…He Was Arrested While Savouring A Meal Of Rice With Salad
…Presidential Jet Flew MKO From Lagos, To Abuja, Never Returned Alive
As today marks 31 years since the arrest of the Late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, winner of the June 12 Presidential Election held in 1993, a seasoned crime reporter, Mr Folorusho Atta, recounted.
According to Atta, Abiola was eating rice laced with salad on the night he was arrested. He was grabbed by security agents at his Ikeja home in 1994.
Atta disclosed that before the election, he had met MKO several times through his former boss, who was MKO’s Physician.
Also, as one of the reporters who covered the June 12 1993, Election for the Daily Times of Nigeria, he could tell of some people’s heroic acts and those who played ignoble roles after the annulment of that election.
Atta said: “MKO has declared himself as the Elected President. He was at the Epetedo area of Lagos State on the 11th of June 1994, just a year after the annulment. Eleven days later, a team of 29 policemen led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in charge of operations in one of the police commands in Lagos stormed his Toyin Street residence in Ikeja for his arrest. This was the midnight of June 22, 1994. The team met MKO eating rice with salad when they were ushered into the apartment. He was with his wife, the Late Kudirat, who was killed two years later near the 7UP Bottling Company.
“An interesting scenario that played out was that, even as the team leader and his second-in-command for the operation were known for their operational capabilities in any assignment, on arrival at the home of Chief MKO, the policemen were somehow dazed psychologically by the tales that were paddled by some Lagosians regarding the house security architecture.
“The team initially dreaded storming the premises until an informant disabused their minds that contrary to stories they heard, there were Lions, private armies, and an underground Tunnel in MKO’s house, that it was not true!
“The informant who was said to be an employee of the Concord Newspapers Group, on enquiry by the team, revealed to them of the earlier visits to MKO in the afternoon of that day by retired Commodore Dan Suleiman, a businessman cum politician from Ibadan and a few others.
“With the tip-off, the Commander ordered his operatives to storm the house. This was a few minutes after midnight on June 22. The team met MKO eating rice with salad, according to a senior police team member who pleaded anonymity.”
While the team leader informed MKO of their mission, Alhaja Kudirat resisted her husband’s arrest. However, after listening to the team leader, who spoke to her in Hausa, she agreed to go with her husband to wherever he was taken.
Atta further recounted: “MKO was reported to have made some calls alleging the presence of ‘unknown soldiers’ in his house. At this point, the second-in-command, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, who was to policing what late Ernest Okonkwo was to football commentaries, called for reinforcement. The police authority sent 377 additional policemen, consisting of both regular and anti-riot units. This time, MKO’s house was besieged with the large presence of supporters and street urchins.”
Atta confirmed that MKO and his wife were assured by the team leader that no harm would be done to them. This was when he agreed to go with them, along with his wife to Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, Annexe, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos.”
“On arrival at Alagbon Close, a Commissioner of Police ordered the team to be on standby for further direction from Abuja. Exactly 4:00 am, an instruction came from Abuja that MKO should be taken with water-tight security to the Muritala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, to meet with another security agent who came with a Presidential jet to fly him to Abuja. The team did as it was instructed. After this day, 23rd of June 1994, MKO never returned alive to his mansion at Ikeja.
“Why the memories of MKO linger in my mind for what he was, I want to sincerely and honestly advise the family he left behind never to accept any monetary compensation from the government.
“MKO was a man of honour. In another 100 years to come, there can never be another MKO. Nigerians, within two years, will forget, hate to hear anything about MKO, should the family decide to accept monetary compensation. If they do, anything MKO Abiola will never gain traction in our country.”
