Jamiu Abiola, son of the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, has said Nigeria would be in a much better economic position today if his father had been allowed to take office as president following the annulled 1993 election.
Speaking during Channels Television’s June 12 Special Forum, Jamiu said the period around 1993 was a time of global economic growth, and Nigeria missed a major opportunity by not allowing his father to govern.
“1993 was a special moment in the world. It was a time of international economic boom,” he said. “Nigeria could have tapped into that. But instead, we got a kleptomaniac as head of state.”
While not mentioning General Sani Abacha by name, Jamiu alluded to the late military ruler, saying: “I am not going to talk about Abacha because he has his problems wherever he has found himself.”
Jamiu Abiola currently serves as the Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Linguistics and Foreign Affairs.
Reflecting on the years since the annulled election and the death of his father in 1998, Jamiu expressed concern that Chief MKO Abiola’s legacy was being sidelined.
“In 2015, I wrote a book, *The President Who Never Ruled*, because I realised people were trying to erase my father’s name from Nigeria’s history,” he said. “Foreign leaders would visit Nigeria and mention others like Yar’Adua, but leave out Chief MKO Abiola. Some wanted to bury his name. Like my father used to say: they wanted to shave his head in his absence.”
Chief MKO Abiola was widely believed to have won the 1993 presidential election, regarded by many as the freest and fairest in Nigeria’s history, but the result was annulled by the military government of the time.
In 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari posthumously honoured MKO Abiola with the title of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and officially declared June 12 as Democracy Day in his memory, a move many Nigerians saw as long overdue.