DEMOCRACY DAY: My Dad’s Presidency Would Have Make Nigeria Better– Abiola’s Son Boasts

DEMOCRACY DAY: My Dad’s Presidency Would Have Make Nigeria Better– Abiola’s Son Boasts

Jamiu Abiola, son of the late Chief MKO Abiola, has stated that Nigeria could have experienced significantly greater economic progress if his father had been allowed to take office following the 1993 presidential election.

During Channels Television’s June 12 Special Forum on Thursday marking 26 years of uninterrupted democracy, Jamiu reflected on the global economic climate at the time, describing the annulment of the election as a lost opportunity for Nigeria to tap into a period of international economic prosperity.

Jamiu, who currently serves as the Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Linguistics and Foreign Affairs, also expressed concern over efforts to erase his father’s contributions from the nation’s political history.

“Nigeria would have been better because, at that time, it was a very special time in global times; that 1993 period was a time when the world itself was having an international economic boom.

“So, we could have tapped into that. But what did we get in return? We got a kleptomaniac as head of state. I am not going to talk about (Sani) Abacha because he has his problems wherever he has found himself.

“I wrote a book in 2015 because I came to realise that my father’s name was becoming like a memory that was becoming distant and people were hellbent on rewriting the history of Nigeria without him.

“People would come from abroad, foreign presidents, they would mention Yar’Adua and others, and they would not mention Chief MKO Abiola. Some people wanted to bury his name. Like my father would say: they wanted to shave his head in his absence,” he said.

His book, The President Who Never Ruled, was written to preserve MKO Abiola’s legacy and ensure that future generations understand his pivotal role in Nigeria’s democratic journey.

In 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari posthumously honored MKO Abiola with the title of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic and officially designated June 12 as Democracy Day—a move widely regarded as long overdue.