Why Abiola Rejected Abacha’s ‘Conditional Release’ – Bamayi

Bamayi, in his book, ‘Vindication of a General’, explained that late Head of State, Sani Abacha, had agreed to release Abiola under some undisclosed conditions.

The former chief of army staff further explained that though Abiola had agreed to terms of his release by Abacha, but the politician later backtracked on his decision after receiving advisories from members of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).

“Gumel and I went to Gen. Abacha and pleaded for Abiola’s release. Abacha agreed to release Abiola with some conditions,” said Bamayi.

“We conveyed Abacha’s agreement to release Abiola to Bafyau, who briefed some NADECO members on Abacha’s readiness to release Abiola with some conditions.

“These NADECO members advised Abiola not to accept release with conditions and kept him in detention. Initially, Abiola accepted the conditional release, and a judge was brought to Abuja to perfect it.

“The release documents were ready, and Abiola was to go and sign them, but some NADECO members advised him against doing so, and he remained in detention until his death,” he said.

Although an autopsy report showed that Abiola died of natural causes, the former chief of army staff rebuffed the claim, saying Abiola could not have died a natural death.

“His death came as a surprise to me because he had been healthy when we met. One evening, the head of state, General Abubakar called while I was in Lagos to tell me we had a problem,” he wrote.

“I asked what was wrong and he told me Chief Abiola was dead. I was shocked and asked him what we were going to do about it. He told me he was handling the situation.

“Abiola could not have died the way he reportedly died,” he said.

Recall that Abiola’s detention followed the declaration of himself as president after winning the annulled 1993 presidential election.