Nigeria is a nation woven from complexity. Its political history has been forged in the crucible of pivotal events, and shaped by men and women who bore sensitive, often perilous responsibilities in its trajectory. To tell the story of this nation without honoring those who laid down their lives for its restoration and survival would be to leave the record incomplete.
As American science fiction author Robert Heinlein observed in one of his works: “A generation which ignores history has no past and no future.”
In keeping with our commitment to education and enlightenment, WITHIN NIGERIA spotlights one notable event that occurred on June 4 in Nigeria’s history.
MKO’s wife, Kudirat Abiola was assassinated
On June 4, 1996, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, 44, a leading voice in Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement, was shot dead Tuesday morning in a highway ambush in Ikeja, Lagos. Her driver, Dauda Atanda, also died in the attack.
The killing occurred at about 9:30 a.m. on Oregun Road, near 7-Up Junction on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Mrs. Abiola had left her Lagos home en route to an appointment at the Canadian High Commission when her white Mercedes-Benz was intercepted by two vehicles, a Peugeot 504 and a Peugeot 505, carrying six gunmen.
According to eyewitness accounts, one of the Peugeots swerved twice in front of the Mercedes, forcing Mr. Atanda to slow down.
Gunmen then opened fire at close range with automatic weapons, shattering the windshield and rear window and forcing the car off the road.
Mrs. Abiola’s personal assistant, Mark Olufemi Adesina, who was in the front passenger seat, survived after dropping to the floor as glass and spent cartridges rained into the vehicle.
A bullet struck Mrs. Abiola in the forehead and lodged in her brain. She was rushed to Eko Hospital, where neurosurgeons operated to remove the projectile. She was pronounced dead between 12:15 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. Mr. Atanda succumbed to injuries sustained in the attack.
Kudirat Abiola rose to national prominence after her husband, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, was jailed for treason by the military government of General Sani Abacha.
Since his detention, she had spearheaded campaigns demanding his release and the restoration of his electoral mandate. Her activism made her, in the words of observers, “one of the most dreaded foes of Abacha.”
In May 1996, she was briefly detained by authorities who alleged she possessed publications critical of the Abacha regime.
