Abiola's Family Rejects Nigeria’s Centenary Award

According to a report on PremiumTimes, the family of late M.K.O Abiola has also rejected the posthumous Centenary award given to their dad, the winner of the 1993 Nigeria’s presidential election. Their reason - the Abiola family believes their late patriarch deserves more than a centenary award.

Kola Abiola, the eldest son of the late politician and businessman, told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the award was “not appropriate.”

“For us, what the government is doing is laudable. But our family will only accept what is appropriate. If what they are trying to give him is a gold award for the centenary, we don’t consider that to be appropriate. With a gold centenary award, it means we have not left where we were when they tried to rename the University of Lagos after him. We said then that it was inappropriate,”.

M.K.O Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential poll, arguably one of the most free and fair election in Nigeria’s history, died in detention five years later. And an attempt by President Goodluck Jonathan to rename the University of Lagos after the late philanthropist in 2012 resulted in a massive protest by students and lecturers of the institution.

Asked what the family would consider an appropriate honour, Mr. Kola Abiola said:

 “We leave government to figure that out.”

A source close to the Abiola’s, however, told PremiumTimes the family believed the elder Abiola deserves the nation’s highest honour, GCFR (Grand Commander of the Federal Republic), having won the 1993 presidential elections, and laid down his life to usher in democracy in Nigeria. The family, their source said, is allegedly also angry that the government had failed to pay the huge debt it’s owing the late politician’s businesses. They believe the debt is responsible for the collapse of the businesses.

Meanwhile, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is reportedly also considering rejecting the award, which is billed to take place in Abuja on Friday. Professor Soyinka is quoted as saying:

“I would have preferred that the entire day of infamy be ignored altogether. I’m even thinking favourably of just ignoring the obscenity, then turning up at the counter-event.”