MKO Abiola collapsed during meeting with US envoys, not poisoned — Abdulsalami

A former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), has dismissed claims that Chief MKO Abiola was poisoned, insisting that an autopsy conducted by pathologists from four countries attributed his death to natural causes.

The revelations are contained in Chapter 21 of Abubakar’s 264-page, 27-chapter autobiography titled ‘Call of Duty,’ obtained by our correspondent on Saturday at the public presentation of the book and two others at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.

The presentation was held to mark the former Head of State’s 84th birthday and was attended by President Bola Tinubu, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima as Special Guest of Honour.

Writing on the events leading to Abiola’s death on July 7, 1998, Abubakar said the Bashorun collapsed during a meeting with a visiting American delegation comprising Mr Tom Pickering, then U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, and Ms Susan Rice, then Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

“I do not believe Abiola was poisoned. The family requested an autopsy and we assembled American, British, Nigerian and Canadian pathologists to conduct it. The autopsy report attributed his death to natural causes,” Abubakar wrote.

He disclosed that Abiola had been managing pre-existing medical conditions, including hypertension and a heart ailment, as far back as 1994 when he was first detained.

The former Head of State said, “As far back as 1994 when he was arrested by the Abacha Administration for declaring himself President, it was public knowledge that Abiola was managing certain medical conditions which could seriously affect the quality of life of any human being.”

According to Abubakar, a radiological report by Colonel (Dr) O. Awofeso, then Chief Consultant Radiologist at the Nigerian Army Defence Hospital, Sokoto, dated September 28, 1994, found that Abiola’s heart was enlarged with “right ventricular preponderance” consistent with hypertensive cardiac disease.

The former military leader narrated how the fatal meeting unfolded, citing Rice’s 2019 memoir, ‘Tough Love: My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For,’ in which she recalled that Abiola began coughing mildly about five minutes into their conversation before it became “wracking” and “dramatic.”

“Rice said she noticed Abiola’s ankles were swollen. About five minutes into their conversation, according to her, ‘Abiola started to cough, at first mildly and intermittently, and then wrackingly with consistency,’” Abubakar wrote, quoting the memoir.

He said Abiola complained of feeling hot and asked that the air-conditioning be turned up, after which a doctor was summoned and diagnosed a heart attack.

Quoting Pickering’s account in a BBC interview shortly after Abiola’s death, Abubakar wrote that the politician “had trouble breathing, went into the toilet and came out obviously very distressed,” before being moved to a couch where he removed his shirt and asked for the room to be ventilated.

“A doctor arrived within 10 minutes and called for immediate hospital attention.

“We all helped to put him in a car, there was no ambulance immediately available. We followed him to the clinic of the Head of State of Nigeria, where doctors immediately began to work on him…but unfortunately at the end of their efforts it was not possible and he died,” Abubakar quoted Pickering as saying.

Abubakar recalled receiving the news from his Chief Security Officer, Abdulrasheed Aliyu, who had led the American delegation to the meeting.

“Aliyu, my CSO, called me. As soon as I picked, he said, in a shaky voice, that there was a problem. I asked: ‘What problem again?’ He said Abiola was dead. My head went blank,” Abubakar wrote.

He described breaking the news to Abiola’s family, recounting how one of the politician’s daughters broke down in tears and was consoled by Rice.

“If we had not allowed the American delegation to see him and he had died in custody, it would have been a different story. It would have been insinuated that he had long died and we were trying to cover it up,” he stated.

The former Head of State also addressed allegations that he received $500m in cash following Abacha’s death, describing the claim as “pure fantasy” and “an absolute imagination.”

He narrated, “I want to put it on record that nobody gave me $500 million or any amount, bigger or smaller.

“Is it possible to collect half a billion dollars in cash and only one person in the world would know about it?”

Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, had been in detention since 1994 after declaring himself President.

His death came just over a month after that of General Sani Abacha, fuelling widespread speculation that he had been eliminated to prevent his release and inauguration.

Abubakar succeeded Abacha as Head of State and oversaw Nigeria’s transition to civilian rule, handing over to President Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999.