A lot has been said about his role in NPN as the
financier responsible for Awolowo losing that election! However there is more
to MKO than his wealth, traditional titles, and alleged reputation as a
financier of military coups, his love life or his love of sports. In fact there
is a lot more the present Core Leadership in the North could learn as well as
many others over the rest of Nigeria.
The main issue I liked about Abiola was his philanthropic efforts as well as his religious tolerance! MKO would quote extensively from both the Bible and Quran with ease which showed he was conversant with both religions intimately. In fact he provided financial assistance which resulted in the construction of 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries, 21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria and was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in Nigeria. In fact prior to Abiola and indeed after him no single Nigerian has been able to match the extent of his generosity!
In these days of Boko Haram where many individuals go about committing terrorist acts claiming they have knowledge of what God would have wanted for his devotees it was far better to have a leader speak to what was common with both religions. Jesus said he who does not gather scatters! Now we have leaders like El-Rufai display insensitivity on a level which frankly is unbecoming of anyone who would want to rule Nigeria. In order to understand the type of person MKO was, look no further than the recent bombing of a church in Jos, MKO would have given money to the families of the deceased, visited the bomb site and demonstrated with deeds and action what we would expect from any true leader instead of what people like El-Rufai were doing with Op-ed pieces which demonstrated his lack of empathy for the deceased.
In terms of philanthropy just go around the United States visiting college campuses and you will understand what made that Country the greatest in the 20th century. In many colleges you will notice that many of the buildings were built with endowments or gifts from many of their illustrious citizens. As an example let’s look at Emory University in Atlanta the business school in the university called the Goizueta Business School (GBS) (pronounced goy-swet-ah) is a private business school. It is named after Roberto Goizueta, a former president of The Coca-Cola Company. The Rollins School of Public Health was established by a donation from O. Wayne Rollins who was a self-made business entrepreneur and innovator. In 1964 he orchestrated the purchase of Orkin Inc., often recognized as the first leveraged buyout. With his brother, John Rollins participated in numerous successful business ventures including radio and television stations, pest control, oil field services, truck leasing, boat manufacturing and real estate. Following his death in 1991, his sons, Randall and Gary Rollins, have continued to build the Rollins companies. Several members of the Rollins family have served on the Emory University Board of Trustees. The Candler School of Theology, Emory University, is one of 13 seminaries of the United Methodist Church. Founded in 1914, the school was named after Warren Akin Candler, a former President and Chancellor of Emory University and a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing was named after a female. Woodruff began volunteering at Emory University Hospital because of her excellent skills, she was the only volunteer allowed to work in the maternity ward. Mrs. Woodruff again donated many hours of her time to the Red Cross. She worked as a nurses' aide in hospitals and also recruited other women to nursing.
The point of using Emory University as an example is very clear, some received the honour cause of what they donated to the school, others cause of the fact they worked at the school and others cause of what they did to aid others in obtaining an education at the school. Now let’s go back to MKO, what is his connection to Unilag? He worked there as a senior accountant at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital. What about education? He donated N1m (equivalent of N40 million in 2010) to each State University, N50, 000 (N2 million in 2010) for student welfare, N20, 000 (N800, 000 in 2010) to the libraries of each Federal University and N25, 000 (N1 million in 2010) to each Polytechnic apart from the fact that he established Abiola bookshops to help students get access to affordable text books produced in Nigeria. In addition, he would on occasion supplement the bursary of many Ogun State students who schooled in other Universities all around Nigeria. Let us name one other single Nigerian who has done that? The leaders in the Core North, many of them just as wealthy have not matched this level of philanthropy. In fact not one has matched half that level. God's rule is love the Lord your God with all your mind, body, soul and spirit with the second rule being love your neighbour as yourself. Now name one Muslim in the core north who has built a single church or contributed to the building of one. So why would Boko Haram not bomb churches? They have leaders who don't respect God as well. MKO was a Muslim who did just that and that is why on June 12 the election was declared Nigeria's freest and fairest presidential election by national and international observers, with Abiola even winning in his Northern opponent's home state. Abiola won at the national capital, Abuja, the military polling stations, and over two-thirds of Nigerian states. The reason why the election was so historic was because men of Northern descent had largely dominated Nigeria's political landscape since independence.
The fact that Moshood Abiola (a Southern Muslim) was able to secure a national mandate freely and fairly remains unprecedented in Nigeria's history. It also demonstrates that the citizens of the core north knew a Muslim when they saw one! There are two things the Honorable Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) always told his followers, “do not attack Christians and look after your fellow Muslim”. These are lessons that MKO would teach all Nigerians today. Renaming the University of Lagos - Moshood Abiola University is a honor on University of Lagos not one the University is placing on MKO! After all before the announcement what had become of University of Lagos? Not much!
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