By Adeleye Kunle
MKO Abiola’s family has chastised a journalist, David Hundeyin, for claiming that the democracy hero was involved in narcotics.
Hundeyin claimed that Abiola traded in hard drugs while he was alive in an article titled ‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu: From Drug Lord to Presidential Candidate.’
In a statement issued on behalf of all Kudirat Abiola’s children, Yushau Abiola said Hundeyin’s unfounded allegation exposed him as a hack journalist who had etched his name in the sand of fake news.
Even so, Abiola’s children maintained that the journalist was nothing more than a troll out to smear the legacy of the acclaimed winner of the June 12 Presidential election.
They went on to say that neither the late businessman nor his companies’ bank accounts were ever frozen, as Hundeyin falsely claimed, and that Abiola was so respected and dignified that he was the only Nigerian allowed to enter the United States of America without an international passport.
The family was perplexed as to why the writer would stoop so low as to repeat an unfounded allegation that first appeared in the Daily Beast, an American tabloid, in 2015, where John Campbell, “who had concocted the rumour, could not concretely justify it when confronted by the Abiola family.”
“From Drug Lord to Presidential Candidate” raises questions about Hundeyin’s motivation for including these fabricated facts, as well as exposing Hundeyin as a hack journalist.
“In his article containing these heinous rumors, Hundeyin attempted to detail and back up every allegation he made about Bola Ahmed Tinubu with “some form of evidence” (but did not appear to present anything new beyond what was already in circulation), but when it came to this grave allegation about our father, he simply quoted an American tabloid, the only source he could find for his malicious purposes.”
“During the course of researching this story, a name that kept coming up repeatedly as a comparison to Nigeria’s teflon Asiwaju was a certain Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola.” When the Daily Beast attempted this story a few years ago, a tantalizing hint about an unimaginable parallel between 1993 and 2023 was mentioned in passing.”
“He gave the impression that the Daily Beast article drew a parallel between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and M.K.O., but this article was published in 2015.” Beyond this article, Hundeyin has failed to back up his claim that during his research, MKO’s name “kept coming up repeatedly as a comparison to Nigeria’s telfon Asiwaju.” Isn’t it strange that he provided no other evidence of the same? Some investigation. A true investigative journalist.
“It’s unclear what motivated Hundeyin to make this unsubstantiated allegation. Perhaps our father is merely a victim in the campaign to bring Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu down. Alternatively, the journalist may be a willing pawn for those seeking to tarnish MKO’s image as a result of our father’s role in spearheading the reparations battle against the beneficiaries of African enslavement. This, despite being a just cause, earned him many enemies in the West who wanted to tarnish his name and bury his reparations cause.
“Our father’s or his companies’ bank accounts were never frozen.” He visited the White House frequently, was recognized by the Congressional Black Caucus and several other important American organizations, and after the June 12 elections, he was allowed to enter the US without a passport, a privilege never granted to any other Nigerian. Indeed, our family name is so well-known in the United States that a prominent corner in New York, next to those named after Nelson and Winnie Mandela and Yitzhak Rabin, was named after his wife, Kudirat Abiola. This is not how the US government would treat those involved in the narcotics trade.
“When this baseless allegation first appeared in the said American tabloid in 2015, we confronted John Campbell, a former US ambassador to Nigeria, who was alleged to have stated that MKO was involved in drug trafficking.” He stated that he knew nothing concrete other than a rumour he had heard from some in the military leadership, which he assumed was being peddled by those seeking to justify the annulment of the June 12 election.”
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