Saying Abacha annulled 1993 presidential election is tales – Abiola’s son tackles IBB
Jamiu Abiola, Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Linguistics and Foreign Affairs and son of the late MKO Abiola, has criticized former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida for claiming that it was Sani Abacha who annulled the 1993 presidential election.
Speaking on Channels Television, Jamiu dismissed Babangida’s account as “tales by moonlight” and questioned why IBB only recently acknowledged Abiola’s victory in his memoir A Journey in Service.
He also expressed regret that after Abacha’s death in 1997, his father was not granted proper medical care and that General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who succeeded Abacha, did not publicly affirm Abiola’s mandate.
He said: “He (IBB) mentioned that the election was annulled by General Abacha but all of that is tales by moonlight.
“If that was the case, nothing stopped him from bringing up that when General Abacha died, to General Abdulsalami, who is also from Niger State and a good friend of his, to say: ‘I was forced to annul this election because General Abacha wanted to kill MKO Abiola.
“Now, MKO Abiola is in jail. Why don’t you release him to get a medical checkup as opposed to him eventually dying in jail?’
“Even if he didn’t tell Abdulsalami to de-annul the election, at least let him go to have a medical checkup and Abacha was dead.
“If Abacha was the problem, they could have come up with the result.
“This result that was announced in his book could have been announced when General Abdulsalami came into power and they could have allowed him to get a medical checkup. Maybe he would have survived,” Jamiu said.
