Thread by @Dstoryteller_1

Good morning good people lets have a morning story 😊, it Will be one I Will like us to take our time to ponder on

STORY TITLE : MADAME KUDIRAT ABIOLA

Simbiat Atinuke Abiola was born into the wealthy family of Rafiu Isola Soaga and Rabiatu Soaga of the prominent Soaga family in Gbagura, Abeokuta, Ogun State in 1938.

#thestory_teller

Both Simbi and Moshood met at the Arabic Quranic school as secondary school youngsters in 1954 and fell in love. MKO Abiola on his own was from a thoroughly poor background and by the time her family got to know about the relationship,

They insisted she could not marry someone of such a lowly status as MKO Abiola. However, she insisted that she had made her choice and no one would change it. She clung to MKO Abiola and MKO himself repeatedly admitted that if not for her courage and devotion, he stood no chance

Simbiat Abiola attended the same secondary school with foremost female political activist, Titi Ajanaku

Alhaja Kudirat Abiola will always be remembered for how she fought fearlessly for Nigeria’s democracy.

Born in 1951 in Zaria, she attended Muslims Girls High School, Ijebu Ode and married late Chief Moshood Abiola at the age of 18. She was the second of his four wives.

Although Kudirat never attended university, she used her bride price to help to pay for the education of her two sisters

Alhaja Kudirat Abiola will always be remembered for how she fought fearlessly for Nigeria’s democracy.

It was towards the end of 1972 and Abiola was already swimming in millions. While Simbiat was still by his side, he fell flatly for Kudirat’s charm. That year, Kudirat was working as a sales clerk at the Adebowale Electrical Industries Limited and one fateful day

at the Lagos Trade Fair, she was coordinating the company’s exhibition stand and that was where MKO sighted the pretty lady. According to him, it was love at first sight. But MKO knew Simbiat would not find the idea funny at all😉

So what did MKO do? He went straight to the late Dr. Lateef Adegbite, a lawyer and later the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs who was then based in Ibadan as a State Commissioner with the defunct Western State under Brigadier Oluwole Rotimi.

Abiola was visibly excited as he explained his burning love for the young Kudirat. He laid his mind bare and narrated that he was so crazily in love that he could not even wait to propose marriage to her. Adegbite was amazed and amused at the same time.

He urged MKO to calm down first and even let the young girl (she was in her early 20s) attend the university and bag a degree first. Adegbite also rang it to MKO’s ears the shege he would face in the hands of his first love and wife, Simbiat Atinuke.😊❤️

But MKO was an incorrigibly stubborn and energetic man. Once he set his mind on any goal, he pursues it with the vigour of a Spanish bull. He told Adegbite that he was ready to face all challenges and that he was quite confident that he would get Simbiat’s support.

He also stated that as for Kudi’s university degree, there was no need for that anymore. He then threw in a saying: inkan tan wa lo si Sokoto, nbe lapo sokoto (meaning why travel all the way to Sokoto when what you are looking for can be found in your sokoto (trousers) 😊

insisting that why would someone like Kudirat need to work if she was married to him? He went on to say that Kudirat would not have to lift a hand in her life to work and he would take very good care of her, make her happy and that she would never regret the decision.

As Adegbite listened raptly to the lover boy, he knew his hands were tied and that he was in trouble. That was because Simbiat was a distant cousin of Adegbite who did not know how he would handle the whole case should Simbiat get to know of his involvement.

Adegbite, a man who believed in a male’s right to polygamy according to the laws of Islam was however in a dilemma. He advised MKO to take more time to reflect deeply on the issue. Later sha, Alhaja Simbiat got to know of the sizzling relationship

with Kudirat and all of MKO’s plans to even wed her. As expected, she was disappointed, heartbroken and firmly opposed the relationship. When she learnt that Adegbite was even involved in the whole matter, she was further hurt

as she felt Adegbite should have at least protected her interest as his cousin by persuading MKO not to go ahead with the romantic nonsense that had taken over his head.

But Abiola would not be perturbed. Like a man possessed, he went off to Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, to the family compound of Kudirat to ask of her lovely hand in marriage. Simbiat was despondent and heartsick. Her childhood love, husband of over 10 years and the father of her 5 kids

Her journey into politics began when her husband declared his intentions to contest as the president of Nigeria. She supported her husband through advocacy and activism.
Shortly after her husband won the 1993 election, which was annulled by Gen. Ibrahim Babaginda, he was detained

Alhaja Kudirat led the fight for her husband’s release and the restoration of his mandate.

Alhaja Kudirat mobilised market women, students, activists and other human rights community to fight for the struggle of democracy.

Partly in response to the circumstances of her own history, Kudirat adopted many social causes and was to become a prime supporter of the educational programme of the Ansa-Ur-deen movement in Nigeria. Kudirat was also a successful business woman in Nigeria.

Despite the danger, Kudirat was said to have provided clear leadership in this period of general confusion following the annulment of the election. She stepped forward with the conviction that the military’s action amounted to violation of fundamental rights of Nigerians

Her participation inspired new level of activism in Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement.

In the summer of 1994, Kudirat was actively involved in moving and sustaining the oil workers 12 week strike action against the military government.

The strike which succeeded in isolating and weakening the government, was the longest in Africa history by oil workers.

In December of 1995, when the pro-democracy group decided to march for freedom in Lagos.

Kudirat joined such esteemed nationalists as Anthony Enahoro at the forefront of the march, braving the bullets of government forces sent to intimidate them.

Her fight was essentially for the release of her husband and restoration of his mandate which was annulled.

While Kudirat was busy championing the cause against the military dictatorship in Nigeria, her husband was in jail on charges of treason. Her action against the military government made her to become the biggest foe of the military government of late Sani Abacha.

On June 4, 1996, few days to commemorate the anniversary date when Nigerians resolved to vote out the military dictatorship, Kudirat’s life ended on earth, extinguished by assailant’s bullets. Alhaja Kudirat was attacked in her car by unknown gunmen, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway

Her husband continued to be detained without charge even after her death. He died in suspicious circumstances just before it was said he was to be released on 7 June 1998.

At the time of her death, an anti-military rule "Radio Democracy" had just been created and it was based in Norway & was backed by the American, British, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian governments to help end military dictatorship in Nigeria. it was later changed to Radio Kudirat.

Prior to this time, there had been two attempts to assassinate Kudirat, the first attempt was planned to take place right inside the residence of MKO Abiola but when the assailants discovered that would be too dangerous,

they abandoned the plan only for them to continue their surveillance of their primary target, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

Following the killing of Alhaja Kudirat, the Nigerian military government headed by late Gen Abacha offered the sum of $45,000 as reward for information leading to the arrest of those who killed Kudirat.

Although Kudirat was assassinated in 1996, it would not be until the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo that investigations were properly launched into the affair.

However, all the senior police and military chiefs implicated in the assassination denied having anything to do with it. Al-Mustapha said not once did he order Rogers to kill anybody and the former army chief, Lt. General Ishaya Bamaiyi washed his hands of any ‘illegal operations

And I will draw the curtain here, I know some people on this street knows some more which I have removed from this story, in the bid for people to discuss their knowledge of Nigeria history.

It will be great to have those informations come in.

THE END
#thestory_teller