-Wole Adejumo
Basorun MKO Abiola meant different things to many people
across Nigeria and beyond. To some, he was a man whose business empire ensured
the daily bread of many families. From the philanthropic angle, Abiola was the
man who provided lifelines to many. He was not Africa’s Pillar of Sports for nothing;
his football club contributed quite a number of regulars to Nigeria’s national
soccer team, the Super Eagles back then. Politically too, he is today seen as a
martyr, one of the heroes of Nigeria’s democracy. No wonder his death on July
7, 1998 raised a lot of dust in the country.
Fifteen years after, his
