Browsing: MKO Abiola

In a recent piece, calling for the removal of the president from office, I had alerted the world that, “Anyone thinking that Muhammadu Buhari will hand over power at the end of his tenure is daydreaming. The incorrigible dictator cannot and must not be trusted. This is a man who assumed power, preaching integrity, virtue, and righteousness, only to gain the power to embrace the worst form of corruption, utter disregard for the rule of law, and gross abuse of office as a way of governance. There is no way Buhari can be entertaining the thoughts of a peaceful transition of power, while at the same time waging war against some sections of the country.”

The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, in a solidarity message to Nigerians on June 12 celebration, stressed that the practice of democracy demands respect for rules at all levels, adherence to the dictates of the law, tolerance, mutual respect as well as upholding of principles of justice, equality and fairness in public and private settings.

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was the lion who died for the flowering of our democratic renewal. Abiola presents a complex portraiture for any writer. His memory is sharply emotive. June 12 celebration is equally emotive as a yearly anniversary for the remembrance of brand Abiola and the near turmoil his death would have plunged this nation.

I tremble in awe of God when I look back at what started 25 years ago as a movement for the validation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by our own irrepressible Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, late Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, but which today has blossomed into the proverbial Iroko tree that, still by the grace of Olodumare, can no longer be uprooted.