IBB’s memoir reopened old wounds — MKO Abiola’s family

The family of the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola has expressed deep pain over former Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s (IBB) recent admission that Abiola won the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election.

Babangida made the revelation in his newly launched autobiography, A Journey in Service, where he acknowledged that, upon closer examination of election results, there was no doubt that Abiola had emerged victorious.

The statement was highlighted by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who reviewed the book at its launch in Abuja.

“He also answers the question of whether Abiola actually won the June 12 election, and I quote him: ‘Although I am on record to have stated after the election that Abiola may not have won, upon deeper reflection and a closer examination of all available facts, particularly the detailed election results published in this book, there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 election,’” Osinbajo said.

However, in a statement issued by Kola Abiola on behalf of the family, the Abiolas criticised the belated admission, stating that it had reopened old wounds and painful memories. They lamented that despite Babangida’s acknowledgment, the lessons from the annulment of the historic election had yet to be learned.

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“It took the former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, an incredibly long 32 years to confirm what the whole world knew all along—that Bashorun MKO Abiola won the 1993 presidential election,” Kola Abiola said.

He stressed that the impact of the annulment extended far beyond his family, noting that countless other Nigerian families suffered losses due to the political crisis that followed the cancellation of the election.

“There were so many other families directly affected and lives lost as a result of the annulment, not to mention the profound impact on the unity and economic development of our great country, Nigeria, to this day,” he added.

The June 12, 1993 election, widely regarded as the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history, was annulled by the Babangida-led military government, plunging the nation into political turmoil.

The struggle for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate led to his arrest in 1994, and he died in detention on July 7, 1998, under controversial circumstances.