You may remember M.K.O. Abiola as the man who won the June 12, 1993 election that was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida and later died unexpectedly in 1998 after four years in prison.
M.K.O. Abiola
But after posthumously receiving the highest national award in Nigeria and a public holiday in his honour, what more do the Abiolas want?
The demands of the Abiolas
Well, the family is demanding justice for the assassination of Kudirat Abiola. The family has dragged the Federal Government to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice for the following:
- Prosecute Sergeant Barnabas Jebila (a.k.a. Rogers), Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako) and Aminu Mohammed for Kudirat’s brutal murder.
- Pay the family $10 million as compensation for her assassination. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s ₦4.5 billion.
If you think these demands are too outrageous, then wait until you understand the story of Kudirat Abiola.
The activism of Kudirat Abiola
Kudirat was Abiola’s second wife and an advocate for many social causes including the educational programs of the Ansar-Ud-Deen, an organisation primarily for the education of Muslims.
But after Babangida’s annulment of the 1993 election, Kudirat was forced to fight for the pro-democracy movement, insisting her husband had won the right to be Nigeria’s president. She was also a strong pillar of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
But the military didn’t take this well. In 1994, the General Sani Abacha regime imprisoned her husband and kept him in solitary confinement. However, that didn’t stop Kudirat, and she was involved in a historic 12-week strike by oil workers in 1994. The strike weakened the military, as Nigeria’s oil production fell by more than 300,000 barrels per day.
Kudirat was also part of the pro-democracy march for freedom in Lagos in 1995 amidst the army of government forces sent out to intimidate them.
The murder of Kudirat Abiola
Unfortunately, Kudirat’s efforts for democracy ended when a group of men attacked her car with machine gun and killed her and her driver on June 4, 1996. And this was after two prior murder attempts had failed.
Abacha offered the sum of $45,000 as a reward for information leading to the arrest of Kudirat’s killers. But it seems this was only a deflection, as investigations showed his chief security officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, gave the order for Kudirat’s death.
Major Hamza Al-Mustapha is running for president in 2023
The trial of Kudirat’s killers
After Abacha’s death in 1998, Al-Mustapha was arrested alongside Kudirat’s personal assistant, Lateef Shofolayan in connection to her murder. The trial took place during the Oputa Panel which investigated the crimes of the Abacha regime in 1998.
During the trial, two star witnesses, Barnabas Jabila, a member of the Aso Rock strike force and Mohammed Abdul had first confessed that they were given the order to shoot Kudirat. The confession was so strong that Al-Mustapha and his lawyers didn’t bother to challenge their testimony.
However, they changed their accounts days later and said their confessions were given under duress. This didn’t fool the trial judge, Mrs Moji Dada, who saw through the bullshit and said the evidence was still admissible in court.
After 12 years of different court shifts, a Lagos High Court sentenced Shofolayan and Al-Mustapha to death in 2012. However, the Court of Appeal in Lagos overturned that judgment in 2013 and freed them.
But in all this, what happened to Jabila and Abdul? Wasn’t their evidence seen as admissible? This question helps us to understand the motive of the Abiola kids. These loose ends must be tied up and justice should be served without any more delays. But the question is, which court in Nigeria will want to take up this battle?
