Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
MKO Abiola’s son, Jamiu Abiola, has alleged that some persons in the country had wanted to bury his father’s name by sidelining his achievements and struggle for democracy.
He also said that believes Nigeria would have been better off economically if his father, a democracy hero, had been allowed to become president in 1993.
Truth Live News Media quoted Jamiu to have made the statement while featuring on Thursday at Channels Television’s June 12 Special Forum to commemorate Nigeria’s 26-year period of uninterrupted democratic government.
“Nigeria would have been better because, at that time, it was a very special time in global times; that 1993 period was a time when the world itself was having an international economic boom.
“So, we could have tapped into that. But what did we get in return? We got a Kleptomaniac as head of state. I am not going to talk about (Sani) Abacha because he has his problems wherever he has found himself,” he said.
Jamiu, who is Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Linguistics and Foreign Affairs, expressed the belief that some people were hellbent on erasing his father’s name from Nigeria’s history.
He said, “I wrote a book in 2015 because I came to realise that my father’s name was becoming like a memory that was becoming distant and people were hellbent on rewriting the history of Nigeria without him.”
According to him, people would come from abroad, foreign presidents, they would mention Yar’Adua and others and they would not mention Chief MKO Abiola.
“Some people wanted to bury his name. Like my father would say: they wanted to shave his head in his absence.
“So, I now wrote a book in 2015, ‘The President Who Never Ruled’, so that his name cannot be forgotten,” Jamiu said.