YESTERDAY was rather the happiest moment for the family of the late chief MKO Abiola, especially is son Kola Abiola who has been in the struggle to claim for his father what he was denied years ago. As a matter of note, he got far more than what he thought could be given to his father, in honor of his contribution to democracy in Nigeria and for denying him what truly belong to him during June 12 election.
After my father’s death, I continued the struggle for June 12 to be officially recognized; I started with Baba (Obasanjo) but I knew that I would not get anything done. When former President Goodluck Jonathan came, I started again with him. Even after he had lost the election, I felt that it was one last thing he could do to engrave his name in the history books of Nigeria but, for his own reasons, we fell short at the very last minute.”
” When I met with Buhari in Kaduna as President- elect, I told him what I would like and, as God would have it, he had the strength of character to do it. It is discretional and not a political thing. Such an action is taken at the discretion of the President.
I wanted three things: for my father to be honored with GCFR, so that Nigeria would accept that he won the election because that title goes to Presidents only. The second issue was that I wanted June 12 to be declared Democracy Day and I got that. May 29 Democracy Day was a fake date; that was just Obasanjo trying to rewrite history.
One thing I didn’t ask for but got and I am very grateful to the President and the Vice President was the apology made to my family; that was the icing on the cake. Some say it was political but anything about Abiola is political and that is why it took so long for him to be recognized by giving him his due place in history of Nigeria. We didn’t expect the apology and I am very grateful to the President.
For me , the journey ended that day even though it crystallized this year. “