How Jealous People Didn’t Allow MKO Abiola Become Nigerian President —Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, has talked about late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola.

He narrated how those he regarded as ‘bad belle’ prevented MKO Abiola from becoming president in 1993.

Abiola was the generally acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, but the election was annulled by former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida.

In his remark at the centenary celebrations of the Baptist Boys High School (BBHS), Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo stated that those who influenced the annulment of the election did that out of jealousy, Politics Nigeria reports.

Abiola was the Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of Yorubaland and an aristocrat of the Egba clan in Ogun State.

“If not for Nigerian bad belle (jealousy), M.K.O. Abiola would have been President and with me as President, we would have needed one more old student of BBHS to be President for us to permanently locate it in BBHS after three times. And that is a challenge for up-and-coming generations of old boys,” Obasanjo said.

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters earlier reported that the African Action Congress presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore had accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of always dragging Nigeria backwards.

Sowore described Obasanjo as the embodiment of failure, which contributed to the country's late attainment of democracy in the late 1990s.

The AAC presidential candidate also accused the former leader of conspiring against Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the 1979 election and Abiola's presidential ambition during the aborted third republic in 1993.