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How I Tried To Get Ex-President Jonathan To Honour My Father – Kola Abiola

Kola Abiola, the eldest son of late Moshood Abiola, says he made attempts to get former President Goodluck Jonathan to honour his father but his efforts … Continue reading How I Tried To Get Ex-President Jonathan To Honour My Father – Kola Abiola


President Muhammadu Buhari with Kola Abiola at the Special National Honours Investiture at the State House Conference Centre on June 12, 2018.

Kola Abiola, the eldest son of late Moshood Abiola, says he made attempts to get former President Goodluck Jonathan to honour his father but his efforts were futile.

In an interview on Channels Television Programme, Question Time, Kola said he contacted former attorney-general of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke and Pastor Tunde Bakare to get President Jonathan to confer the GCFR title on his late father but the issue was politicised.

“I started talking to Jonathan-led administration immediately he came in.

“I spoke to the then attorney-general and we started the process. Along the way, we had problems from the national merit award.

“Towards the election, I approached them again, this time in writing, and solicited the help of Pastor Tunde Bakare and told them that even if it was for selfish political reasons, this was something you could do to help your chances of winning elections.

“I really didn’t mind how he got it done. But we couldn’t get President Jonathan to get it done so we left that.

“After he lost the election, I approached him a second time with another letter also through the same Pastor Bakare to try to get him to do this as a legacy of his Presidency, something that Nigerians would never forget about him. Last minute, everything went wrong, and it couldn’t happen,” Abiola narrated.

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Kola said after the attempts to get President Jonathan to honour his father failed, he sent a letter once again through Pastor Bakare to President Muhammadu Buhari after he assumed office.

He said President Buhari immediately showed interest and exceeded the expectations of the family by bestowing his father with the highest honour in the country.

He said further that the attempt by President Jonathan to name University of Lagos (UNILAG) after Abiola was an attempt to regionalise him. He said, “that was a mistake, they were trying to regionalise MKO, he was more than that.”

Abiola, presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, was recently honoured with the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) by President Muhammadu Buhari.