Kalu also suggested that Abiola’s portrait should be hung among the portraits of Nigeria’s past presidents
By Kehinde Okeowo
Former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, has advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to posthumously recognise the winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola, as one of Nigeria’s former presidents.
He made the suggestion on Tuesday in Abuja at the National Assembly while addressing Senate correspondents on his way to the chambers for the day’s plenary.
Kalu, who is the senator representing Abia North, went on to say Abiola’s portrait should be hung among the portraits of Nigeria’s past presidents.
He also expressed confidence that President Tinubu would win the 2027 election, urging fellow Nigerians to support him.
His appeal followed revelation by former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (retd), that Abiola won the June 12, 1993 presidential election, adjudged to be the freest and fairest poll conducted in the country.
Babangida, had in his memoirs: “A Journey in Service: An Autobiography,” admitted that the late business mogul won the 1993 poll.
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Speaking after the revelation, Kalu, who was regarded as one of ‘Babangida’s Boys’, told Senate correspondents that the controversy over the election has now been laid to rest.
He, thereafter, urged President Tinubu to posthumously declare the late Abiola one of Nigeria’s former Presidents.
Responding to a question, Kalu said: “Yes, Abiola won the election. And I will say President Tinubu should declare him a president posthumously.
“Since Abiola won, his picture should be placed among Nigeria’s past presidents. I commend former President (Muhammadu) Buhari for giving him a posthumous national honour, but I would also appeal to President Tinubu to officially recognise him and place his image where it belongs.
“This would help bring succour to his family.”
Reflecting on IBB’s eight-year military rule and what the controversial book captured, Kalu admitted that the narrative was incomplete.
He urged the former military leader to write the Part II of the book, to be devoted largely to unanswered questions around the June 12 election, particularly the persons he claimed forced him to annul the results.
“I look forward to the second edition of Babangida’s book because the first did not reveal all the realities.
“I was present during the events of June 12, and I know what happened. Babangida should call out the names of those responsible for preventing the election declaration.”
Kalu also responded to some other claims in IBB’s book, including the 1966 coup.
He said: “The coup in question was not an Igbo coup; it was a Nigerian coup, executed by the military. Moshood Abiola won that (1993) election, and there is no doubt about it.”
On Tuesday, June 12, 2018, former President Buhari conferred on the late Abiola the nation’s highest honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and declared June 12 of every year the nation’s Democracy Day, replacing the May 29 date for the celebration of Democracy Day under previous governments since the birth of the Fourth Republic.
