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The final solution or the will of God? By: Olufunsho O. Famuyiwa |  Late MKO Abiola |
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July 8, 1998 | |
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The Yorubas have a saying : Even when we are weeping, we still see clearly. So must it be, even as we mourn the untimely demise of CHIEF MOSHOOD KASHIMAWO OLAWALE ABIOLA, we must endeavour to maintain some clarity of thought and a clear-headedness of purpose, so that Good will triumph over evil after all.
At this period of profound national grief for all Nigerians, our thoughts and prayers must be for the departed souls of Chief MKO Abiola, his late wife Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and ALL the members of their family left behind. We must also remember and pray for the numerous martyrs in the struggle to free Nigeria from the stranglehold of despotism and oligarchy. From well-known names like late PA Alfred Rewane, Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 9, Gen Shehu Y'Ardua to the less well-known numerous Nigerians who were shot on the streets in cold blood or died in police detention unsung and perhaps unmourned. The toll indeed, has been horrendous in terms of properties pilaged or destroyed, businesses ruined, years wasted in prison or roaming in exile, health damaged or spirits broken and lives lost. But nobody ever imagined for one moment, that the symbol of Nigeria's re-awakening, of its liberation from the shackles of feudalism, military dictatorship and ethnic jingoism, and in fact, of its renaisance would also be a sacrificial lamb on the altar of unbridled political power play. A victim, directly or indirectly of the callousness, wickedness, inhumaness and blood-thirstiness of a cabal determined to cling to power by hook AND crook, even though all the evidence demonstrate clearly that they are ill-equipped and incompetent to rule the country. It must be pointed out that in all the years of his incarceration, Chief Abiola was denied access to decent medical care. If this had been allowed, whatever was ailing him could have been detected and his untimely death prevented. Even if the government had released him just a week ago, he would have sought good medical check-up immediately on his release and it is most likely that any occult illness such as coronary heart disease that he might have harboured would have been identified and the calamity of July 7th 1998 avoided. Without doubt, those who kept Chief Abiola locked up for 4 years without the benefit of proper medical attention, must bear responsibility for his death even if they did not poison him as many have the right to suspect. One of the most heinous crimes in the history of mankind was the decision by Hitler's Nazi Germany to exterminate all Jews, mostly in the notorious gas chambers, as a " final solution" to what they called the Jewish problem. It is not too far-fetched to speculate that some power barons who are obsessed with the notion that political power must remain in certain hands at whatever cost, might have decided that the festering problem of June 12 which will not go away also demanded "a final solution". This would mean naturally, that the central figure in the struggle should be eliminated. Only the almighty God knows whether this was so or not, but certainly, there are some Nigerians who believe that their ambitions or agenda would be easier to achieve if Chief Abiola should cease to be a factor. After the monumental diplomatic blunder of Kofi Annan in which he claimed to have obtained some concession concerning June 12 mandate from Chief Abiola, whose 4 years of total incarceration and deprivation did not even let him know who Kofi Annan is when they met, the government of Gen. Abubakar was finding the claim of renounciation of June 12 a hard-sell for most Nigerians. Moreover, as many people readily appreciated, the government would not be satisfied with a verbal renunciation, if that in fact ever happened, but would wand a document signed, sealed and delivered by MKO on the matter. And therein lay the pin that would prick the government's balloon. As it turned out, Chief Emeka Anyaoku (Sec. to the Commonwealth), made it known publicly, although the news was largely suppressed, that Chief Abiola refused to sign any statement renouncing his mandate as a condition for being released. Be it known therefore : That since he reclaimed his mandate on June 12, 1994 and until his passing to eternal rest on July 7th 1998, CHIEF MOSHOOD KASHIMAWO OLAWALE ABIOLA NEVER, REPEAT, NEVER REPUDIATED , DENIED, REFUSED, REJECTED OR RENOUNCED THE ELECTORAL MANDATE GIVEN TO HIM BY 14 MILLION NIGERIAN VOTERS ON JUNE 12TH 1993. This must be a fact of history and the world should know this and believe it in spite of all the spin coming from the Nigerian government, the UN headquarters and various media organizations. For those of us left behind, there is a need for us to firmly resolve that all the SUFFERING, PAIN and DEATH that Nigeria has witnessed in the last 15 years of military mis-rule and which reached its apogee during the Abacha brutal dictatorship must not be in vain. CHIEF MKO ABIOLA AND OTHER MARTYRS MUST NOT DIE IN VAIN For our sufferings and losses not to be in vain, we must, with a single-mindedness of purpose and resoluteness, FOSTER, SUSTAIN, FIGHT FOR and ACTUALIZE those ideals that CHIEF MKO ABIOLA and JUNE 12 have come to represent in our consciousness. A NIGERIA IN WHICH NO ETHNIC GROUP DOMINATES OR SUBJUGATES ANY OTHER, WHERE HARD WORK, MERIT, HONESTY AND TRUTH HOLD SWAY, WHERE FREEDOM REIGNS AND JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE A FLOWING STREAM. Such a Nigeria cannot be built on the carcass of a country which has been pilaged and plundered, battered, bruised and raped by the military and a parasitic horde of civilian collaborators. For Nigeria to have peace, to ever move forward or to enjoy stability, the present polity must be overhauled. The answer to Nigeria's problems does not lie in mere party politics or short-gun elections that will give the appearance of a democratic culture. The answer lies in a GENUINE RESTRUCTURING OF NIGERIA INTO TRUE FEDERATING UNITS WITH CONSIDERABLE DEVOLUTION OF POWER FROM THE CENTER, SO THAT ORDINARY NIGERIANS CAN TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR LIVES AND NOT BE SUBJECT TO SOME FEUDAL OR AUTHORITARIAN LORDS WIELDING UNBRIDLED POWER THROUGH AND ALL-POWERFUL, ALL-KNOWING, ALL-DEMANDING, ALL-GIVING AND ALL-TAKING FEDERAL MONOLITHIC GOVERNMENT.
The minimum requirements for Nigeria to move forward still remain - This process and this sequence must not and cannot be circumscribed. Certainly, the elections MUST NOT come first because that will be an exercise in futility. Nothing will be gained if the FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS bedevilling Nigeria are not tackled before elections are held. Those who are clamouring for early elections such as the military government, its civilian minions and outside "facilitators" are either deliberately obfuscating the issues or do not understand the complexities of the Nigerian political situation. If Chief Abiola and others are not to die in vain, there must be an INSISTENCE on the implementation of these MINIMUM DEMANDS. May Almighty God admit CHIEF MKO ABIOLA into His Rest and may the Peace of the Lord be with the members of his family. |
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Send all Comments and Questions to: funsofam@kma.org.kw 
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