Remembering MKO and June 12 by Reuben Abati

This day, June 12 will always be remembered by those who have defied the culture of silence and conspiracy against a significant moment in Nigerian history, to remind us of how today, 23 years ago, the battle against the exit of the military from power was fought at the ballot by a determined Nigerian people. It is indeed sad that apart from the South West states of Oyo, Ogun, Lagos and Osun which have doggedly continued to celebrate the hero, and later martyr of that battle, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, there has been studied indifference to the June 12 phenomenon by the Federal Government and remarkably, the rest of Nigeria.

      This is sadder still because MKO Abiola was not an ethnic champion: he was a man of pan-Nigerian vision and ambition, who went into politics to give the people hope, to unite them and lead them out of poverty. His campaign manifesto was instructively titled "Hope 93- Farewell to Poverty: How to make Nigeria a better place for all."

       When Nigerians voted in the presidential election of June 12, 1993, they chose the Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). MKO Abiola not only defeated the Presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC), Bashir Tofa in his home state of Kano, he also defeated him "fairly and squarely" with "58.4% of the popular vote and a majority in 20 out of 30 states and the FCT." That election was adjudged to be free and fair, and peaceful. But the Ibrahim Babangida-led military government had been playing games with the transition-to-civilian rule, and so it chose not to announce the final results of the election, and later on June 23, 1993, the Presidential election was annulled.

Jonathan sets up c’ttee over Abacha loot

ABUJA—President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, set up a committee to fashion out the best way to invest part of the recovered loot of former Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
This followed the planned release of $227 million, about N36.32 billion, from the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein, which is part of the looted funds recovered from the Abacha family.
To ensure the proper utilisation of the funds, President Goodluck Jonathan decided to constitute an inter-ministerial committee to identify the best projects and programmes in which to invest the funds.
According to a statement from the Special Adviser to the coordinating minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Nwabuikwu, the President had also directed that part of the funds be saved in the Future Generations Fund, which is one of the funds managed by the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA to help secure the economic future of both Nigerian youths and unborn Nigerians.

Govt. drops N446b theft charge against Abacha's son

REPRIEVE came the way of Mohammed, son of the late Head of State Gen. Sanni Abacha as the Federal Government yesterday dropped a nine-count charge against him over alleged complicity in the theft of N446.3 billion during his father’s administration.

   In the nine-count charge preferred against Mohammed in February 2014, the government accused Abacha of unlawfully receiving about N446.3 billion allegedly stolen from government’s coffers between 1995 and 1998.

   In count one, Mohammed was alleged to have, between August and December 1995 in Abuja, dishonestly received $36,480,000.00 made up of cash and travellers’ cheques, property of the Federal Government, believed to have been stolen.

Abacha sacked me because of Obasanjo –Jimeta

A former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Gambo Jimeta, said he was fired by a former military Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha as IGP because of his suggestion that political detainees including Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and others should be released unconditionally.

He also shocked members of the National Security Committee, which he chairs, that he just learnt through the media that the job of the National Conference was to write a new Constitution for Nigeria.

#KakandaTemple: In Defence of Sadiq Abacha

Abacha, our Abacha, the last of the true Generals and defenders against western imperialism, is dead and Nigerians, whose cowardice is both genetic and legendary, have become activists united against his ghost.
You see, our activists only pick a fight with the dead, they pick a fight with this dead soldier, because they lack the "street credibility" to mobilise the people against living politicians—merely to prove their bravery to their white sponsors who, they pretend they don't know, are just manipulative imperialists exploiting the poverty expressed in their demonstrations of patriotism. Even those cockroaches who remained in the dark, unspeaking all through Abacha years, have now gained baritone voices, fabricating stories of their "involvements" and "engagements" in "pro-democracy struggles", as they queue behind a frail old man, Wole Soyinka, to vilify Abacha and even us.

Centenary: Outrage as Abacha’s children attack Soyinka

Two children of the late maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha, on Wednesday singled out Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, for what can be described as a venomous attack.

While Gumsu, one of the late dictator’s daughters,  took to her Twitter page to pass disparaging remarks on Soyinka, his brother Sadiq chose blogs and online forums to snarl abuses at him.

According to them, their grouse against Soyinka borders on a statement he made that he rejected the centenary award by the Federal Government because of the inclusion of their late father’s name on the list of awardees.

US seizes $458m Abacha loot

The Justice Department is moving to seize more than half a billion dollars of allegedly corrupt proceeds from former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his associates, in what officials called the largest such action in U.S. history.

In a court filing unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., government lawyers said the U.S. has already frozen more than $458 million in bank accounts around the world, and seeks to recover at least $100 million more.

The seizure is part of a kleptocracy initiative, aimed at recovering money that was looted by dictators from their own countries.

"General Abacha was one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions from the people of Nigeria while millions lived in poverty," said Mythili Raman, head of the Justice Department's criminal division.

To Sadiq Abacha - on behalf of Wole Soyinka by Ayo Sogunro

Sadiq Sani Abacha gets the first reply to his open letter to Prof. Wole Soyinka from writer/activist, Ayo Sogunro. Read below and tell us what you think...
I do not know you personally, but I admire your filial bravery - however misguided - in defending the honour of your father, the late General Sani Abacha. This in itself is not a problem; it is an obligation—in this cultural construct of ours - for children to rise to the defence of their parents, no matter what infamy or perfidy the said parent might have dabbled in.

You Turned Out Like Everybody Else – Sadiq Abacha Writes Open Letter To Prof. Wole Soyinka

If you want to think, speak and act logically then you should know all three.
1. The law of identity
2. The law of excluded middle
3. The law of non contradiction.
Now let's look at each one of these and see what they mean in practice.
1. The law of identity

Supreme Court orders Mohammed Abacha’s trial for theft

Nigeria’s Supreme court in a unanimous decision Friday morning ordered Mohammed Abacha, son of late former Head of state, General Sani Abacha, to return to an Abuja High Court and face his trial on a 123 count criminal charge brought against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria wherein he was alleged to be in possession of stolen properties belonging to the Federal Government.

The theft was allegedly committed by the late former dictator stole, when he ruled Nigeria.
Mohammed had attempted to foil his trial but was unsuccessful at the trial court before he proceeded to the Court of Appeal where he lost. Then he approached the Supreme Court.

He argued that the immunity enjoyed by his father while in office extended to him and that having forfeited some of the family’s properties confiscated by the government, he should be exempted from prosecution in line with the he provisions of Decree number 53 of 1999.

Al-Mustapha dismisses Obasanjo’s comments over acquittal

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former chief security officer to Nigeria’s erstwhile maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha, on Monday faulted former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s opinion that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan influenced his acquittal, for the murder of Kudirat Abiola, at the Appeal court.

Mustapha described the allegation as unwarranted.
The Lagos State Governnment has filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against the judgement of the Appeal Court.
AL-Mustapha expressed surprise that Obasanjo could make such insinuations in his controversial 18-page letter to President Jonathan, arguing that, after all, the case is still in Court.

Letter to Jonathan…Al-Mustapha replies Obasanjo

the former Chief Security Officer to the late Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Al- Mustapha

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha yesterday challenged Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to produce evidence on his claims that President Jonathan interfered with the murder trial of the late General Abacha’s former chief security officer.
Al-Mustapha, who is abroad, also denied being used to run an assassination squad to target Jonathan’s political opponents ahead 2015 elections.
In his December 2 letter to the President, Obasanjo said Jonathan interfered with the court process to set a murderer free, and organised a presidential reception for him.
The former president did not name names, but it was obvious he was referring to Al-Mustapha who was freed by the Court of Appeal in July over the murder of the late Kudirat Abiola.