How Kudirat Abiola was killed

 By SEYE OJO
On Tuesday, June 4, 1996, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, the articulate wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, was shot dead by gunmen at the time her husband was in detention.

 Mr. Mubashiru Abiola, a brother to MKO Abiola, announced the death to reporters at the family house in Ikeja, Lagos in the afternoon of the same day she was shot. According to him, “I can confirm now that Mrs. Kudirat Abiola was killed from the gun attack this morning. She will be buried according to Islamic rites tomorrow at 4:00p.m.”

 The grief that trailed the announcement of the 44-year-old businesswoman could literally be cut with a knife. Before her death, she had been in the forefront of campaign for the release of her husband and to install him as president with a view to restoring democracy in the country.
 Prior to this time, MKO Abiola was detained by former Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha military regime for proclaiming himself winner of the 1993 presidential poll. He was charged with false publication.

 Mubashiru Abiola also said Kudirat’s driver also lost his life in the saga. Eyewitnesses on a Lagos Street where they were shot disclosed that the two were shot at close range. But Kudirat’s personal assistant, Michael Adeshina, who was also in the car, was not hurt. He was later arrested by the police and detained.
 Reports from the Eko Hospital, Lagos where the deceased was rushed to for urgent medical attention indicated that Kudirat was brought to the hospital unconscious and with a bullet wound at the forehead. Concerted efforts by doctors to save her life proved abortive.
 Born in Zaria, a city in the current Kaduna State in the northern part of Nigeria in 1951, where she had her early education, Kudirat attended Muslim Girls High School, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State where she was the Head Prefect in her final year.

 Kudirat got married to MKO Abiola when she was 21 years and the union produced seven children. She was to become a prime supporter of the educational programmes of the Ansar-Ur-Deen Movement in Nigeria.
 Annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which her husband was said to have won, brought Kudirat into limelight and pro-democracy activities. She provided clear leadership during the period of general confusion that rocked Nigeria after the election was annulled.