By
Wale Odunsi
The day was Saturday June 12, week 23 of the year 1993,
the event was the much-awaited presidential election.
Social Democratic Party’s Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola on
one hand;
National Republican Convention’s Bashir Othman Tofa on the
other.
A massive turn out of voting peaked months of a glamorous
electioneering;
MKO called his Hope ’93; Tofa’s mantra I remember not.
Buoyed up by a clear weather,
millions on Nigerians from North, South, East and West earnestly
In
unison, they spoke in one voice lifted and one man above their shoulders.
They were certain of what to expect; eyes set on black and white
TV sets,
while ears stretched up to the length of the transistor antenna.
For women: costly shoes were retrieved from the angle of
diminutive rooms
…dance rehearsals on already.
For men, liquor and freshly tapped palm wine were placed within
reach
…certitude of stupor-drinking was in no doubt.
Hours later voting ended, an official confirmation would not
come forth; not a single word
Speculations flew round like missiles in wartime, as tension
progressively muster.
“What has befallen us? Individuals asked one another in local
dialect.
What could have gone wrong? Our man, a Southern Muslim, seemed
to have bagged this one.
He trounced his Northern Muslim opponent right in his Northern
state.
He triumphed at the national capital, Abuja; he conquered the
military polling stations;
he cleared over two-thirds of the states; nearly all votes swung
his way.
This is an unprecedented feat – christening it Historic is
sarcasm.
And yes, our people and even the ‘White Men’ rate it as the
freest and fairest ever.”
Finally, information springs from the Aso Rock.
The announcer was General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, occupier
of the seat of power.
The speech he read would mean one thing:
“The election is cancelled”, which to the people means, “Our
hope is cancelled”.
The dancing shoes were threw back in, the liquor and palm wine
set aside.
Doom overshadowed the land.
The mighty ones would not heed the voice of majority of the
electorate.
Rather they put us through another traumatic era known as
General Sani Abacha
MKO went round the globe; “Help me get my stolen mandate”, he
cried to world heads.
By 1994, daring the odds and consequences, he returned home.
“I am the President of Nigeria” he declared at Epetedo area of
Lagos Island.
“What!” Abacha lamented, “Arrest and lock up the bloody
civilian”, he ordered.
The gun-trotting Sojas wasted no time; the job was done within
hours.
MKO’s charge was treason.
Four years in solitary confinement, call it insult upon injury.
On surveillance round the clock were more than a dozen
sentinels.
Plea by Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and others
could not help
And then a lifeline was later tabled:
“Years have gone by, give up the fight and regain your freedom.
Oh, whatever your spent, you will get twofold”, they said to him.
“No I will not, I am determined to fight to finish”, he replied.
Tuesday July 7, week 28 of 1998 AD.,
five years and twenty-five days after his mandate was brazenly
seized, he died.
The circumstance surrounding the sudden demise has since not
been established.
Some say poison was mixed with the last cup of tea he was
served,
others say he was beaten to death.
Shortly before his departure,
an American delegation including today’s powerful Susan Rice
visited him.
They have maintained sealed lips.
We cannot question the Almighty God,
but we can request answers from human beings.
The questions were asked long ago,
and those who know it entirely responded.
They will not allow us access.
The custodians of evil should not slow down,
we have been hurt so much that hurt can hurt no more.
I find solace in the end of our existence,
in that look we will all give account to how we spent our time
here.
To my namesake, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola,
we may never be as generous as you were.
But we are continuing the struggle to ensure that,
those who use our collective wealth to purchase things as cheap
as toothpicks
do the right thing for the good of the people you sought to
serve.
Continue to rest in peace, the President we never had (they
never allow us have).
wodunsi@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment