M.K.O ABIOLA: Father of modern Democracy in Nigeria

           

The Best President we Never Had

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State His name, Kashimawo, means "Let us wait and see" Moshood Abiola was his father's twenty-third child but the first of his father's children to survive infancy, hence the name 'Kashimawo'. It was not until he was 15 years old that he was properly named Moshood, by his parents.

Best President we never had?

<sup>The late business mogul and politician was not born with a silver spoon. His beginning was so humble that he sponsored his education selling firewood and performing at ceremonies with a band he formed.

But through sheer determination and perseverance, Abiola began to move up after completing his secondary education at Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta and joined Barclay’s Bank Plc in Ibadan, where he commenced his professional career as a bank clerk.

He had a stint at Western Region Finance Corporation where he served as executive accounts officer before travelling to Glasgow, Scotland for further studies.

His brilliance earned him a first class degree in Accountancy even as a distinction from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland increased his portfolio. When he returned home, he became a senior accountant at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital. Later, he joined Pfizer before joining the ITT Corporation. There, he rose to the position of Vice President, Africa and Middle-East of the multi-national corporation.

Besides being a philanthropist extraordinaire, Abiola who was born on August 24, 1937 in Ogun State, established several business concerns ranging from Abiola Bookshops, Abiola Farms, Wonder Bakeries, Concord Press, Summit Oil International Ltd, Radio Communications Nigeria, Concord Airlines, Deca W.A Ltd, Abiola Football Club to Africa Ocean lines.


Although it was during the Gen Ibrahim Babangida unending transition programme that his political career hit the climax, Abiola had for long been romancing politics. He joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons at age 19. He was also an influential member of the ruling National Party of Nigeria in 1980.

MKO, who was the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, contested and won the presidential election on June 12, 1993 on the platform of the Social Democratic Party. But he was denied the mandate by the then military dictator, Babangida, who annulled the election. The aftermath of the annulment of the election triggered a violent protest in the country where many lives were lost. Abiola died in controversial circumstances while in custody on July 7, 1998.


Even in death, Abiola remains a martyr; a pillar upon which the foundation of the nation’s democracy was built. In his Democracy Day broadcast on May 29, 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan noted this when he recalled the martyrdom of Abiola, whose victory in the 1993 Presidential election, and death, while in custody, proved to be the catalyst for the people’s pro-democracy uprising.

Jonathan added that the greatest tribute the country could pay to him, and other departed heroes of Nigeria’s democracy, was to ensure that it continued to sustain and consolidate its democratic institutions and processes, and keep hope alive.

President Jonathan's decision to rename the University of lagos after MKO is perhaps a step in the right direction to honour the father of modern democracy in Nigeria, although many have argued that he could have been honoured in better ways.</sup>