Sometimes, history appears dramatic and calculative enough to put historians on their toes. It was exactly 28 years last month since Kudirat Abiola, the wife of a business mogul and the acclaimed winner of the annulled June 12 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, was assassinated on the street of Lagos by the agents of the then Federal Military government. As a result of the brutal manner in which the innocent woman was killed and the circumstances that surrounded the political development that led to her untimely death, the incident has remained fresh in the minds of Nigerians, especially the pro-democracy activists of that era.
Mrs. Kudirat Abiola was shot dead in her car in the Oregun area of Lagos on June 4, 1996. At the time, she was leading the campaign for the unconditional release of her husband, who was detained for declaring himself president based on the result of the freest and most credible June 12 presidential election.
By coincidence, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, one of the right-hand men to Abiola, who was also one of the historians of that political struggle, is now the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Like an average history maker, Tinubu has done more than influence a few; he has consistently mobilised others to take action and change the world.
Today, from being an influencer, Tinubu has journeyed to the head of government, under whom many positive actions to right the wrongs of the past are being expected. Again, perhaps by God’s design, Tinubu, the pro-democracy activist and politician, is now the Chairman of ECOWAS.
The legal battle to get justice for Kudirat Abiola’s children has been ongoing for decades, moving from local to regional and continental courts—the ECOWAS Court. Many legal experts and analysts of crimes against humanity have posited that the prayer for compensation being pursued by the children is just and long overdue. Unfortunately, till this moment, all the late Kudirat’s children have gotten was their mother’s name being placed in the Women Hall of Fame with the title “Unsung Martyr of Democracy” during a commemorative ceremony.
The journey towards getting justice and compensation started in December 2022 when the children of the “Unsung Martyr of Democracy” dragged the Federal Government before the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja over the killing of their mother. The suit, marked ECW/CCJ/APP/62/2022, was filed by a legal luminary and their lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN).
Falana also recalled that Sergeant Barnabas Jabila (a.k.a. Sergeant Rogers), a member of the killer squad set up by the then military junta, confessed during a sitting of the Oputa panel in Lagos on December 8, 2000, that he shot Mrs. Kudirat Abiola dead and attempted to kill the late Senator Abraham Adesanya and Alex Ibru by shooting them on the instructions of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the Military Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, from November 1993 to June 1998.
Falana had declared that the killing of Mrs. Kudirat Abiola by the armed agents of the military government (the defendant) was illegal and a violation of her fundamental human rights to life and dignity. The Senior Advocate also argued that the failure or refusal of the defendant to protect the life of the late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola in the Republic of Nigeria amounted to a violation of Articles 1,4,5,18, and 23 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights.
It is instructive to note that the reliefs being sought include “an order directing the defendant to charge Sergeant Barnabas Jebila (a.k.a. Rogers), Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a. Katako), and Aminu Mohammed with murder for the brutal killing of Mrs. Kudirat Abiola in Lagos on June 4, 1996.
*An order directing the defendant to pay the sum of $10 million to the applicants as compensation for the unlawful killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.”
The die is cast as the case will come up in July at the ECOWAS Court in Abuja, while all fingers are already crossed, expecting the outcome. One could foresee Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni leaders in Rivers State’s treatment as the likely outcome of the suit, considering the facts of the case.
It is important to note that after a long time of legal process at the ECOWAS Court, the oil giant Shell agreed to pay $15.5 million (about $23 billion) in settlement of a legal action in which it was accused of having collaborated in the execution of the brutal murder of the Ogoni leaders under a similar circumstance.
Today, the question on the lips of legal experts and concerned Nigerians is: will the Federal Government match its words with actions and compensate the children of the late Kudirat Abiola by accepting guilt for her assassination at the ECOWAS Court, as publicly acknowledged by President Tinubu and championed by him in a case he instituted 25 years ago when he was Lagos State Governor (as he then was), or will this Federal Government toe the line of the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and seek to dismiss the case on technicalities that would leave the children of the late Kudirat Abiola in the cold?
Unlike the death of Chief MKO Abiola, which was witnessed by an American delegation with causes of death determined by an autopsy, the death of Kudirat Abiola was clearly caused by the Federal Military Government, and this fact was admitted by the assassin himself in the Oputa Panel.
This matter should not be swept under the rug by any legal technicality whatsoever, particularly given that the Federal Government, in 2019, recognised the late Kudirat Abiola as the Unsung Martyr of Democracy.
Incidentally, Tinubu, the current Nigerian President and the then Lagos State Governor had sought to hold the Federal Government accountable as far back as 1999 for the late Kudirat Abiola’s assassination.
Another question that is begging for an answer is whether President Tinubu will pass the litmus test or not. Interestingly, since Kudirat Abiola was murdered, there is no word worthy of describing a hero that has not been used to describe her by governors from Nigeria’s opposition parties and civil rights activists from all parts of the country.
But the irony of the 1999 legal battle, which was initiated by the Tinubu-led Lagos State Government against the Federal Government for her assassination in a lawsuit, is that it was filed and championed by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), who was the then Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and later became the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
By irony, history played a role here by tossing up Osinbajo, a law professor of evidence who was at the forefront of the legal battle, to the post of Vice President of Nigeria, where he was not just an influencer but a major decision-maker.
Unfortunately, Osinbajo turned out not to be the messiah that those who were sympathetic to the cause of Kudirat’s children thought he would be. Just like previous beneficiaries of the political martyrdom of Kudirat Abiola, former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo became silent about her tragedy once he obtained political power at the federal level.
It was as if he had forgotten all about Sergeant Rogers, who had admitted pulling the trigger at the Oputa Panel. It is as if he had forgotten that the case was supposed to have been further pursued as planned at the Supreme Court to bring Major Hamza Al Mustapha and the rest of the deadly Abacha killer squad to book.
Not even a case filed by Mr Femi Falana (SAN) at the ECOWAS Court in pursuit of justice against her murderers and financial compensation for her children (the norm in any civilised country) was enough to get Prof. Osinbajo to ensure that the Buhari Government did the right thing for the children she left behind.
All they got was their mother’s name placed in the Women’s Hall of Fame with the title “Unsung Martyr of Democracy” in a ceremony he did not deem fit for his attendance.
As stated earlier, the assassination of Kudirat Abiola is nothing like that of the late Chief MKO Abiola. While in the case of Moshood Abiola, the Abdulsalami Government can hide behind an autopsy result that could have been faulty and the presence of foreign dignitaries at the scene of Moshood Abiola’s death, Kudirat Abiola was not only shot by assailants sent by the Abacha Government; the driver of the vehicle as well as the man who fired the gun have both confessed in public and private to the crimes but were given years to change their testimonies.
Finally, the question is whether or not President Bola Tinubu would deliver the justice he was seeking 25 years ago to the children of the late Kudirat Abiola by pursuing the case and compensating them for their monumental loss, or whether he will toe the line of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who quickly forgot his legal stance against injustice, once he became the Vice President of Nigeria.
If Tinubu fails, then history will document him too as a practical example to give fresh meaning to the belief that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and the future will flow from current trends.
Now that the matter is before the ECOWAS Court for adjudication and final pronouncement, the onus is on Tinubu to do the right thing and match his words with action.
For Nigeria, President Tinubu, and the country of Nigeria, the world is watching with keen interest with the singular hope that Kudirat Abiola will not die in vain.
Atata, a legal practitioner, contributes this piece from Ilorin.
