Festus Akanbi

Kola Abiola, the first son and head of the family of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun Moshood Abiola, has stated that some Nigerians were omitted from the list of those honoured by President Bola Tinubu for their roles in the efforts to actualise June 12, 1993 election victory.  

Also, thirty-two years after the election was annulled and the chain of events that culminated in Abiola’s death, Kola has disclosed that the then military President, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), is yet to apologise to the Abiola family.

This is just as he also revealed the decision of the Abiola family to pursue the alleged N45 billion unpaid contract debts owed Abiola by the federal government.
Speaking during a live programme on the ARISE NEWS Channel last night, Kola said he was happy that the process of honouring June 12 heroes had begun, expressing the hope that all the errors would be corrected.

“On June 12, when the honours list was rolled out, we expected the first eleven of those who played key roles in the June 12 election matters. But the current president has started the process. He also said the list was not exhaustive; so, as time goes on, let’s see what will be done. There were repetitions in the list, and there were some names of people who already have national honours, but I believe there must be a process. People must go through a process where they are pardoned before the national honours.

“I agreed that some names were supposed to be on the list irrespective of their political affiliations, and that is in line with what I described as the first eleven. Someone like me, for example, was deeply involved in the pre-and post-election. I was being trailed by security forces looking for me, and if not for my daughter, I don’t know where I would have been today. I was in detention for four years and five months. But it’s not about me,” he stated.

Although the former military ruler had in his memoir, ‘A Journey in Service,’ which was officially launched on February 20, 2025, taken responsibility for the annulment of the election, Kola said Babangida’s decision to blame the cancellation of Nigeria’s freest and fairest presidential election on an unnamed general has hampered his efforts at reconciliation.

 “You cannot have a programme that took us six years and cost the country about $5 billion and not come straight and clean. You cannot have a scenario where you blame one man. You mentioned a Lt. General when we have another Brigadier General whom you refused to name.

“If he had mentioned other people who were involved, including a Brigadier General, I wouldn’t have been worried, but I deliberately didn’t pursue that because I didn’t want to get into military politics. There was a time when he said there was a threat to his life, but if by now, 32 years and you still can’t talk, I think that is serious. I believe that book was a big opportunity to set the record straight, even if it is for MKO alone who paid the supreme sacrifice, I don’t believe those involved should remain nameless,” Kola explained.

On the claim of a family member, Lekan Abiola, that Babangida had called the family to apologise, Kola said any apology that was done privately cannot be recognised, pointing out that President Muhammadu Buhari had done the needful by making an apology on behalf of the Nigerian government publicly.

He said, “President Buhari went public and apologised to the family, the voters, and the country. That is how it is done, not privately. I’m not aware of such an apology, maybe to him. This is not a personal thing. It is a national thing and if President Buhari has apologised to Nigerians and the family, I think that is it.”
He said discussions with former President Umaru Yar’Adua on how to honour Abiola were ongoing when the latter died, adding that President Goodluck Jonathan couldn’t do it before he was defeated at the polls.

Reacting to the call by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, for the federal government to pay N45 billion owed Abiola, Kola expressed the hope that President Tinubu should be able to pay the money.

According to Kola Abiola, the debt began to pile up during the tenure of General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd.) as a military head of state.

 “But for some reason, he wasn’t paid that money because they felt paying him his money would have empowered him to be a threat. Alhaji Sule Lamido surely understands what happened, and that was why he made a case for the payment of this money. The question now is whether it would be paid now, tomorrow, or next. We supposedly have a governance that understands what should be done. If anything will be done at all, it has to start from here.”
On the allegation that Abiola’s ITT never fully implemented the contracts, Kola explained that his father fully completed his task, explaining that the contracts had issues when, for some reason, it was split into three, with the three contractors working at cross-purposes.

He said: “The contract was to digitalise the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL). The contract for the backbone of NITEL was then ITT. They were going to digitalise the whole backbone by giving out the contract, but somebody decided to be smart by splitting the contract into three parts to three different contractors.

‘A’ was to handle the building project, ‘B’ was to provide the turnkey, and ITT was to buy the equipment needed. We bought the whole equipment in full, and we were paying warehouse costs, waiting for other contractors to do their bits. However, because A was not speaking with B and B was not speaking with C, the building was wrong, and the inlet and the outlet were wrong. By the time the Japanese company came to work on the US switches, they couldn’t understand the process; so, implementation became a problem and the equipment was lying fallow for years. So, it is not true that he didn’t execute his side of the contract. He was always saying, ‘No matter what you do, do it by the letter, because when trouble comes, you can show them that you did it by the letter. Do not say because your friend is the minister, you must do it well.”

He said the family cannot forgo the money, saying, “We cannot forget it because we worked for it. The case is, do you want to approach it, and how do you want to get the money paid? As I told you, the reasons why the money was not paid in the first instance still exist today. I believe those who understand the issue are in power now, and I believe they will address it. With due respect to Mr. President, we worked closely pre- and post-June 12 election. He is someone I know very well, and he knows me very well too.”