*’ How we recovered it’
* Says FG owes father over $350m
By Jide Ajani
The Federal Government owes the late Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, the undisputed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, over $350 million, it has been revealed. In addition, but for the sagacity of Kola Abiola, the late politician’s first son, an oil concession belonging to one of the companies owned by the late Bashorun, which was illegally taken over by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo,would have been lost forever.
These disclosures, coming barely 14 years after the business mogul and politician died in detention in the process of reclaiming his June 12 mandate, were made, last week, during an OVATION magazine-organised interview session with Kola. MKO died on July 7, 1998.
The younger Abiola, who turns 50 years today, said the money owed the family business is in excess of $350 million.
“It is difficult to put a figure to the amount the Federal Government is owing us but I can tell you it would be in excess of $350 million”, Abiola said.
Asked if it was possible to get back the money from the Federal Government, he said, “I think, with time, we would address the issue of our money. Some of my friends are in this government but the President is vital in achieving whatever we want! It’s one step at a time.”
*Kola Abiola
He explained that, a former military head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, “demonstrated an uncommon sense of propriety” by asking him “what government could do to assist our family and our business after my father died. I told him that the first thing we would want was for the government to release all our jobs that were embargoed by (General Sani) Abacha.
General Abdulsalami gave us a letter to all the ministries to release our jobs because all the jobs we had going on just before the problem started, Abacha stopped them and embargoed our business”.
The reason the late politician’s businesses suffered immeasurable loss in the wake of crisis at that time was because “my father loved this country and, therefore, almost all his businesses were 100% indigenous; so it was easy to target him because the businesses were based here”.
Kola also disclosed that Obasanjo took over the family’s concession but “what we did was to go to court and we ensured that we continued to cause a perpetual adjournment of the case until after Obasanjo’s two terms lapsed. We then went to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to explain to him what had happened and he gave us back our concession”.
