I approached GEJ 3 times to honour MKO with GCFR title - Kola Abiola
- Kola Abiola has revealed that he approached ex President Jonathan to honour his father, MKO, with the GCFR title, three times
- The first time, he went through former AGF Adoke, and the remaining two times, he went through Pastor Bakare; but all three attempts failed
- He praised President Buhari for bestowing the honour on his father, and also apologizing to the Abiola family
The oldest son of Chief MKO Abiola, acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Kola, has disclosed that he made three attempts to persuade immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan to bestow the Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) title on his late father; but that it could not be done, for political reasons.
He made the disclosure during a Channels TV interview on Thursday, June 14.
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Legit.ng gathers that Kola said he had approached former Attorney-General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), for MKO to be honoured during the Centenary celebration in January 2014; but a gold award was given to the deceased, which was rejected by the family.
He said he had written a letter to Jonathan during the build-up to the 2015 elections, through Pastor Tunde Bakare, at his second attempt; but that nothing came of that.
Kola added that his third attempt was made when Jonathan had lost and was preparing to leave office; but that too, failed.
He stated: “Towards the election, I approached them again, this time in writing, and solicited the help of Pastor 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 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, we couldn’t get it to happen.”
He said that he sent another letter through Pastor Bakare, to Muhammadu Buhari, after the latter became president.
Though Buhari was in Kaduna at the time, Kola said the president bought into the idea and eventually exceeded the Abiola family’s expectations, as he not just conferred the GCFR title on MKO, but also issued an apology to his family on behalf of the federal government.
He said he also approached late former President Umaru Yar’Adua, who promised to address the issue but died in office.
Kola however stated that he did not approach former President Olusegun Obasanjo, because he felt there was no point trying, as OBJ’s answer would have been obvious.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Tony Anenih, the then national chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a top political party in the 1993 presidential race which had late MKO Abiola as its candidate, made a lot of inciting claims in his book titled ‘My Life and Nigerian Politics’.
Anenih's book revealed a lot that transpired during and after June 12, including the claim that Abiola reported to him how the former military head of states, Ibrahim Babangida tried to embarrass him.
Abiola is the hero of Nigeria's democracy, i foresaw the annulment - Kenny Martins - on Legit.ng TV:
Source: Legit.ng
