In the wake of the announcement that June 12, the day the late MKO Abiola won what is widely regarded as Nigeria’s first and only free and fair election, the politician’s daughter has made a huge claim.
According to Tundun Abiola, the first civilian President of Nigeria after the military regime, Olusegun Obasanjo, was not elected, but rather was appointed by the military overlords.
Speaking on a Channels’ television program, Tundun said that the appointment of Obasanjo was made to compensate the South-West, where Abiola was from, for his death.
She said: “Obasanjo was appointed the president, he was not elected president. We did not have any election in 1999, we had a coronation,”
She said she applauded the gesture by Buhari to move Democracy day from May 29th to June 12 but she also had some harsh words for Obasanjo whom she felt should have made the gesture much, much earlier.
She added: “When you know you were not elected, you know you were selected and just appointed president by the military, it is galling for him to have acknowledged a democratic process.”
“President Obasanjo and my father had a relationship then; so what happened in their lifetime continued even after my father was dead. He cannot bear the idea of Moshood Abiola – so he did not do it,”