Abiola May Have Been Slowly Poisoned by the Abacha Government The annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election did more than deny MKO Abiola the presidency. It unleashed a political crisis that shook the foundations of Nigeria’s military establishment and eventually forced General Ibrahim Babangida to leave power. Acclaimed journalist and author of Eat Now, Pay Later, Dare Babarinsa revisits those turbulent years, explaining why Babangida’s position became increasingly untenable after cancelling an election widely believed to have been won by Abiola. But Babangida’s departure did not resolve the crisis. General Sani Abacha soon seized power, and one of the more puzzling chapters of the June 12 story followed: why did Abiola nominate people to serve as ministers in Abacha’s military government? Babarinsa provides the political context behind that decision and the calculations being made as Nigeria drifted deeper into confrontation. The conversation also enters the dangerous world of guerrilla journalism, when journalists working under threat of arrest, detention and proscription turned clandestine publishing into a weapon against the Abacha regime. Newspapers were shut down, journalists were hunted, yet stories continued to find their way onto the streets. Then comes one of Babarinsa’s most unsettling reflections: the death of MKO Abiola in detention in July 1998. Babarinsa raises the possibility that Abiola may have been slowly poisoned while in the custody of the Abacha government, presenting it as his assessment rather than an established fact. youtu.be/VU7cdhu7apw?si=yrq6…

Abiola May Have Been Slowly Poisoned by the Abacha Government - Dare...

The annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election did more t...

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edmund obilo · Sep 4, 2026 · 1:26 PM UTC

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The Final Hours of Obafemi Awolowo: His Daughter, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, Recounts the Story of His Death Note: Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1909–1987) was one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalist leaders, political thinkers and architects of the country’s independence era. A lawyer, journalist and statesman, he became the first Premier of Nigeria’s Western Region, serving from 1954 to 1959. Awolowo founded the Action Group and emerged as one of the principal political figures of Nigeria’s First Republic. During the Nigerian Civil War, he served in the Federal Military Government as Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice-Chairman of the Federal Executive Council. He later contested Nigeria’s presidential elections in 1979 and 1983 under the Unity Party of Nigeria but was unsuccessful. Despite never becoming Nigeria’s president, Awolowo remains one of the most influential figures in Nigerian political history, remembered for his intellectual discipline, progressive social policies and enduring arguments for a strongly federal Nigeria.

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Udara Books · Sep 4, 2026 · 1:02 PM UTC

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EAT NOW, PAY LATER In Eat Now, Pay Later, the author confirms his reputation as one of the Grandmasters of modern Nigerian journalism. The reader is served, in exhilarating details, vignettes of modern Nigerian history, from the heroic exploits of Chief Moshood Abiola and the inner powerplays that culminated in the June 12 debacle to the demands of modern democracy and the new challenges facing the historically influential Nigerian media. The book is a full menu on Africa’s greatest and most populous country; its colour and power, its varied challenges, its pulsating politics and the colour and pomp of its ancient institutions facing the dictates of the modern era. This is a book that would command attention and compel the reader to ponder on the possibilities of Nigeria and its immediate future. Author: Dare Babarinsa, journalist, author, media entrepreneur and public intellectual, is the Chairman of Gaskia Media Ltd. He has authored and edited many books including House of War, One Day and A Story and The Nigerian Century. He was born May 9, 1955 in Okemesi, Ekiti State and was educated at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and the University of Lagos. In 1988, he was honoured by the United States government when he participated in the Distinguished Visitors Programme during which time his team was invited into the White House. Babarinsa is a co-founder of TELL magazine where he served as Executive Director for 15 years. He is married to Chief Mrs Modupe Babarinsa and they have four children. Order here: udarabooks.com/home/487-eat-… Chat with Udara Books on WhatsApp: +2348099918449

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edmund obilo · Sep 2, 2026 · 5:54 PM UTC

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@eobiloSep 2

Abiola Trusted Babagida to His Ruin - Dare Babarinsa, author of Eat Now, Pay Later

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edmund obilo · Sep 2, 2026 · 5:29 PM UTC

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@eobiloSep 2

Babangida Took Abiola Around Aso Rock and Promised Him the Presidency - Dare Babarinsa June 12, 1993 remains one of the great turning points in Nigeria’s political history, but behind the annulled election was a web of trust, calculation, deception and fatal political choices. Acclaimed journalist and author Dare Babarinsa revisits this period through Chapter Two of his book, Eat Now, Pay Later, titled “Abiola, June 12 and Paschal Question.” He examines what he considers the critical mistakes made by MKO Abiola and his political team, and the relationship between Abiola and military ruler Ibrahim Babangida that would ultimately prove disastrous. Babarinsa recounts a striking episode in which Babangida allegedly took Abiola around the Presidential Villa and assured him that he would become Nigeria’s president. According to Babarinsa, Abiola believed his friend and trusted him to his own peril. But the presidency promised by one general never materialised. The June 12 election was annulled, Babangida eventually left power, and under Sani Abacha, Abiola was arrested after declaring himself president. He would spend the remaining years of his life in detention, dying in July 1998. Babarinsa takes the story beyond the familiar chronology of June 12 to confront a more unsettling question: How did one of Nigeria’s most powerful businessmen, surrounded by political allies and with a historic electoral mandate, misread the men and machinery of military power? youtu.be/jO5v0I-1AVI?si=JBy_…