PM News
By Michael Adesina
Abdul Abiola, a son of Moshood Abiola, said Babangida annulled June 12, I993, election because he was scared to lose power.
Abdul made this known in an interview with Punch while reacting to the claims by Babangida that his annulment of the historic poll prevented a violent coup.
Abdul Abiola said:
“It’s a kind of funny claim since after the annulment, there was still a coup. So, I don’t understand what he is talking about when the same thing that he was supposedly worried would happen still happened. It’s very funny. Anyway, let me start by saying this: most people might not know, but my name is Abdul Abiola and when I was born on December 18, 1984, my godfather happened to be Babangida himself. Apparently, when I was born, there was a big party at the house (in Lagos); we had about three bands. Even when he spoke about the ideal candidate, he was basically talking about Abiola. I just find it very odd that a person knows that the country needs somebody who is accepted across the country, and yet, this person found it hard to hand over to my father because my father was accepted across the nation. That is my take on the aspect of who should be the next president.
“I also want to say that I do not believe that the people who put us in the present situation we are in today in Nigeria should even be providing any solutions. The fact that he is not languishing in prison for the damage he has caused to the nation should be enough for him to just be quiet, as far as I’m concerned. What we lost in 1993 was the basis of a nation, that was the breaking point. When you want to create something that is beyond ethnic and religious divisions, that was the birth of the nation that he destroyed. So, for him to now say there would have been a coup if he didn’t do what he did, I would say for a fact that there wouldn’t have been a coup, what would have happened is he would have lost his own power and hold on the nation as we have it today. And I think that was what was scaring him, that he would lose power.
“They say power corrupts, and everybody knows that. He never wanted to lose power. He never expected Abiola to win, and the fact that Abiola did win, he then thought that his legacy would be that he handed over to a Yoruba person, so he, as far as I’m concerned, is the one who is ethnically biased because Abiola did not care if he was Yoruba or Igbo, he didn’t even think about such things. He was Nigerian first.”
Abiola was further asked if he thinks Babangida still has political influence today. He said:
“I will tell you for a fact that, ever since he left power, he has remained in the corridors (of power), tweaking and moving things around. I don’t understand why people just think that when you do the same thing over and over again, you will get a different result. That is the recipe for madness. So, in my submission, I will say this: Like I said, he was my godfather and I give him all the respect because even when my father was being herded to jail, he said, ‘Babangida is my friend,’ because my father knew that ‘what you’re doing is not going to end well.’ And I think people are seeing the lies in what he is saying now.
“He talked about the Structural Adjustment Programme, everybody knows that it was a strategic programme by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to subjugate Africa. But maybe when you are at the top of the pyramid, you don’t see all these things. Remember that before SAP, we had the Import Substitution Strategy, where we would stop importing certain goods because we could make them here, indirectly creating our own industries and that was going to build our own capacity. That, I believe, was even a better way because Nigeria was moving up during that time.
“When he talks about corruption during his time when he got in, it was N1 to $1. If you’re talking about corruption, stealing is stealing. These people want
