When I first heard this story, what came to my mind was that MKO jingle during that legendary election – MKOOOOOOO is our man o. I loved the thing like mad. But sadly, we cannot sing the same with his son Kola Abiola. This is not our man o, and I really hope this story is one of those things that just comes out like a fart and will blow away. I studied Kola during June 12. Remember, I was doing my Masters in Political Science in Unilag at the time. I had written a powerful essay in my third year at the University of Ibadan long before the annulment, where I had correctly predicted that IBB would not hand over.
The dribbling was too much. So when it happened, I started studying Kola, who had a lot of weight and press mileage as the heir to the throne. He showed a remarkable lack of ideology, timing and confidence at the time. He could not and did not rise to the occasion and watched his stepmother take over the weight and arrowhead of the struggle. He could not wrestle down his emotional feelings for IBB’s daughter and didn’t care that people were losing their lives over his girlfriend’s father’s policy and allegedly continued with that dalliance. So his father’s wives carried on with the struggle, his younger sisters joined, and he just stayed silent.
After all that hullaballoo, he was accused of presiding over his father’s wealth’s that many claimed there is little or nothing left of the legendary wealth. He has been quiet ever since, in business and politics, and now he wakes up or is being pushed even to consider a run? Is this how ‘useless’ the presidency is now? Granted that in a democracy, everybody has a right, but it is never and will never be an all-comers’ affairs. There must be some level of pedigree and seriousness tied to the pursuit. The last time I saw him was at my brother Uwem Whyte’s house in Lekki, and I didn’t even recognise him. It was Uwem that said, “Duke you know know who be this?” I said, “I know know o.” He said na Kola Abiola, I said ooh sorry, na head I just see o, no vex. Evening sir. He greeted me, and we exchanged some light banters, and he drove off. I just hope this is a small joke. Thank you.
