Kola Abiola said that his father was bigger than the honour accorded him by GEJ’s administration.
Kola Abiola, the son of late chief MKO Abiola has said that the naming of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) after his father by the Goodluck Jonathan administration was a mistake.
MKO Abiola was presumed the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections that was annulled by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
Kola, while speaking on Channels Television, said that his father was bigger than the honour accorded him by GEJ’s administration.
His words: “That was a mistake, they were trying to regionalise MKO, he was more than that.”
I begged Jonathan for GCFR
The late politician’s son also revealed that he contacted the former attorney-general of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke and Pastor Tunde Bakare to ask former president Jonathan to honour his father with the award of the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).
According to him, the issue was politicised and abandoned.
“I started talking to Jonathan-led administration immediately he came in.
“I spoke to the then attorney-general and we started the process. Along the way, we had problems from the national merit award.
“Towards the election, I approached them again, this time in writing, and solicited the help of Pastor Tunde Bakare and told them that even if it was for selfish political reasons, this was something you could do to help your chances of winning elections.
“I really didn’t mind how he got it done. But we couldn’t get President Jonathan to get it done so we left that.
“After he lost the election, I approached him a second time with another letter also through the same Pastor Bakare to try to get him to do this as a legacy of his Presidency, something that Nigerians would never forget about him. Last minute, everything went wrong, and it couldn’t happen,” he said.
Obasanjo refused to honour Abiola
Also, another son of late Abiola, Alhaji Jamiu Abiola revealed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo ignored several pleas which he made to him to honour his father.
Alhaji Jamiu alleged that Obasanjo ignored his pleas because he hated his father.
He said “When Obasanjo was the President, I visited him several times and called him several times. He also called me.
“Even when I wrote my first book, he did a fantastic review of the book and said the book gave people hope.
“There was a time I sent him a text message when he was President, telling him that peoples’ impression about his failure to honour Abiola was because he did not like him.
“Unfortunately, he did not do it.
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“When I wrote the second book on my father, I gave him the book. I am sure he read it. All I have done for my father were not for a favour. They are the things I am supposed to do as a son. I saw it as an obligation. I will also want my son to do so for me.“
In comes Buhari
Kola also narrated to Channels TV how he reached out to President Buhari when he came into office, through Pastor Bakare, asking that his father be honoured.
President Buhari, on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, declared June 12 as Democracy Day in honour of the late MKO Abiola.
The President also awarded Abiola the highest honour in Nigeria - Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR).
Speaking on the President’s action, Kola said that Buhari exceeded the expectation of the Abiola family.
On Tuesday, June 12, 2018, the Lagos state government unveiled a 37-feet statue in honour of the late politician at the MKO Abiola Gardens, Alapere, Lagos State.