Kola Abiola asks Tinubu to honour June 12 victims with national register, monument

Kola Abiola, eldest son of late MKO Abiola, has urged President Bola Tinubu to recognise the victims of the annulled June 12, 1993 election.

In a statement titled ‘IBB’s A Journey In Service: A Substantive Response’, Abiola implored the federal government to establish a national register and monument to honour those affected by the annulment.

“We recommend that the Federal Government also formally recognise the sacrifice of the following people:

• Alhaja Kudirat Abiola
• Chief Alfred Rewane
• Other heroes of the NADECO struggle
• Journalists and activists such as Mallam Mohammed Adamu, Mr Alao Aka- Bashorun, Mr Olu Akerele, Rtd Col. Olu Bamgbose, Mr Frank Kokori, amongst many who were either jailed or killed.

“We also recommend the opening of a national register of hitherto now unnamed victims of the June 12 annulment tragedy along with a national monument to mark this phase of our history,” he said.

Abiola highlighted the significance of the posthumous award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) conferred on his father by the federal government on June 12, 2018.

He said at the award ceremony, former president Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged the annulment as a national wrong and tendered an apology to the Abiola family and those who lost loved ones in the struggle for June 12.

“On that day in 2018, our father stopped being the ‘presumed winner’ of the 1993 election to being recognised as Nigeria’s posthumous President,” Abiola said.

He contrasted the actions of the Buhari government — which also designated June 12 as Democracy Day and renamed the national stadium after MKO Abiola — with the Olusegun Obasanjo administration’s refusal to honour June 12 during its eight-year tenure.

Abiola wrote on the need for historical accountability, noting that as of February 27, 2025, 62% of MKO Abiola’s children were 45 years old and below, reflecting Nigeria’s current demographic distribution.

He said many of them were too young to fully understand the events of June 12, 1993, and called for the proper documentation of facts to preserve history, justice, and accountability.

Abiola criticised the annulment of the June 12 election as a betrayal of democratic expectations.

He pointed out the economic hardship caused by the government’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and the costly process of establishing the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), which amounted to approximately $5 billion in 1993.

Abiola also addressed the personal and national impact of the annulment, noting that MKO Abiola’s group of companies was the largest private sector employer in Nigeria at the time, with over 15,000 employees.

The closure of these businesses due to the annulment resulted in significant loss of livelihoods, he said.