier lost her Wife, Mrs Kudirat Abiola; business and political associates such as Pa Alfread Rewane, General Shehu Musa Yar’dua, among other politicians, right activists, lawyers, journalists and a host of other Nigerians that were either killed, maimed, bodily injured, arrested, jailed or kidnapped.
“Chief MKO Abiola and hundreds of known and unknown Nigerians were no doubt sacrificed greatly for the return of Democracy in 1999. Their sacrifices were priceless and Nigeria as a Sovereign State should work towards stamping out the nostalgic pains and bad feelings that always trail remembrance of 1993 Presidential Election and all calamities that accompanied it.
“Although, successive Administrations at both National Level and in the Southwest, especially the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, have done quite a lot to immortalise MKO Abiola and others who lost their lives in the struggle for Democracy, Buhari-led Administration stood out as it was only the Administration that confered posthumously on MKO Abiola the Highest National Honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).
“This extraordinary move by former President Muhammadu Buhari suggested a political journey of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to pronounce and swear in posthumously, Chief MKO Abiola, as the democratically-elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“As a follow-up to the National and Presidential Honour confered posthumously on Chief MKO Abiola, Tobádé Progressive Club of Gbagura, a Socio-cultural Progressive Club in Gbagura, the homestead of Chief MKO Abiola in Abeokuta, the Ogun State Capital, demands the Federal Government ably led by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief Armed Forces, to revisit the 1993 Presidential Election.
We are calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, being “the Direct Beneficiary” of the Democratic Struggle that claimed the lives of Chief MKO Abiola and hundreds of others, to revisit the 1993 Presidential Election that was tagged the most democratic, freest and fairest Presidential Election so far held in the history of Nigeria.
Tobádé Progressive Club of Gbagura, who is populated with kinsmen and kinswomen of Chief MKO Abiola in Gbagura, Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital, is therefore asking the Federal Government to invoke Doctrine of Necessity to begin political and legal process of declaring Chief MKO Abiola, the democratically-elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Similarly, we commend Prince Dapo Abiodun CON, The Executive Governor of Ogun State for directing the Ogun State Ministry of Housing on immediate renovation of Chief MKO Abiola’s Family House at Oja-Agbo, Oke-Iddo, Gbagura, Abeokuta, just we laud all former Governors of Ogun State since 1999.”
