THE BETRAYAL OF JUNE 12: TINUBU’S YORUBA ASSOCIATE SEGUN SOWUNMI SAYS ABIOLA DESERVED JAIL AND DEATH
Great Imo Jonathan
In a shocking assault on Nigeria’s democratic history, President Bola Tinubu’s political associate, Segun Sowunmi, has inferred that Chief MKO Abiola deserved his incarceration and death for daring to claim his June 12, 1993 mandate.
Segun Sowunmi, who is a member of the Bola Tinubu Campaign Council and a leading voice in the Tinubu political family, made the despicable remarks while responding to opposition parties who have declared their determination to announce their own election results in 2027 and defend their votes.
Instead of defending democracy, Sowunmi issued a threat. He said that those who independently announce results will go to jail like Abiola. His exact words as reported were: “Those Who Independently Announce Results’ll Go To Jail Like Abiola.”
He went further. In a separate outburst that has triggered national outrage, Sowunmi said: “Of course MKO Abiola was thrown in jail for doing something that stupid” and “Abiola Committed Treason, Deserved To Go To Jail Where He Eventually Died.”
This is not just a slip of tongue. This is a deliberate rewriting of history and a direct attack on the soul of June 12.
What did Abiola do that was “stupid” in Sowunmi’s eyes? Abiola won the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history on June 12, 1993. That election was annulled by the military junta of General Ibrahim Babangida. Abiola, standing on truth and justice, declared himself president at Epetedo on June 11, 1994 to reclaim the mandate Nigerians gave him. For that act of courage, he was arrested in June 1994 on treason charges and detained until he died mysteriously on July 7, 1998.
Because of that event, thousands of Nigerians were killed for standing up for democracy. Many families were ruined. Nigerian government was sanctioned globally and the economy of Nigeria was destroyed and has not recovered till date. It was years of missed opportunities and it led to destruction if Nigerian’s advantages in the world.
To Sowunmi, that supreme sacrifice for democracy was treason. To Sowunmi, Abiola deserved to die in prison for standing up for the truth.
This is the same MKO Abiola that former President Muhammadu Buhari posthumously honored with GCFR, Nigeria’s highest national honour, and recognized as the rightful winner of June 12. This is the same Abiola whose death paved the way for the democracy that people like Tinubu and Sowunmi are now enjoying.
Sowunmi’s logic is chilling and it is a warning to all Nigerians. He said opposition parties should be ready to take whatever result INEC gives them, whether correct or incorrect. He said they should not dare to announce their own victory based on their own results from the polling units. If they do, he warns, the same fate that befell Abiola will befall them.
In other words, INEC can rig the election, INEC can announce a false result, and Nigerians must accept it. If you insist on your true victory on the ballot instead of what INEC wishes to give you, you will be thrown in jail and left to die like Abiola.
What has Yoruba political leadership come to? A Yoruba son, whose ethnic group was the greatest beneficiary of Abiola’s martyrdom and whose leader Tinubu claims to be the greatest beneficiary of June 12, is now lampooning Abiola for daring to announce his victory. A Yoruba associate of the President is telling Nigerians that Abiola deserved incarceration and death for demanding justice.
This exposes the desperation of the Tinubu camp ahead of 2027. They have seen that Nigerians are determined to defend their votes. They have seen that opposition parties will no longer allow INEC to write results. So they have resorted to threats, using Abiola’s tragic fate as a weapon of intimidation.
Critics have rightly asked: How can a government that celebrates June 12 as Democracy Day employ a man who describes Abiola as a traitor who deserved to die in detention? How can Tinubu, who claims June 12 as his own political credential, surround himself with people who mock Abiola’s sacrifice? Is it possible as late MKO Abiola’s son said that Tinubu betrayed June 12 and was seeking political appointment from Abacha as a reward?
Sowunmi’s statement is not just an insult to Abiola. It is an insult to all Nigerians who fought, died, and were jailed during the June 12 struggle. It is a declaration that this administration is ready to repeat the Abacha playbook: jail those who insist on their mandate, kill the hope of democracy, and tell Nigerians to accept whatever INEC declares, no matter how fraudulent.
Nigerians must not accept this threat. If Abiola was “stupid” for standing for truth and justice, then let us all be stupid for democracy.
2027 indeed should be a rig and die election.
Great Imo Jonathan
