I fasted for five years for MKO Abiola - One of His Wives Speaks

Mrs. Modupe Onitiri-Abiola is one of the wives of the late mogul and acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun MKO Abiola. In this interview she speaks on her governorship ambition and the pains she went through during the incarceration of her husband. Excerpts:
How has it been since the demise of your husband about 15 years ago?
It has been difficult. It is not easy to be a widow, especially unexpectedly. It has not been easy at all. The head of the family is no longer around and all the responsibilities have been taken care of by the wife now. So, definitely it is not easy for a woman to carry the burden of a man and you still have to be responsible for your own duties as a mother and as a woman.
In my own case, I don’t turn to man for help, I turn to Almighty God for help. Since the incarceration of my husband, I haven’t touched his money and with that I don’t want a situation where you go to people and they feel like they have to bless themselves and that they have to give you conditions. I cannot compromise on integrity, honour or things that are very important to me.

Another important thing is that I do not allow anyone at all to take God’s glory in my life; all glory belongs to God in my life and family life. So, if there is anyone that wants to do me a favour and wants to give a condition and also think that they can blow the trumpet around that they once heldped me, it is not possible. Nobody can take God’s position in my life; He takes all the glory. I stay by myself and look unto God to help me and look unto Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour, and my husband; the husband to the widow. And to God be the glory, it has been very well.
How did you feel during the five year incarceration of your husband and did you ever take any step towards the freedom of your husband?
I faced many problems. I have always been a behind the scene player; that is my system. Even when we were in Jos for the convention, a lot of things I did were always behind the scene. But when we got to the point where his wife (Kudirat Abiola) was assassinated that is when I realised this is no longer a joke. If the situation can warrant killing of an innocent woman, then it is a serious issue. The strategy used by the military at that time was to make sure that everybody was silent for them to perpetuate themselves. I just decided that it was enough of the behind the scene activities.
So, I came out and started fighting for his mandate to be actualised. I did a lot of travelling all over the places, internationally, to gather support for the actualisation of his mandate. Locally, I also did a lot of work. I went to many people. I also spoke to some leaders, a c t i v – ists, civil societ- i e s , pro-democracy groups and many others on the need to fight together instead of f i g h t i n g individually. I said let us come together and fight against the military.
They all agreed and we came together to form JACON at that time and late Gani Fawehinmi decided that he would be responsible for everything that the group would need and he did. He really played a major role. I did everything to get him released and also for him to actualise his mandate. Not only him but other people who were incarcerated at that time, including Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua. I did a lot of work and tried everything but it seemed the military had their own determination. Either my husband renounced his mandate or he died in detention.
Where were you the day your husband was killed and how did you receive the news of his death?
I knew before he was assassinated that he was going to be killed. I said it publicly and I told the leaders at that time that I knew they were going to kill him anytime. I did ask some of them to speak out and tell them not to kill Abiola but some of them believed I was wrong in my suspicion. At that time they were given the information that they were going to release him and that he was going to be coming back home. People were actually staying at the airport and coming to the house.
They leaders and all civil society groups and pro-democracy activists believed that he would be released. So, for me, going to them and telling them that my husband was going to be assassinated sounded strange to them. But despite their responses, I kept telling them that was what was going to happen. I later spoke to some journalists at that time that they were going to kill him and bring his corpse out.
What made you conclude then that they he was going to be killed?
For over four years he was kept incommunicado and in a evere inhuman condition. He did not know what was happening around him. The condition, from what we heard about where they kept him, was terrible and very bad. And they kept insisting that he should renounce his mandate.
The notion then was that the military didn’t want to go; they wanted to perpetuate themselves and the problem again was the power shifting in Nigeria. For those holding the power structure then, the power was not going to shift from the North, but my husband insisted on his mandate. He said the matter was not the issue of the military because Babangida told him he would leave and hand over power to democratic government, so why is the situation going on the wrong way?
That was when I knew that he was not going to give up. I know my husband and at that time he was already determined the mandate given to him by the people of Nigeria was not going to be taken away because at that point a lot of people had been killed – his wife was already killed, students were killed and so many people were assassinated.
For him, to give up the mandate was like betraying those people that were killed, incarcerated and sacrificed at that time for the mandate to be actualised, especially the masses of this country. He was determined not to renounce his mandate. So, I knew at that point that the military had no option; the option is either they get rid of him or he renounced the mandate and he refused to renounce his mandate.
So you believe that the report given by the federal government about his death was not true?
That definitely is not true. I have information that I cannot say publicly. My husband was assassinated because he refused to renounce his mandate. If he had renounced the mandate there would not have been anything like democracy in Nigeria today because the military then had no intention of going. They planned to stay in office perpetually. Babangida told my husband then that the boys (military) didn’t want him to be president because they believed if he became president, he might not favour them.
So, I know at that point that they were going to kill him because Abacha refused to release him and Abacha died. And when Abdulsalami took over, he too was not willing to release him. They were already thinking about what was going to be the balance of the situation at that time because the country was almost at a standstill. The issue at that time was very difficult because they believe that if they didn’t play the game properly, maybe the Western part of the country would secede. They thought they had to play it carefully.
They were thinking if they got rid of him, they would bring somebody from the West because if they didn’t balance the equation properly, we might have problem at that time. So, they knew that the unity of the country was always what the military considered paramount. Abiola was killed because the military didn’t want democracy and Abiola had to pay the price.
He had to pay the price with his own life for democracy to come to Nigeria. So, he was killed because they did not want democracy. What he wanted to do he could not do it, but at least, in the future someone else would come in and make it happen. The first process is democracy and he decided that he would pay the price and that is why the foundation of present democracy is on Abiola and the blood of so many people.
How true is it that Abiola was betrayed by people who are closer to him?
I am not going to mention names but it is true that he was betrayed by a lot of people, especially people that he trusted and believed in. Normally, he didn’t question people. He trusted a lot of people; he believed in many people. A lot of people did betray him and that is life. If you have 12 disciples and you have one Judas, can you imagine how many people around my husband at that time? A lot of people let him down.
How true is the speculation that you are planning to run for Lagos State governorship in 2015?
As a leader, the first thing you must have is the fear of God and you must be sensitive to the people. You must be able to understand the people and see how you can make things better for them. The number two thing you must do as a leader is to realise that you are not master; be the servant. You are there to serve the people because they elected you to serve them and not to be their master. What we have in the country is very terrible now. We have so many unemployed people in the country. You see many people begging for money and doing crazy things in the country.
People are leaving this country travelling through the desert because they want to go to Europe. A lot of people get killed during the process. We have many Nigerians going overseas to sell their organs to get money.
That is the picture on ground. Nigeria is a very rich country; we are blessed exceedingly and abundantly by God. So, nobody in Nigeria should be poor. I believe it is high time we did what we wanted to do at that time. They didn’t allow us at that time, now I am going in and it is going to happen. This time around they are not going to cut it short. It is going to happen. If they think they are going to cut it short they would be cut short by Almighty God Himself. This time around, I am going to deliver to the people by special grace of God. In 2015 I am the governor of Lagos State.
I am going to deliver and by delivering other people would see it and people would start asking their leaders, if she is able to deliver all these, why can’t you do it? It is going to happen and I know that by the time I come out that I am going to become governor by the grace of God other good and genuine people will come out too to help the situation on ground. I know for sure that 2015 elections is going to be different. This, actually, is the new beginning for Nigeria politics and it is going to be totally different.
A lot of people are going to be disappointed because they are thinking it is going to be business as usual. That is not going to happen. God is taking control and enough is enough of this madness. I am going to deliver to the people. It is a mission. My coming out in 2015 is called ‘Mission 2015.’ I am going to be governor of Lagos in 2015. I am coming into politics to eradicate poverty and deliver dividends of democracy to the people.
Fifteen years after the death of your husband why have you refused to re-marry?
I refused to remarry because I cannot find anyone like him. It is not because of his money; we have a lot of people that are very rich now, maybe richer than him in terms of currency but in terms of giving and being concerned about the plight of the people, I don’t think I have seen any other African or anyone else in the world like him. Privately there are many challenges when you are married to a person of his calibre. There are so many challenges, so I just decided that I don’t want to go through such situation again.
But the good part of it was that he was a very good man, husband and father and there is no point going to somebody else and just trying to compare and contrast at every time and every situation. I just want to stay and luckily for me, I am married to Jesus. What else did I want?
Why are you married to Jesus?
It is husband to the widow and once you decide that you want to marry to Jesus Christ, you turn to Him all the time; you don’t mess around. You cannot be married to Jesus Christ and still have a boyfriend somewhere. You cannot cheat; just like if you are married, you don’t cheat because you know that you don’t want to commit adultery.
The same thing with Jesus Christ, if you are truly married to Him, you don’t cheat. If you are married to Jesus and you still look up to another man to provide for you, you are cheating and saying Jesus Christ cannot provide for you.
But there would still be a place of emotion
No. When you are married to Jesus, you are totally married to him. You just believe and it happens.
You are still young. How are you coping without a man to meet your emotional needs?
When my husband was arrested, I had no option and power. If people at that time could arrest my husband, who else should I turn to? I had no choice and right from the beginning. I am from a Christian background; I got married to my husband and I became a Muslim. Then, I came back to my religion, Christianity. Now I am a Christian. When he was arrested; from that day till the day he was assassinated to the year after, I was fasting. I was fasting and praying everyday.
You fasted for five years
Yes, I fasted for five years everyday nonstop and a lot of time, it was dry fasting.
Why did you fast for five years? Was it because of your love for your husband or what?
Yes. It was a destiny that I got married to him because I never believed that I would go into a polygamous system. It was because of pure love.
I truly loved him and that is why I cannot bring myself to the level of getting married again because I just felt like I cannot share it. When I wanted to get married to my husband my family refused because they believed that at that time a lot of people were getting married to him because of his money and what he was going to give them. So, my family was very upset that people would say that a member of the Onitiri family in Lagos is going to marry Abiola because of his money.
I said no, but they said nobody will know that. They refused and it took almost 10 years before I got married to my husband. So, when I got married to him, it was purely out of love. He had wives before I married him and a lot of women after I married him but the relationship was one man one wife between both of us even though the situation around was different.
I was also convinced about his passion to help the people and his mission for contesting for the presidency, which was to help the masses. That was the motivation to continue in praying and fasting, but unfortunately they killed him. I am not interested in anybody again.