Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin has alleged that the late chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, popularly called MKO Abiola, amassed his wealth through dubious means.
Hundeyin made the allegations while responding to a question in a podcast by Noble Nigeria.
Hundeyin, who also alleged that President Bola Tinubu amassed his wealth by engaging in illegal schemes, alleged that Abiola made “his money under similar circumstances.”
“Before Tinubu, there was the original Tinubu who went by the name MKO Abiola, and despite all of his wealth and all of his money, his money was made under similar circumstances, by the way, because MKO was also a criminal. Let’s be clear about that,” Hundeyin said.
‘”There is no type of illegal activity that man was not involved in,” he added.
“Gun running, coup financing, smuggling of illegal or illegal commodities—his hand was inside, and he made a fantastic fortune.
“He also alleged that there was nothing illegal that happened between 1878 and 1992 that his hands were not inside.”
He also blamed Abiola for Nigeria’s delay in having telecommunications systems in the country until the early 2000s.
“He basically got a huge contract to provide the backbone for telephones in Nigeria, and it turned out to be a contract scam because he just pocketed the money and did not do the work,” he claimed.
Abiola, who died on July 7, 1998, in Abuja, Nigeria, was a Nigerian business executive, philanthropist, and politician who is hailed as a figure of democratic change in Nigeria.
After nearly a decade of military rule, democratic elections were held in Nigeria on June 12, 1993.
The businessman ran as the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party in a two-party race.
The election was described by observers as the freest and fairest in Nigerian history.
After the voting, initial results indicated that Abiola, who had garnered votes across ethnic and religious divides, would be the clear winner of the election.
Before the official results were announced, however, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the military leader, annulled the election. This provoked a political crisis.
Abiola rallied domestic and international support by claiming the presidency that he appeared to have won, which led to his 1994 arrest on a charge of treason by the military regime then led by Gen. Sani Abacha.
During his imprisonment, Abiola was deprived of outside news and subjected to solitary confinement and abuse that included negligent medical care.
His release seemed imminent following the death of General Abacha in June 1998.
However, Abiola died suddenly under mysterious circumstances, arousing suspicions of foul play, although a heart attack was officially declared to be the cause of death.
