Former Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has revealed that he spent the last 24 hours with the late Kudirat Abiola before she was assassinated in 1996.
- +I spent Kudirat Abiola’s last 24 hours with her before assassination — Oloyede
Oloyede made the disclosure during an interview on ThisDay Live on Sunday while explaining why he has no immediate plans to write a memoir despite his decades of public service.
Oloyede made the disclosure during an interview on ThisDay Live on Sunday while explaining why he has no immediate plans to write a memoir despite his decades of public service.
According to him, documenting his experiences would require revealing sensitive events that could reopen old wounds or create unnecessary controversies.
Recalling one of those experiences, Oloyede said he was with the wife of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, in the final hours before her death.
He said, “Recently I was at an interview and I narrated how I had to be with late Kudirat Abiola of blessed memory. How I had to be with her in her last 24 hours, 24 hours before she was killed. I was narrating the experience of our… about 24 hours we were together before the unfortunate assassination of Kudirat Abiola. May God bless her soul.”
The former JAMB boss said he had witnessed many historic events over the years but believes some experiences are best left undocumented.
He stated, “There are so many things that I know, and many people know, that it is better you do not go back to.”
Explaining why he would not write an autobiography for now, Oloyede said some memoirs contain details that are either difficult to verify or could stir unnecessary disputes.
He said, “Unless one wants to either create confusion in the society, create more enemies for the society or cause trouble, there are many things you come to know that you better die with.
“I believe very strongly that those who write their autobiography, I respect them because they know what to write and what not to write. But by my own nature, if I must say it, I would say everything. And some of the everything may not be good. For now, I do not intend to put up any write-up or give a narration of what happened.”
Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, became one of the leading figures in the struggle to actualise the June 12, 1993 presidential election after her husband was detained by the military regime of General Sani Abacha.
She was assassinated on June 4, 1996, in Lagos while campaigning for her husband’s release and the restoration of democracy.
Her death remains one of the most defining events of Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement.
