Remarks following the renaming of the Abuja National Stadium to Moshood Abiola National Stadium by the Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday during his Democracy day speech. The decision to immortalize the Icon was due to his unbiased and selfless contribution towards the growth of Nigeria Democracy.
However, MKO Abiola was acclaimed as the winner of the June 12, 1993, but died while in the custody of the then military government of Nigeria. Although till date, the cause of his death has not been unraveled. His son, Abdulmumin Abiola and lots of Nigerians have urged Buhari and the federal government to recognize
Moshood Abiola as a formal President and accord him all state benefits. It’s yet to be seen whether there will be a proclamation or legislation that will recognize the late politician as a former president, following the declaration by the federal government that he won the 1993 presidential election.
Furthermore, among the dignitaries that contributed on the renaming of the stadium include Rafiu Oladipo. In his remark on Wednesday in Lagos, he hailed the renaming of Abuja National Stadium as Moshood Abiola National Stadium by President Muhammadu Buhari as a noble decision. Oladipo said the late Moshood Abiola contributed meaningfully to Nigeria’s sports development, particularly in the football sector, and really deserved the national recognition and honour by President Buhari.
In his exact words, he said that “The renaming of the National Stadium after the late M.K.O. Abiola, has made this year’s Democracy Day significant and I am impressed with the development. “M.K.O. Abiola did so much for sports development in Nigeria. He was a key supporter of NFSC in our activities and he donated a bus to us which made our movements easy,” Oladipo concluded by saying that he is going to take the news round the world because the late M.K.O. Abiola in 1982 won the Sports Ambassador award in Senegal, and he was there to witness it,”.
