How plan to whisk Abiola out of jail flopped – Ex-aide Akerele

…Says Abiola was happy plan to free him out of jail failed
It has now been revealed that there were plans to whisk the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, out of jail.

Giving this revelation was the late politician’s personal assistant, Olu Akerele, on The Platform, a programme hosted by Sam Omatseye on TVC News, on Saturday.

According to Akerele, who is just revealing the details publicly for the first time, when it became clear that the former Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, was bent on detaining Abiola indefinitely, some friends of Abiola mooted the idea to him.

He added that the late Abiola was reluctant about the whole exercise and was particularly concerned about the safety of his family and the people who were guarding him on the grounds that Abacha could kill all of them if he had escaped.

Narrating what transpired during the turbulent period, Akerele said, “At a stage when nothing was moving on again, the Supreme Court was not sitting, it’s like the man (Abiola) had been abandoned there.

“Then some of his friends approached me, both in the military, retired and then civilians. They sent someone to me to meet them somewhere. Getting there, I saw an American diplomat that I knew had been coming to court. So, they now raised the issue of spiriting Abiola out of that place. And they thought it could be done.

“But, we need the support of then Big (Uncle) Sam, Abiola’s friends in America. So, we parleyed over it and it was decided that I should get in touch with his PA (Personal Assistant) in the US. There’s one Randy Echols.

He was my opposite number in Washington. They now suggested that the man should get in touch with Abiola’s friends at the Capitol so they would work out the thing. So, they took me to a secret house (in Abuja), gave me a secured phone. Surprisingly, I was on to Randy.”

At that time, Akerele had just been released from jail because he was caught relaying messages for Abiola who was in detention.

Continuing, Akerele said: “We got Randy and the idea was that Randy should link with his friends over there, that’s Abiola’s friends and then with the military.

“There’s one ship mooring somewhere in the ocean. So, a small plane would come and land in Abuja. It’s a question of taking Abiola from that jail. Four, five hours, he’s into the plane.

Then, the plane flies out. So, that was the idea. But when the thing was discussed with the late MKO through the window as usual, he said, ‘it’s a dangerous thing to do ooo.

And that if his friends or my friends insisted, we should leave out his children and members of his family out of it because the Abacha he knew would not hesitate to wipe out his family and the families of those people guarding him.

“But we thought it was fool-proof. We thought we could do it. Because they were not so popular, except those who were making money from them. So, we thought Randy would do the right thing. Then, just for him to ensure he was talking to the right person. – me.

I had met him twice when he came with MKO to Abuja when things were going okay – I now said, for him to confirm my identity with Doyin, our MD (of Concord Press) and Alhaji Akinteye, that’s the PA to MKO in his office.”

But Akerele said Randy Echols mistakenly spilled out the plans by calling Abiola’s children instead.

He said, “This thing I’m going to say would embarrass some people but they just have to take it like that. Instead of talking to Doyin or Akinteye, Randy now called Wuraola Abiola, that is Kola’s youngest sibling, to ask about me, ‘who is this Olu?’ Then Wura now called Agbo, the MD of RCN, ‘who is this Olu?’ Then Agbo now called Kola.”

Akerele then said that Kola called him and asked “Olu, whats going on? They said there is one Olu making enquiries about some things?

But Akerele disclosed that he feigned ignorance of the matter and denied involvement, responding, ‘Oh, is that so? I don’t know anything about it.”

Akerele then continued, “that was the end of the thing.”

Blaming Randy Echols for the botched plan, Akerele said, “Maybe he (Randy) thought it was a family thing. He should have known from experience that it was not a tea party that we were planning.”

Upon reporting the development to Abiola, Akerele said Abiola responded, “Alhamdulillah” which means “praise be to Allah” in Arabic.

Akerele continued: “If we had spirited him out, it would have been bloody because Abacha would react violently and then more people would have died.”

Speaking further, Akerele said, “The plan then was that if we were able to get MKO out, those members of staff around him would go with us, me too I would follow. It had to be a clean sweep. So, when the thing now failed, we said ‘it’s from God’ so we dropped the idea.”

Akerele also disclosed that Abiola didn’t want to be part of the plan to whisk him out of jail but he “was asked to pressurise him. And I thought I was doing my job to get him out of that place.

But now, he now opened my eyes to the larger picture – my family, Abiola’s families and the families of those people around him, their villages, their men.

That man (Abacha) would have rolled the tank all over the place. So, if he now came out as president? over the dead bodies of his children? So, when we said the thing had flopped, he (Abiola) was happy.”

The late Abacha died on June 8, 1998 while Abiola died on July 7, 1998 after drinking allegedly poisoned tea.

It is instructive to note that 25 years after the June 12, 1993 saga, President Muhammadu Buhari honoured the late Abiola with the highest title exclusively reserves for the past Head of States and Presidents – the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR). Buhari also declared June 12 as Democracy Day in Nigeria.