part in this? Sophocles, c495B.C-c406B.C
When he finally died in military detention in 1998,
the curtains fell on one of the characters on the
Nigerian stage whose life story will remain part of
the national legend for as long as there is a nation
called Nigeria. M.K.O.
Abiola's life story went beyond the rags-to-riches
which have become repetitive in Nigeria and the
world. Born into relative poverty, never mind the
gloss that Juju musicians later attempted to put on
his humble beginning.
Yet, those who knew him remember the young
Kashimawo as very likeable. What he lacked in
physical charm, for he was far from handsome, he
made up for by having the warmest personality
anybody can possess.
Despite not having a lot of money, he was still
generous with the little he had. His best attribute
was his brain; because he was reputed to be a
brilliant student.
Later, he studied Accountancy and might have
remained an obscure accountant until fortune
beckoned on him to apply for a job with the
International Telephone and Telegraph, ITT, then
headed by a fellow called Hal Genene who ran the
company by the numbers and who treasured
"bean counters", as Accountants were called and
number crunchers, as Financial Analysts were
dubbed.
Very quickly, ITT climbed the corporate league
ladder to become a Fortune 500 company.
Thousand of MBA students in the USA, at the time
wanted to be like the ITT President. One of my
classmates in Boston had his room pasted all
around with pictures of the ITT President.
Soon after landing the job, M.K.O, was promoted
to the position of Financial Director. This position
was to bring him enormous good fortune. As it
turned out, the Federal Government was owing
ITT a lot of money which nobody had been able to
collect and which ITT in the US wanted collected.
So MK went to the office of the Federal
Commissioner for Communications, late General
Murtala Mohammed, then a Colonel, to collect the
debt owed. The Commissioner was not in the
office when MK arrived; so he decided to wait -
with over a hundred others.
When Murtala finally arrived, everybody stood up
but MK. Murtala was curious; so stopping in front
of the only man sitting, he asked: "Don't you know
I am here?" MK replied, still sitting, "Yes, I know
but you are my debtor and I have come to
collect."
On that demonstration of hutzpah or unmitigated
gall, friendship started between MKO Abiola and
the top ranks of the military. When Murtala
became military Head of State, the nation's
treasury was virtually opened to M.K.O. Abiola to
take as much as he wanted.
One big, and questionable contract followed
another; such that by 1980 Abiola was perhaps the
richest man in Nigeria. ITT continued to obtain
contracts; indeed, ITT got whatever it wanted and
at its own price. Later M.K started to diversify his
business to include a newspaper, a bakery,
bookshop, radio station etc. but, the Federal
government was still the cash cow.
Simultaneously, the man was squandering the
money almost as fast as it came in. He was
generous to a fault and well-liked even by people
who never received a kobo from him.
It was his legendary philanthropy which eventually
got him elected by a wide margin in 1993. If his
opponent, Alhaji Tofa, a Kano indigene, wants to
know why MK won even in Kano, he need not look
beyond the launching of the Kano State
Investment Fund, which occurred a few years
earlier. While other were donating five hundred
thousand or one million, Abiola stood up and
announced N10 million donation; and while a
deafening standing ovation was still ringing in
everybody's ears, he grabbed the microphone and
said, "And that is a first installment."
While he was busy accumulating great wealth and
building his financial empire, it was not clear then
that Abiola had failed to groom a successor who
would keep the "Flag flying" after his death -
which came in the least expected manner.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
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