Tundun Abiola, the daughter of the late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, has disclosed that former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, has apologised for annulling that election.

While speaking on Channels Television on Sunday, June 10, 2018, Tundun, a lawyer, said that Babangida has privately apologised to the family for his role in the controversial incident which eventually led to Abiola’s death. After Abiola refused to give up his mandate, he was imprisoned in 1994 where he died in custody under suspicious circumstances on July 7, 1998, four years after his arrest.

playTundun Abiola

 (Channels Television)

According to Tundun, Babangida admitted that he annulled the election because his life was threatened by certain people in the military who didn’t want Abiola to become president.

She said, “Regarding IBB, he has actually apologised to the family. IBB has said in public, but stopped short of apologising in public, that his life was threatened. He was afraid for his life.

“He was told by certain factors that, ‘Abiola must never become Commander-in-Chief of this country. We will kill him and we will kill you’. So, he was afraid; he has actually admitted to that publicly.

“He did not want to die, so he annulled the election. It does display the way the military perceived those they were ruling over. The entire country was in support of this man (MKO Abiola), but the military were like ‘We will not allow MKO.’ Who are you to say you’ll not allow when millions of Nigerians have spoken?”

When asked why she thinks Babangida has not publicly apologised for his role in the annulment, Tundun said he must be finding it hard to humble himself.

“Ego. It’s difficult to humble yourself. A whole IBB, the evil genius, Maradona, to be sort of remorseful. Even for him to publicly admit fear with all of that legend around his person must have been difficult for him to do. He regrets it,” she said.

Make yourself vulnerable, Tundun tells IBB

She further urged IBB to tell the Nigerian public exactly what led to the infamous annulment decades ago without fear of jeopardising his reputation.

She said, “I would really urge him to just make himself vulnerable and just be honest. A mistake was made and we can never rewind time.

“There are three aspects to this: the annulment, the incarceration of my father and his murder. Babangida is responsible for the annulment but not his incarceration and not his murder.

“I feel like Babangida needs to publicly express himself fully and tell the story fully. What has been done cannot be undone but it would also unburden him, I believe.

“I would hope that Babangida would one day just express fully, but ego is such a difficult thing to surmount. I hope that he can just beat his ego and just express this to the Nigerian public. We need to hear it.”

Buhari honours Abiola with post-humous GCFR

Tundun’s interview comes in the wake of President Muhammadu Buhari‘s decision to confer a post-humous award of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on the late Chief Abiola. This was disclosed in a press statement released on Wednesday, June 6, 2018.

The president also announced that June 12 will replace May 29 as the nation’s official Democracy Day because it’s a more symbolic date.