Obasanjo opens up on why MKO couldn't become president

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has identified the factors that prevented the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, fondly called MKO, from becoming Nigerian President.

Recall that MKO was the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election annulled by the then Military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

Over the years, there have been insinuations that Obasanjo and some other influential Nigerians actively worked against the emergence of Abiola as President.

However, speaking at the centenary celebrations of the Baptist Boys High School (BBHS), Abeokuta, Ogun State on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, Obasanjo hinted that some forces worked against MKO's emergence.

While delivering a lecture titled “Eyin Ni Iwe Wa: You Are Our Epistle,” at the event organised by the Old Boys Association of the BBHS, the former President said “bad belle” did not allow Abeokuta to produce another president.

Pulse reports that Obasanjo alongside the late MKO; late sage, Obafemi Awolowo; former Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Prince Bola Ajibola are products of the BBHS.

Awolowo was at the school in 1928; Ajibola graduated in 1955; Abiola was among the 1956 set, while Obasanjo left the school in 1957.

Meanwhile, the retired general said but for the moral virtues and sound education impacted on him by BBHS, he would not have become what he is today.

He said apart from him, the BBHS would have produced another president in the mode of MKO but “bad belle” prevented him.

Obasanjo's words: “Today, there are distinguished old boys in all walks of life, i.e., private sector, academia, military and paramilitary, civil society, traditional rulership, etc. Such is the present President of Old Boys Association of BBHS, Prof. Kayode Oyesiku.

“I believe that I must not be too forgetful to leave out yours truly, the son of Obasanjo, a modest war-victorious General and former Military Head of State and former President of Nigeria. Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the first communication industry millionaire in Nigeria and the acclaimed winner of the 1993 Presidential election who was in a class by himself.

“If not for Nigerian bad belle, M.K.O. Abiola would have been President and with me as President, we would have needed one more old student of BBHS to be President for us to permanently locate it in BBHS after three times. And that is a challenge for up-and-coming generations of old boys.”