Dipo Kehinde/
On July 7, 1998, Nigerians woke up with hope.
It was five years and 25 days after the military annulled the June 12, 1993 presidential election and incarcerated the acclaimed winner, charismatic businessman and politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.
News had gone out that Abiola would be released, and the people were waiting with bated breath for an announcement that would answer their prayer, even though their hope had been dashed in the past.
The new arrangement was ‘fool-proof’. The United States of America (USA) was involved, and President Bill Clinton had sent special envoys to Abuja to witness the historic release of a man of the people.
Confident that Abiola was on his way home, members of his family and pro-democracy groups made elaborate arrangements to welcome their Hero of Democracy. All was set, at home, at the Airport, and everywhere.
But, as the saying goes, there’s many a slip between the cup and the lips.
While the country was waiting, a drama was playing out at the seat of power in Abuja.
The Chief of General Staff (CGS), then, Vice Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe surprisingly sent for Abiola’s security detail, Assistant Superintendent of Police Theodore Bethuel Zadok, who was accompanying the political detainee to a very crucial meeting that was just about to start at Akinola Aguda House in Aso Rock.
The CGS’ residence is named after the late Akinola Aguda, a notable Nigerian jurist and the first African Chief Justice of Botswana, who was also a leading member of the committee that suggested the relocation of the country’s federal capital from Lagos to Abuja.
Zadok in his testimony at the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa panel on July 19, 2001, said that he was invited by Akhigbe’s Control Room, as he was just a stone’s throw from Akinola Aguda House, with Abiola.
Zadok insisted that Akhigbe’s curious invitation made it impossible for him to attend the meeting, which Abiola held with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Reeve Pickering; the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Susan Elizabeth Rice, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), and his Chief Security Officer, Major A.A. Aliyu.
Abiola died minutes after taking tea at the meeting.
While reacting through his personal aide, Murtala Sani Mohammed, in the August 20, 2001 edition of The Comet newspaper, Akhigbe said Zadok’s invitation was simply a coincidence.
“It was just a coincidence that my office had to be opened on the day the sad event took place, and this is very unfortunate,” he said.
Akhigbe regretted that Abiola “died on the day I was entering my office after having been sworn in as the Chief of General Staff”.
Akhigbe, who was Number Two man in government at that time, also denied knowledge of the crucial meeting that was to take place in a building where his office was; on a day when he was in that office.
He said: “To put the records straight, I want to say categorically that it was not to my knowledge that the late Chief Abiola had any meeting with any official from the United States of America.
“It would be recalled that on the Sunday preceding the sad event, I led the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, to a meeting with Chief Abiola. Chief was in the best of mood and, in fact, his contributions were more immense than that of everybody at the meeting.
“After that meeting, there was no other meeting to my knowledge that was fixed for the fateful Tuesday which eventually led to the death of Bashorun Abiola.”
Akhigbe was surprised at Zadok’s revelation at Oputa panel that “I invited him to open the door to my office and that before he could finish the assignment, Chief Abiola had been poisoned. This is very sad and unfortunate”.
He added: “I want to state for the sake of posterity that inviting Zadok was a mere coincidence. By protocol, Zadok had the key to the office of the Chief of General Staff, after the office had been locked up when my predecessor, General Oladipo Diya, had been arrested for alleged involvement in a coup plan. After having been sworn in as the new CGS, it was only normal that I should settle down to business, more so when the regime in which I served as CGS had a very short tenure.”
The former CGS said he had informed ASP Zadok that he was moving into his office on July 7, 1998, and that “by the time I informed him that I would want to move into my new office, he did not tell me that Chief Abiola had been scheduled to attend a meeting and until later in the day when Nigerians heard the sad news of the death of the highly respected Bashorun, I never knew he had a meeting.
“I was therefore greatly shocked that my resumption of office could be linked with the unfortunate murder of Bashorun Abiola. Once again, I should say it loud and clear that all what happened on July 7, 1998 was an unfortunate coincidence in the history of our nation.
“I have had a long standing relationship with Chief M.K.O. Abiola. He was one Nigerian that had influence across the globe. His business sense was more than what a nation would have toyed with easily. I have a lot of regards for him even in death, and I pray that the legacy of democracy he struggled for will thrive in our land.”
While the official autopsy states that Abiola died of natural causes, the Chief Security Officer to the late General Sanni Abacha, Major Hamza al-Mustapha argued that the detained politician was in fact beaten to death.
He claimed that there were video and audiotapes showing how Abiola was beaten to death.
The final autopsy report, which was produced by a group of international coroners, has never been publicly released.
Pickering had said in a BBC interview then that Abiola fell ill during the meeting and probably died of a heart attack.
While testifying on July 19, Zadok recounted what happened on the day Abiola died thus: “At about 12:30 hours, the Chief Security Officer to General Abubakar, Major A.A. Aliyu came to the base. To the best of my knowledge, that was the first time he knew that place, wanting to know if we are ready… And I replied him almost ready.
“As we opened the door, the Chief was already waiting for our arrival. Together we went out and headed to Aguda House, the venue of the interview. Before we landed at the base, Chief Abiola was in sound and healthy condition; he did not complain to me of any illness.
“About 100 metres to the door of the Aguda House, the controller from the Control Room called me on the radio set and I quote: “30 BRAVO, your LOG. I answered ALPHA GOLF, UNIFORM DELTA, ALFA, HOTEL. And he said MIKE, SIERRA GOLF from the OSCAR FOXTROT, FOXTROT OF CHARL1E OSCAR, SIERRA.
“You should ROMEO PAPA TANGO to see the subject INDIAN MIKE MIKE. I answered RECEIVED. Meaning, 2i/c Prescott, your present location; I answered Aguda House. And he said, “Message from Office of Chief of General Staff,” and that you should see the Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe immediately please; and I answered, ‘noted please’.
When Zadok returned, he met Major Aliyu, who told him that Abiola fell down after taking a cup of tea.
“I quietly went inside,” said Zadok, “and I saw Chief M.K.O Abiola lying on the floor facing down.
“I called him for the first time; he answered and I lifted him up, and turned him upside, and called him again for the second time; he did not answer.”
Aliyu informed Abdulsalami minutes after Abiola was confirmed dead.
Fifteen years after this chain of events, Akhigbe died on October 28, 2013, without revealing all that he knew about Abiola’s death.
It is on record that Akhigbe was the only highly-placed member of the Abubakar junta that openly admitted that Abiola was indeed murdered. Even though he insisted that his convenient presence in Aso Rock on the day Abiola was murdered was an “unfortunate coincidence”.
The fact, however, remains that whatever made Akhigbe, who was at the time the number two man in government, use the word murder in relation to Abiola’s death, could only mean there was more to the events of that day than any of the main actors, most especially Akhigbe, ever admitted.
It is also unlikely that Akhigbe, as he claimed, would be ignorant of such a high profile meeting as the one that took place that day between Abiola and the Americans, given his position in government.
Another area that is still unclear was the roles played by Rice and Pickering in the Abiola murder conspiracy. Zadok’s testimony at the Oputa Panel suggested that neither the duo nor any of the others present in the room made any effort to assist Abiola, after he slumped and was on the floor dying.
Zadok said it was not until he returned from Akhigbe’s assignment and met Abiola “face down on the floor,” that he “lifted him up and turned him upside”.
Going by Akhigbe’s use of the word murder, while making his defence, the question Nigerians still ask, today, is: “Was there a murder in Aso Rock on July 7, 1998?”
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