By FEMI FALANA
On June 12, 1994, Chief M. K.O. Abiola declared himself President on the basis of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which he won fair and square. General Sani Abacha’s military junta arrested him and charged him with treasonable felony at the Federal High Court. While he was held incommunicado in a military custody for 4 years, Chief Abiola was subjected to horrendous psychological and mental torture. Even though Chief Abiola had severe health challenges, he was denied medical attention by the maximum dictator. His parlous medical state was confirmed on April 27, 1998 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who had visited Nigeria at the instance of President Nelson Mandela and met with the imprisoned Chief Abiola. The revered priest reported that Abiola’s health and living conditions were severely deteriorating and called for his urgent release to enable him to take care of his failing health. The call was ignored by the military regime.
Following the controversial death of Abacha on June 8, 1998, he was succeeded by his Chief of Defence Staff, General Abdusalami Abubakar as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. The new military junta ordered the immediate release of all political prisoners including General Obasanjo (rtd) and other convicted coup plotters from prison custody. However, the detained Abiola was not released by Abubakar on the ground that he refused to renounce his claim to the presidency. Nigerians were shocked when the American delegation announced that Abiola had passed away during a brief meeting with him on July 7, 1998. The Chukwudifu Oputa Panel instituted by the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration to investigate the egregious human rights abuse which defined military rule in Nigeria probed the death of Chief Abiola. Abubakar turned down the request of the Oputa Panel to explain his role in the entire saga as he did not want to be subjected to cross examination by lawyers. About 28 years later, the former military ruler has, in his autobiography entitled “Call of Duty,” dismissed claims that Abiola was poisoned, insisting that an autopsy conducted by foreign pathologists had attributed his death to natural causes.
