Nigerian Security Watched as Herdsmen Killed, Burnt Houses
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and former Director General of the MKO Abiola Campaign Organisation, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, is worried about the state of the nation and shares his concerns with Bayo Akinloye. Excerpts:
Prior to the incarceration of Chief MKO Abiola, you were one of his close allies. What kind of person was he?
He was a man of humane personality. He was very intelligent. He had quite a lot of native intelligence apart from academic or intellectual intelligence. He was also very generous. His generosity came naturally and not induced by any particular purpose. At the time we worked together, the contributions he made to schools, hospitals, sports, and construction of mosques – even his contributions to churches – and several others demonstrated his level of generosity. He was always motivated by his heart to give to the needy.
At the international level, he was very passionate about the issue of reparation. He defined reparation – not necessarily for former colonialists to pay compensation in financial terms for misdeeds of slavery – in terms of international trade waivers and investment incentives to compensate for the historical exploitations and oppression of the black through slave trade.
He said he wasn’t interested in cash compensation in respect of our toil – the toil of our ancestors. He was very clear about that. He was always looking at policy decisions that would alleviate the situation brought about by the misery of enslavement. To talk about Abiola is like holding a seminar; even a one-week seminar will not be able to cover him.
What is your takeaway from your relationship with Abiola?
I have taken with me the spirit of generosity – his desire to impact on the community. I think his wit was terrific. He had a way with proverbs. He would use a proverb in discussing an issue and you would never miss the point – he had so many of such proverbs and there was no way you would listen to them and lose sight of their import. His proverbs would teach a lesson in a dramatic way that you would never forget.
So, I had partaken from a lot of that. There was one thing about him: Chief Abiola would ask you in the morning: Have you eaten? How about your children? He would even mention your children by name. When my daughter fell ill and was admitted in EKO Hospital, Chief Abiola went to that hospital and the entire road was closed and the entire hospital was agog – it was like a carnival. He came to see my daughter in the hospital – that was vintage Abiola for you.
Following the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election, what were your last moments with Abiola like and what did you discuss?
We felt bad about the annulment of the June 12 election. It was a shock. We felt maybe it was a mistake that would be corrected; then, later we began to do something on our own. I encouraged him to go to Abuja and meet his friend – the former president (Ibrahim Babangida) – and after some days he acquiesced. So, we all left for Abuja and stayed at Sheraton with his wife and my sister. Following that, we encouraged him to reach out to Aso Villa (seat of power), which he tried.
Unfortunately, the feedback was not encouraging at all. Our go-between was coming and going, meeting the two persons but not exchanging any information. We could not get the right response from the president. It was a decision that had been taken at that level and apparently with so much determination that even with all the history of their friendship, the issue could not be resolved. So, we knew that this was a game created by the military.
It would also appear that the military itself had some internal squabbles – a faction of the military that appeared to have command of troops and weapons was in charge and that faction was somehow threatening the political faction that was in government. Therefore, the government faction was not able to – maybe do things the way they wanted. It wasn’t as if they wanted Abiola to take over but they just wanted to continue (being in power) – that wasn’t even possible. I mean it wasn’t even possible for them to secure their own continued stay in power.
You can then imagine how more impossible it would be to hand over government to Chief Abiola. That was the kind of scenario we had in the last days (leading to the eventual arrest and detention of Abiola). And then, of course, we had this deception about working together with the (military) government (that took over power following the installation of Chief Ernest Shonekan as head of a National Interim Government) so that there would be a return to June 12 in which my principal – Chief MKO Abiola – was encouraged by the government to advise all his key lieutenants to join the government.
We sat and wrote the names of those to join the government – and a number of them refused (to join that government). But then we had to go – led by Chief Abiola – with the argument that ‘when that government is going to discuss June 12 and you my people are not there, who will be there to speak for me?’ With that powerful line of reasoning it was difficult for some of them to say no. We all joined the government, one by one. He said, ‘Look, the NRC is sending Mallam Adamu Ciroma; they are sending Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and other big