A former personal assistant to the late Abiola, Lisa Olu Akerele, has blamed former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, for truncating the June 12 dream, adding that this would haunt IBB through the rest of his life.
He appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to give financial compensation to the late politician’s family for the loss and pains they suffered as a result of the June 12 saga.
Referring specifically to MKO’s crumbled business empire including the Concord Press of Nigeria, Radio Communication Nigeria Limited, Abiola Bookshops, Abiola Bakeries, Abiola Farms, Concord Airlines and Summit Oils, Akerele said the compensation would help the family to revive the companies.
While commending Buhari for granting posthumous honour to Abiola, Akerele noted that those who suffered incarceration and other economic losses should be compensated to ameliorate the pains they suffered in the wake of the 1993 political crisis which followed the annulment of the June 12 presidential election.
The veteran journalist, who was also incarcerated for two years by Abacha, commended Asiwaju Bolaji Tinubu, for sustaining the campaign for Abiola’s posthumous award.
He recalled that on March 1, 2016 he and the late Abiola first son, Kola, met with Tinubu in Lagos where they brainstormed on the issue.
Akerele also decried the role played by former President Olusegun Obasanjo “who declined to right the wrong perpetrated by an evil genius,” adding that the former President ignored persistent calls by right thinking individuals in the society to correct the evil Babangida planted.
He praised Buhari for “coming to judgment at the nick of time,” noting that posterity would place his name in the right sphere of Nigeria’s history.
Akerele warned those he described as agents provocateur in the National Assembly to allow democracy take firm root in the nation’s body polity.
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Politics