Diya and I didn’t know where Abiola was held, says Abdulsalami
Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has revealed that before he assumed power in 1998, neither he nor General Oladipo Diya, the then Chief of General Staff and second‑in‑command to General Sani Abacha, knew the exact location where Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola was being detained. Abdulsalami said that, despite occupying senior positions in the military hierarchy under Abacha, key details about Abiola’s incarceration were tightly controlled and kept away from them. He explained that it was only after Abacha’s sudden death on June 8, 1998, and his own emergence as Head of State, that he gained direct access to information regarding Abiola’s custody. In his account, Abdulsalami stressed that Abacha’s regime operated with a high level of secrecy, especially on sensitive political detainees like Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. He […]