Hafsat Abiola-Costello, one of the daughters of Moshood Kasimawo Abiola (MKO) the winner of June 12, 1993 election that was annulled by the military junta of President Badamasi Babangida is the founder of Kudirat Initiative For Democracy (KIND) and the Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She spoke to DEBO OLADIMEJI on June 12 anniversary and the lessons from her parents’ death.

WHAT kind of person was your father Chief Moshood Kasimawo Abiola (MKO)?

My father was a peoples’ person. He loved people and he liked to spend his time with people. He was brilliant. He had a photographic memory. He stored stories and songs of his childhood in his memory. He used to entertain his siblings and children. He loved being Yoruba. He loved Yoruba proverbs. But he also loved to celebrate Nigerians. So he was open to all Nigerians.

He loved to go to different parts of the country to celebrate festivals with the people. He loved to watch football matches, attend  functions having to do with the development of the community—-whether it is the desire of the community to build a mosque or a church or a school. When he became wealthy through his businesses, he became a philanthropist, looking for how to give back to the society. It was actually this concern for lifting people up that primarily led him into politics. I believe, he had seen that with the political dysfunction in Nigeria, unless he took care of the politics, all the charity in the world would not be enough. He wanted to go in to fix the political dysfunction, and have a democracy that will actually work for all Nigerians.

What legacy did he leave behind?

I think he left behind a legacy of sacrifice. That was very clear. I think that it was a very challenging example because Nigerians just celebrate winners. For them, they see it as a sacrifice but before he died, they don’t think that the sacrifice is really of value.  Had he lived, they would be celebrating him. Because he died, they just think o…I think they almost think that he did the wrong thing by fighting for democracy. I think because he died, it causes some confusion for them.

I think that is unfortunate, because the truth is that you can never get anything without struggle. Nigerians need to be inspired to struggle and to sustain the struggle until we get the kind of outcome we want.

Without struggle, without  sacrifice, we would not have a better Nigeria.

How do you think your father would have performed if he had been allowed to claim his mandate?

He would have put in place the framework that would have allowed us to fight poverty in Nigeria to the barest minimum. Since we had the transition to civilian rule in 1999, there has been a steady increase in poverty in Nigeria.  I think it is unfortunate that we have a democracy now that seems unable to really address the needs of the common man.   Something is wrong and it has to be addressed. Look at the data. The IMF report that was just released said that poverty is increasing in Nigeria and it has been increasing over the last 12 years of their study.

My father would have made Nigeria work for the Nigerian people instead of working for a small elite. He had clear programmes of action within his own manifesto. He would have begun to implement the plan and make sure that a small cabal didn’t hijack it.

What is June 12 to you?

I think it is an ongoing struggle. We need to imbibe the movement to really look to enthrone the people as the repository of power in Nigeria. We don’t have that system yet. If we have that system we wouldn’t  have rising poverty, rising inequity under democracy. I think that June 12 is a struggle that must continue.

Do you think that June 12 should be declared  Democracy Day?

May be it is appropriate for it not to be named Democracy Day under the current political dispensation. This current dispensation doesn’t really want to serve the Nigerian people. June 12 is about serving the Nigerian people. The flagbearer for June 12 had to pay the ultimate price because the Nigerian State and its collaborators were trying to get him to sell out the people. So, if now we have a democratic government that doesn’t want to be a servant of the people, June 12 cannot be a Democracy Day.

We have to have a democratic government that understands what it is to serve the people. Then it will seem logical to them to recognize and honour June 12.

We can only say that June 12 is a true Democracy Day if the government actually wants democracy.

What about the renaming of University of Lagos (UNILAG) after MKO?

That was also part of the problems. You can re-name all the universities in Nigeria after MKO if you had consulted with the universities. In a democracy you have to consult. You cannot act by fiat. Democracy is power with the people.  You have to engage in dialogue with the people. It will be nice to honour MKO surely, yes. But as a member of MK0’s family, I don’t want him to be honoured in a way that is not consistent with what he was fighting for—- which is that we should recognize the people.

If the decision to rename UNILAG was taken without any consultations with the stakeholders connected with the university, then, it is not in keeping with democracy, which my father died for.

How do you plan to celebrate this year June 12?

I think it is an opportunity for leaders across Nigeria to connect with people. In Ogun State, we used to do like four hours walk. Because our governor likes to walk. We used to do a democracy walk across many key parts of Abeokuta that were important in the life of Chief MKO Abiola. From the family house, where he was born, to many key parts of the capital city. We used to end up at the June 12 cultural centre or at the stadium.

I am sure that is what we will be doing again this year. I know many people will be hoping for a route that is not too long. Sometimes it took may be four hours even longer to make the walk. But it is really nice because while we are walking thousand of people in Ogun State usually joined us. And we walk together.

Sometimes we sing songs. Sometimes we chant slogans. It is really an opportunity for people in government and people in Ogun State to be together to remember that historic journey. To also appreciate that today we can walk in Ogun State without fear of being shot. Whereas between 1993 and 1995 in all the demonstrations that we had, the military were shooting at the civilians. Some lost their lives. Some were maimed. Some were just intimidated from speaking up and expressing their views to Nigerians. We are in a different time today. But we are still not where we want to be. But it is nice for us in Ogun State to pause and see where we are. And to recommit ourselves to the journey ahead.

Every state should do something that connects their state and their people. In Lagos State, I know that there is a coalition of organisations working on a programme of activities that my non-governmental organization (NGO) is involved in.

How do you also want your mother to be remembered?

My mother died in the course of the struggle as you know. She was assassinated on the instruction of the military ruler at the time, the late General Sani Abacha. At a time I remember many people were saying if only she has not been involved in politics, she would not have been hunted. It is true that there are many of her contemporaries who are still alive today. But if you look at the data of Nigerian women, you can see that Nigerian women face a lot of dangers which is not just because they are in government or fighting the government or being political. Even when women are giving birth, they face danger.

The average number of deaths per hundred thousand births in Nigeria is about 350. And in some parts of Nigeria, 500 women die per hundred thousand births. In Ogun State it is about 250 who die per hundred thousand births. These women may not be in a political rally. They may not be challenging government officials. They are dying because government as a whole has not been able to put in place the services for safe delivery.

Our roads are death traps and Nigerians are dying on the roads everyday. Many of them will never go to a rally. Many of them will never criticize the government, but they are still at risk because our government is not doing what it should.

We should understand that the lesson of her life should not be that: ‘so therefore let us not challenge the government.’ Because if we take that approach we will all be dying from one dysfunction of the government or the other. The lesson of her life is that more of us should be challenging and holding government accountable. So that the 170 million people that are in Nigeria today will not be dying unnecessarily from the failure of government. That should be the lesson. That is the reason why I created the Kudirat Initiative For Democracy (KIND). So that we could continue to encourage Nigerians to be active in building a strong and virile democracy that will work on behalf of all Nigerians. Sitting at home will not build that democracy. We have to be active. We have to lobby. We have to push and just apply consistent and sustained pressure for change.

What do you think that can be done to check the insecurity in the country ?

One thing we can do is to try to curb the action of the violent elements, but the truth is that there is something also fueling the violenc: that is injustice. Economic social and political injustice. There are too many poor Nigerians…