UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
NIGERIA: IRIN-WA Special Briefing on Abiola's death, 98.7.8

NIGERIA: IRIN-WA Special Briefing on Abiola's death, 98.7.8


U N I T E D N A T I O N S Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Integrated Regional Information Network For West Africa

Tel: +225 21 73 54 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci

[This brief is intended as background information for the humanitarian community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the UN]

IRIN-West Africa: Nigeria background briefing following the death of Chief Moshood Abiola, 98.7.8

The death of Chief Moshood Abiola, Nigeria's most prominent political prisoner, could not have come at a worse time for the country as it cautiously emerges from a reign of hardline military rule and years of international isolation, according to analysts and diplomats. Abiola, 60, was charged with treason and jailed in 1994, a year after declaring himself the winner of elections annulled by the military a year earlier.

By far the most important opposition figure in West Africa's most influential and powerful nation, Abiola's release was seen at home and abroad as a key indicator of how far the new military leader, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, was prepared to go towards democratic reform.

A week ago, the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, told a news conference during a visit to Nigeria that Abiola was to be released. The fact that Annan was visiting the country at all, showed, analysts said, how quickly the international community was ready to embrace Abubakar's reforms (he had already released 30 political prisoners) and how Abubakar, in turn, wanted to end his country's international isolation.

It was thus in anticipation of Abiola's release that US Under Secretary of State, Thomas Pickering, followed Annan to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, this week, and like Annan, held talks with Abiola and Abubakar. It was during that meeting on the afternoon of Tuesday, 8 June, that Abiola took ill. Pickering accompanied Abiola by car to hospital.

It was still to take some three hours before a presidential statement was broadcast saying Abiola had died "around 4 p.m. this afternoon apparently of cardiac arrest". The government agreed to an independent autopsy, and Pickering returned to Washington saying he did not suspect foul play. His statement was not enough to convince the country otherwise, even though it is widely held that Abiola's murder would not have served Abubakar's interests, and rioting started in Lagos not long afterwards.

Born on 24 August, 1937, in Abeokuta in the southwest, Abiola was a Yoruba speaker who emerged from Nigeria's oil boom in the 1970s, "a millionarie turned politician" whom the BBC said started his political career in 1979, when he joined the National Party of Nigeria of Shehu Shagari who won the presidential election that year. In 1983, however, the military seized power again and it was not until 1993 that it allowed the election which was promptly annulled and which Abiola insisted he won. Two years ago, at the height of the Abacha hold on power, Abiola's senior wife, Kudirat, who had campaigned for his release, was shot by unknown assailants. In recent weeks, the Abubakar government offered to release him if he relinquished his claim to the presidency. And this week, Pickering, according to diplomats, was also trying to persuade him to withdraw the claim.

So far, according to media reports, at least a dozen have died. From the international community, messages of condolences have poured in as have words of encouragement to Abubakar that he should keep the faith and maintain his reforms. Pretoria immediately announced that it would dispatch Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to Nigeria to help "reinforce the process towards a sustainable and stable democracy in Nigeria".

It was almost a month ago to the day that Abubakar was appointed head of state to replace General Sani Abacha who died on 8 June, an official statement recorded, also of a heart attack. Regarded as Nigeria's most hardline military strongman, Abacha left a legacy of ethnic division, political tension, economic decay and international isolation which Abubakar was cautiously mending when Abiola died.

With the deaths of two men whose personalities so shaped Nigeria's recent political history, the political landscape, said the BBC, has been transformed.

Now, Abiola's death at the age of 60, leaves the Nigerian opposition movement divided and without an obvious successor. Indeed, he was regarded as the only nationally recognised, if not entirely popular, figure with democratic credentials.

The coming days will be critical for Nigeria. Said OAU Secretary general Salim Ahmed Salim in a statement: "Chief Abiola has come to be an important symbol of the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria. The most fitting tribute therefore that can be given to him is to ensure that democratic government is restored in Nigeria as soon as possible."

Abidjan, July 1998

[ends]

[The material contained in this communication comes to you via IRIN West Africa, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. UN IRIN-WA Tel: +225 21 73 66 Fax: +225 21 63 35 e-mail: irin-wa@africaonline.co.ci for more information or subscription. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this report, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. IRIN reports are archived on the Web at: http://www.reliefweb.int/emergenc or can be retrieved automatically by sending e-mail to archive@dha..unon.org. Mailing list: irin-wa-weekly]

Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 19:31:39 +0000 (GMT) From: UN IRIN - West Africa <irin-wa@wa.dha.unon.org> Subject: NIGERIA: IRIN-WA Special Briefing on Abiola's death, 98.7.8 Message-Id: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980708192814.10177B-100000@wa.dha.unon.org>

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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